LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


JAN  -  T  2003 


THEOLOGICAL  SEVINARY 


BR162  .S45  1879 

Smith,  Philip, 

History  of  the  Christian 

church  during  the  .  .  . 


Joi^ 


The  Students  Ecclesiastical  History 


THE  HISTORY 

OF   THE 

CHRISTIAN    CHURCH 

DURING  THE  FIRST  TEN  CENTURIES 


FROM  ITS  FOUXDATIOX  TO  THE  FULL  ESTABLISHMKNT  OF  THK 
HOLY  ROMAN  EMPIRE  AND  THE  PAPAL  POWER 


By  PHILIP  SMITH,  B.A. 

AUTHOR    OP    THE    "STUDENT'S    OLD    TESTAMENT    HISTORY"    AND   THE    "STUDENT'S    NEW 
TESTAMENT   HISTORY" 


WITH     ILLUSTRATIONS 


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"Eucharistic  Uread  and  Wino  in  a  BasUot.ciMaVd  l)3i;a  si\\inii(iiiig.Fi«li.    From 
the  Cryptof  St.t'ornelHjs.;-^^^«7f  r<  *  " ' 


PREFACE. 


TiiK  want  of  a  compendious  history  of  tlio  Christian 
Church,  both  for  the  student  and  the  general  reader,  has 
been  evidenced  by  the  enquiries  made  for  the  present 
work  since  its  first  announcement.  In  the  department  of 
Sacred  History  it  forms  a  continuation  of  the  'Student's 
New  Testament  History;'  but  it  is  also  designed  to  serve 
a  wider  purpose. 

The  student  of  civil  history  feels  at  every  step  the  need 
of  a  more  special  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  ;  and 
the  common  interest  of  all  Cluistians  in  the  rise  and 
various  developments  of  the  Church,  in  all  its  branches 
and  its  aberrations  too,  is  enhanced  by  a  natural  curiosity 
to  trace  the  origin  of  opinions,  usages,  and  controversies, 
the  effects  of  which  are  deeply  and  even  passionately  felt 
in  every  succeeding  age. 

In  the  effort  to  gratify  that  interest  and  curiosity,  the 
author  has  studied  to  preserve  impartiality;  but  he  has 
not  attempted  to  write  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  a  tone  of  unconcern  for  cither  Christianity  or  the 
Church.  The  historian  who  would  do  justice  to  the  men 
whose  actions  he  records,  whether  in  civil  or  ecclesiastical 
polity)  must  place  himself  in  sympathy  with  each  age  that 
comes  under  review  ;  and  the  historian  of  the  Church  must 
have  such  sympathy — though  not  in  the  spirit  of  a  partisan 
—with  the  thoughts  and  feelings,  both  of  the  great  teachers 
and  leaders  and  of  the  whole  body  of  Christians,  and  even 
of  the  several  parties,  in  every  age  of  the  Church. 


iv  PREFACE. 

On  these  principles,  supremo  importance  helongs  to  the 
first  beginnings  (the  origincs)  of  the  Church,  and  to  the 
progress  of  its  universal  development  through  the  time 
Avhen  it  especially  deserved  the  name ;  when  it  was  the 
Church,  and  not  yet  a  number  of  churches,  divided  by 
their  respective  nationalities,  and  sevei'cd  by  hostile 
feelings  and  irreconcilable  opinions. 

This  comparative  unity,  even  amidst  the  growing  strife 
of  sects,  was  preserved  during  the  first  three  centuries  by 
the  unexpended  spirit  of  primitive  zeal  and  purity,  and  was 
enforced  by  the  constraining  power  of  persecution.  These 
three  centuries,  therefore,  form  our  first  age,  that  of  the 
Primitive  and  Persecuted  Churcli:  during  which  we  trace 
the  rise  and  progress  cf  the  Church,  till  the  "  little 
leaven  "  leavens  the  Eoman  Empire  and  works  beyond  its 
bounds ;  the  settlement  of  its  constitution ;  the  development 
of  its  doctrines  and  usages ;  and  the  beginnings  of  most  of 
the  controversies  Avhich  have  agitated  it  ever  since. 

The  unity  of  the  Church  was  next  maintained,  though 
now  in  a  sense  more  political  than  religious,  by  its  estab- 
lishment as  a  part  of  the  constitiition  of  the  Empire  :  its 
institutions  received  a  definite  form  on  the  model  of  the 
civil  polity  ;  and  it  struggled — on  the  whole  successfully 
— to  preserve  a  fixed  standard  of  "  Catholic  "  doctrine,  in 
opposition  to  each  heresy  as  it  sprang  up.  The  barbarian 
peoples  that  overwhelmed  the  Western  Empire,  and  founded 
the  nations  of  Europe,  not  only  received  Christianity,  but 
acknowledged  the  unity  of  the  Church  so  fully  as  sooner 
or  later  to  renounce  the  heresy  which  they  at  first  adopted  ; 
while  the  external  bond  of  union  was  respected  in  the 
nominal  supremacy  of  the"  Caesar  at  Constantinople  and 
the  growing  ascendancy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  The 
general  establishment  of  the  papal  influence  in  the  "West, 
and  the  corruption  of  the  Eastern  Church,  provoking  the 
fatal  blow  by  which  the  Mohammedans  severed  'from 
the  Empire  its  fairest  provinces  in  Asia  and  Africa,  maik 
the  end  of  our  second  period,  of  three  centuries  more,  at  the 
epoch  of  Pope  Gregory  the  Great. 


I'HKFACt:.  V 

The  great  missionary  enterprise  of  that  pontifi"  in  our 
own  island  sounds  the  key-note  of  the  third  age,  during 
which  the  Christianizing  of  Europe  was  completed,  with 
the  exception  of  some  few  of  the  northern  nations,  the 
narrative  of  whose  conversion  is  carried  down  to  its  end 
in  the  last  chapter  of  the  book.  The  general  ecclesiastical 
unity  is  preserved  by  the  growing  ascendancy  of  the 
Pope  amidst  the  conflicts  of  new-born  .states,  and  by 
the  relations  still  maintained  between  the  East  and  West ; 
and  the  exact  middle  of  this  period  is  marked  by  the 
new  and  fascinating  scheme  of  a  universal  Christian  state 
for  the  West,  which  seemed  to  be  embodied  in  the  Holy 
EoMAN  Empire,  though  at  the  cost  of  a  final  severance 
from  the  East.  But  that  delusive  ideal,  too  fair  to  be 
realized  in  this  world  of  self^ih  passions,  contained  the 
germs  both  of  political  disruj^tion  and  of  a  struggle  for 
life  and  death  betwfeen  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  heads, 
which  could  not  leign  together.  The  climax  of  that  senti- 
mental theory  in  the  fellowship  of  Otho  III.  and  Gehbert 
at  once  revealed  its  destined  failure ;  and  the  age  which 
began  with  Constantine's  departure  from  Eome,  leaving 
Sylvester  I.  in  possession  of  the  Lateran,  ends  with  the 
deaths  of  Otho  III.  and  Sylvester  II.,  just  at  the  mil- 
lennial epoch  of  Christianity. 

The  present  work  embraces  this  whole  period  of  a 
thousand  years,  including  all  that  especially  relates  to 
the  Tiniversal  Christian  Church,  in  contrast  with  its  na- 
tional divisions ;  and  it  is  thus  complete  in  itself.  The 
history  of  the  Medieval  Church  forms  a  separate  branch 
of  the  whole  subject.  Originally  the  book  was  intended 
to  come  down  to  the  eve  of  the  Reformation ;  but  it  was 
found  impossible  to  include  the  History  of  the  Church  in 
the  jVIiddle  Ages,  except  at  the  sacrifice  of  much  that 
seemed  essential  in  the  earlier  periods.  If  the  effort 
.made  in  the  present  volume  should  prove  to  be  success- 
ful, it  is  proposed  to  carry  on  the  subject,  so  as  to  give 
in  another  the  History  of  the  Medieval  Church,  and  the 
History  of  the  Keformation. 


vi  ^       PREFACE. 

The  author  is  well  aware  that,  in  so  vast  a  suljject,  he 
must  often  have  shown  his  need  of  the  favourable  con- 
sideration of  the  reader  as  to  the  execution  of  the  work. 
Though  the  subject  has  formed  one  of  his  special  studies, 
he  does  not  claim  to  have  founded  the  present  munu;il  on 
original  research.  "While  making  nse  of  the  well  known 
chief  woiks,  which  it  is  superfluous  to  enumerate— as  those 
of  Mosheim.  Schrockh,  Iseander,  Gieseler,  Milman,  and 
Ilallam — he  has  ,to  make  special  acknowledgment  of  his 
obligation  to  the  Manuals  of  KuRZ  and  Xjedneu,  as  guides 
to  the  outlines  of  tlie  History ;  to  Dr.  Philip  Schakf's 
exhaustive  and  admirable  'History  of  the  Christian 
Church  '  during  fiie  first  six  centuries,  the  completion  of 
which  is  greatly  to  be  desired ;  and  to  Canon  L'obertson's 
'  History  of  the  Christian  i^hurch,'  from  its  beginning  to 
the  epoch  of  the  lieformation,  which  now  worthily  liolds 
the  place  of  the  best,  as  it  is  the  latest,  complete  English 
Ecclesiastical  History  in  a  moderate  compass.  Witli  regard 
to  the  last  two  works,  we  have  in  many  cases  preferred 
TO  use  the  author's  own  words  rather  than  merely  to  vary 
the  form  while  following  the  substance.  In  the  account 
of  rites  and  usages,  ecclesiastical  architectTire,  and  kindred 
subjects,  considerable  use  lias  been  made  of  the  '  Dictionary 
of  Ciiristian  Antiquities,'  edited  by  Dr.  William  Smith  and 
Professor  Cheethani. 


Oratory  at  Galcrus  in  Kerry.    One  of  the  earliest  Ecclesiastical  Buildings  In  Ireland. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

PACK 

ON  THE  CHURCH  AND  ITS  HISTORY    ..      ..       1 

Notes  and  Illustrations  : — 
The  words /;cc/csia  (^k/cAtjo-io)  and  Cliurch       H 


BOOK    I. 

THE  PEIMITIVE  AND  PERSECUTED  CHURCH. 

From  the  Coming  of  Christ  to  Constantine's  Edict  of  Universal 
Toleration.     Centuries  I.-III. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 

IN  its  relation  to  the  Origin  oe  the  Christian  Cherch. 
A.D.  i-ao 1-^ 

Notes  and  Illihtraliom : — 
On  the  alleged  contemporary  notices  of  Jesus  Christ  elsewhere 
than  in  the  New  Testament 25 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH,     a.d.  30-9G. 

From  the  Ascension  of  Christ  to  the  Destrection  of  Jerusalem 
AND  THE  Death  of  St.  John  ;  aij^o  to  the  Ei-och  of  the 
Death  OF  DoMiTiAN      28 

Notes  and  Illustrations  :  — 

(•\.)  The  Ten  General  Persecutions >^>8 

(B.)  The  Records  of  the  Apostolic  Church  outside  of  the  New 
Testament  ^^ 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

PAGB 

THE  AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.     Cent.  II. 
From  Nerva  TO  CoMMODUS.     a. d.  96-192 Gl 

CHAPTER  IV^ 

THE    CHRISTIAN    LITERATURE     OF    THE     SECOND 

CENTURY 81 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

From  the  Accessiox  of  Septimius  Severus  to  Coxstantine's 
Edict  OF  Toleration,     a. d.  192-313 101 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE     CHRISTIAN     LITERATURE     OF     THE     THIRD 

CENTURY 127 

I.  Greek  Writers  of  the  Alexandrian  School      129 

H.  Greek  Writers  of  the  School  of  Antioch        147 

HI.  Latin  Writers  of  the  African  School      152 

Sotes  and  Illustrations : — 

(A.)  Novatian  and  his  Schism 168 

(B.)  Minor  Latin  Writers  of  the  Third  Century       1G8 

CHAPTER  yil. 
CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH. 

Its  Memueusiiip,  Ministry,  and  Government.     Centuries  I.-HI.  170 

Notes  ami  Illustrations : — 
List  of  (Ecumenical  Councils        191 

CHAPTER  VHI. 

THE  WORSHIP,  AND  SACRAMENTS.  AND  FESTIVALS 

OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.     Centlkies  I.-IIL     ..    192 

CHAPTER  L\. 

DOCTRINES     AND     HERESIES     OF     THE    PRIMITIVE 

CHURCH.     Centiuies  I.-III 213 


CONTENTS.  IX 


BOOK    II. 


THE  CHUKCH  OF  THE  KOMAN  ElMPIRE. 

Qenturies  IV.-VI. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  THE  ARIAN 
CONTROVERSY. 

PAGE 

From  the   Edict  of  JIilan  to  the   Death  oe  Coxstantius  II. 

A.u.  313-361 235 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM. 

From  the  Accession  of  Julian  to  the  End  of  the  Dynasty  of 

Thkodosius.     a.d.  301-455 265 

CHAPTER  XII. 

PROGRESS  AND  INTERNAL  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

DURING  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY 286 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    NICENE    CHURCH. 

Centuries  IV.  and  V 309 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

AUGUSTINE     AND    THE    PELAGIAN    CONTROVERSY. 

a.u.  354-429 334 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES. 

To  THE  Fourth  General  Council  at  Chalcedon.    a  d.  451  ..    ,348 

1* 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PACE 

THE   MONOPHYSITE  AND   MONOTHELITE 
CONTROVERSIES  IN  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH. 

From  the  Council  of  Chalcedox  to  the  Sixth  General  Council 
AT  Constantinople,    a. d.  451-681 361 


CHAPTEIi  XVII. 

CHURCHES    OF    THE    NEW   TEUTONIC    KINGDOMS- 
PROGRESS  OF  THE   PAPACY. 

Cestukies  A'.  AND  VI 384 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
INTERNAL  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.   Centuries  IV.-VI.  399 

Notes  and  Illustrations : — 

(A.)  Early  Ecclesiastical  Calendars 483 

(B.)  The  Athanasian  Creed  and  the  Utrecht  Psalter        ..      ..  487 


BOOK   III. 

THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  EASTERN  CHUECII  AND  THE 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  HOLY  ROMAN  EMMEE. 

Centuries  VII.-X. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

POPE  GREGORY  THE  GREAT  AND  THE  FOUNDATION 

OF  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.     Century  VII 489 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  GERMANS,  AND  THE 
FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HOLY  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 
Century  VIII 518 

Xotes  and  Illustrations : — 
The  Controversy  on  Adoptionisni ..      ..   527 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.     Centuries  VII.-IX. 

Especially  tiik    JIoiiammedan  Conquest  and  the  Iconoclast 
Disputes 528 


CHAPTER  XXH. 
■^HE  WESTERN  CHURCH 

UNDER   THE    SUCCESSORS    OF    ClIARLES   THE    GrEAT.       CeNTURY    IX.       551 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY. 

From  the  Death  of  Pope  John  VIII.  to  the  Death  of  Poj>e 

Sylvester  II.     a.d.  882-1003      571 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
CONVERSION  OF  HEATHEN  NATIONS 
DURING  THE  Ninth,  Tenth,  and  following  Centuries 


585 


Mausoleum  of  Thcodoi ie,  at  Ruvi  una. 


Emblem  of  the  Church— Dove  and  Sheai.     From  a  Gem 

LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Engraved  Cross,  Monogram,  and  Emblems,  of  the  earliest  epoch         ..  Title 

Eucharistic  Bread  and  Wine v 

Oratory  at  Galerus  in  Kerry vi 

Diadem.     From  Ferrario         vii 

Mausoleum  of  Theodoric,  at  Ravenna xi 

Dove  and  Sheaf,  as  Emblems  of  the  Church sii 

Corona  Lucis,  with  liuttones  used  as  Lamps xiii 

The  Twelve  Apostles        xiv 

Episcopal  Chair         xxxi 

Symbol  of  the  Apostles ..xsxii 

Bethlehem  and  Jerusalem  as  Symbols xxxvi 

Upper  Half  of  the  Crucifixion  MS.  of  Rabula        1 

Christ  sitting,  with  the  Doctors  standing  before  Him 13 

Portrait  of  Christ.     From  a  Gem 27 

Ruins  of  the  Palace  of  the  Csesai's 28 

The  Roman  Catacombs.     Gallery  with  "Loculi "         61 

Cave-Church  of  the  Apocalypse  in  Patraos 81 

Altar  of  S.  Alessandro  on  the.  Via  Nomentana,  near  Rome 100 

Symbol  of  the  Church  as  a  Ship 101 

Abdon  and  Sennen,  Martyrs  under  Decius 126 

The  Crucifixion.     Diptych  of  Kambona 127 

Baptismal  Dove.     Catacomb  of  Poutianus 169 

Baptismal  Ceremony        170 

Ancient  Syrian  Church  of  the  Sixth  Century,  at  Kalb-Louzeh    ..       ..  192 

Church  of  St.  George,  Thessalonica        213 

Agape.     From  the  Cemetery  of  SS.  Marcellinus  and  Petrus        . .      . .  234 

The  Arch  of  Constantine 235 

'i\\Q  Laharum.     From  a  Coin 240 

The  Christian  Monogram  (two  forms) 240 

„                      on  an  early  engraved  Stone 241 

„                       on  an  Encolpion  of  Gold       241 

„  from  the  Catacombs  : 

(A)of  Callixtus;  (b)  and  (c)  of  St.  Agnes;  (d)  of  Domitia     ..      ..241 

(e)  from  the  Tomb  of  Flavia  Jovina          242 

Two  Portraits  of  Constantine  the  Great        264 

The  Basilica  of  St.  Paul  at  Rome 265 

Great  Cross  of  the  Lateran  :  in  Mosaic 285 

Church  of  S.  ApoUinare  in  Classe,  Ravenna 286 

Clerical  Costumes, 309 

Ambo  (Pulpit)  of  S.  ApoUinare  Nuovo,  Ravenna 334 

Ancient  Syrian  Church  of  the  Sixth  Century       348 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xiii 

PAGE 

The  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  at  Constantinoiile         361 

Portraits  of  Justinian  and  Theodora       371 

Ciborium  of  S.  Apollinare  in  Classe,  at  liaveuna 383 

Lombardic  Chapel  at  Friuli 384 

Sanctuaiy  of  S.  Apollinare  in  Ciasse 399 

Plan  of  the  Basilica  of  Keparatus 417 

Plan  of  the  Basilica  of  Trajan         419 

Plan  of  the  Cathedral  of  Parenzo 420 

Plan  of  the  Chapel  of  St.  Piran,  Cornwall 421 

Basilica  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  built  by  Constantine 422 

Gabbatha:  bowl-shaped  Lainp        4213 

Crown  of  Svintila,  King  of  the  Visigoths       ,  423 

Table-Altar  from  Auriol,  in  France        425 

Altar  or  Table,  from  a  mosaic  of  S.  Apollinare  in  Ciasse,  Ravenna     ..  42G 

Ciborium,  from  a  mosaic  in  the  Church  of  St.  George  at  Thessalouica  427 

Altar  of  St.  Anibrogio,  at  Milan 428 

Section  of  the  Basilica  of  St.  Agnes,  Rome 429 

Plan  of  Santa  Costanza,  Rome         430 

Plan  of  St.  Stefano  Rotondo,  Rome         431 

Plan  of  the  Cathedral  at  Bosrah 432 

Section  of  the  Church  of  SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus,  Constantinople..  432 

Plan  of  St.  Sophia,  Constantinople         433 

Plan  and  Section  of  St.  Vitale,  Ravenna        434 

A  Pectoral  Cross,  front  and  back 445 

The  Perpendicular  of  the  Vatican  Cross         440 

Theodelinda's  Crucifix 447 

Consular  Diptych  of  Stilicho 455 

Ancient  Baptistery  at  Aquileia      482 

Chalices,  from  a  Sarcophagus  at  Bordeaux 483 

Suspended  Chalices 486- 

Baptistery  at  Ravenna:   Elevation  and  Section 488 

St.  Martin's  Church,  Canterbury 489 

Crown  of  Charles  the  Great    ..' 518 

The  Second  Council  of  IS  ica;a 528 

The /conosiasis  or  Image-Stand  of  a  Greek  Church      550 

Presentation  of  a  Bible  to  Charles  the  Bald 551 

Chapel  of  St.  John  at  Poitiers        571 

Cathedral  at  Tchernigov,  near  Kiev       585 

Corona  Lucis  :  Crown  for  supporting  Lamps         G04 


Ooron.n  l.iiois,  with  Huttoiies  used  as  Lamps. 


The  Apostles. 

CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY.f  „.^„ 

B.C.  '  PAGB 

4.  The  Nativitv  of  Jescs  Christ  (Received  Era) 15 

A.D. 

14.  Tiberius  succeeds  Augustus  as  Emperor. 

27.  Public  Ministry  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  the  nucleus  of  His  Church  15 

30.  Death,  Resurrection,  and  Ascension  of  Christ 31 

Public  Manifestation  of  the  Christian  Church  at  Pentecost ..  31 

34?  Appointment  of />(,'aco)is      32 

36.  Martyrdom  of  Stephen.     Jewish  l*ersecution 33 

The  Church  scattered  from  Jerusalem         33 

Conversion  of  the  Samaritans  and  Proselytes 33 

37.  Caligula  Emperor. 

Conversion  of  St.  Paul ;  and  his  mission  to  the  Gentiles  ..       ..  34 

39.  Rest  of  the  Church  under  Caligula      34 

40.  Conversion  of  Cornelius  and  Gentile  Proselytes 35 

Simon  Magus,  said  to  be  an  heresiarch      33,220 

41.  First  Gentile  C/iwrcA  at  Antioch 35 

The  disciples  first  called  Christians 36 

Claudius  Emperor.     Herod  Agrii'PA  I.  King  of  Judea  ..      ..  37 

44.  Herod's  Persecution.     Martyrdom  of  St.  James  the  Great     ..  37 

45.  Paul  and  Barnabas  sent  to  the  Gentiles 38 

48  (or  50).  The  Assembly  ("  Council  ")  at  Jerusalem      40 

The  "Apostolic  Precepts  "      41 

54.  Nero  Emperor       44 

62.  Persecution  in  Judea.     Martyrdom  of  St.  James  the  Just    ..  47 


•  The  arrangement  of  our  work  by  subjects,  and  not  mere  clironologlcal  sequence, 
prevents  this  Tuble  from  being  a  ChronoloRlail  Summary  of  Contents  ;  but,  as  far  us 
possible,  we  append  to  each  entry  In  the  Table  the  corresponding  page  of  the  book. 

t  For  the  age  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  we  give  liere  only  the  nio>t  critical  dates 
properly  belonging  to  Church,  History.  The  full  chronological  table  will  bi!  found  in 
the  '  Student's  New  Testament  History,'  pp.  636.  foil. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XV 

A.D.  PAGE 

65.  First  "  General  Persecution"  hy  l^ero        53 

66.  Martyrdom  of  Paul  and  (probably)  of  Peter 54 

68.  Death  of  Nero:  Galisa  Kmperor. 

69.  Otho,  Vitellius,  and  Vespasian,  Emperors. 

70.  Destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus      55 

The  "Church  of  Jerusalem"  at  Pella 55 

79.  Titus,  Emperor. 
81.  DoMiTiAX,  Emperor. 

91-100?  Clement  of  Rome       .y^ 85 

9G  ?  Second  General  Pei-sccution.     St.  John  at  Patmos    . .      . .        56-58 

■^                The  Nicolaitans,  Cerinthus,  and  other  heretics         ..       ..  220 

90.  Nerva,  Emperor.     Religious  Toleration 58 

98.  Trajan,  Emperor.     His  Edict  against  Guilds 64 


SECOND  CENTURY. 

104?  Pliny's  account  of  Christianity ..  65 

IdQ,  i.  1\\^  Third  General  Persecution        07 

107.  The  Protomartyr  Svmeon  of  Jerusalem      67 

115  ?  Martyrdom  of  Ignatius,  bishop  of  Antioch       68 

The  "Epistles"  of  Ignatius          85 

117.  Hadrian,  Emperor       69 

125  (ciVc).  The  "Apologies"  of  QuADRATUS  and  Aristides    ..      ..  69 

132-5.  Insurrection  of  Bar-cochab,  and  desecration  of  Jerusalem     .,  70 

Final  Severance  of  Judaism  and  Christianity 70 

—Rise  of  Gnosticism.     The  Jewish  Gnostics;  Ehionites,  &c.      ..  71 

Basilidcs,  Valentinian,  and  other  Gnostics      221 

Marcion,  a  little  later       222 

138.  Antoninus  PiUS,  Emperor,  tolerates  Christianity 71 

First  "  Apology  "  of  Justin  Martyr 118 

150  (ciVc).  LuciAN  and  Celsus  oppose  Christianity 72 

160.  Controversy  about  Easter  :  Anicetus  and  Polycarp 210 

•^Rise  of  the  J/on<a«w<  heresy        154 

IGO  (ciVc).  Birth  of  Tertullian        152 

161.  Marcus  AuRELius  Antoninus,  Emperor 73 

166.  T\\&  Fourth  General  Persecution ''^ 

Martyrdom  of  Justin,  Melito,  and  Polycarp 75 

The  "Apologies"  of  Melito,  Tatian,  and  others 93 

177.  Persecution  in  Gaul.     The  Martyrs  of  Zj/on  and  T'itvuw  . .       ..  77 
1REN.EUS,    Bishop  of  Lyon,  his  work    "Against   Heresies"    77,95 

180.  COMMODUS,  Emperor ;  favours  Christianity        78 

The  Catechetical  School  of  Alexandria  founded  by  Pant^^enus  129 
Spread  of  Christianity   through   the   Empire    and  among   the 

barbarians         '<^9 

185.  Birth  of  Origen 133 


xvi  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A  n  PAGE 

193.  Septimics  Skvkrus,  Kmperor 101 

196.  Controversy  about  Kaster  :  Polycrates  and  Victor 211 

—200  (ciVc).  Patripassian  Heresies  of  Praxeas,  Noetus,  &c 231 

Birth  of  CypRiAN         159-60 


THIRD  CENTURY. 

202.  The  Fifth  General  Persecution 103 

The  "  Apology  "  of  Tertulliax.     He  becomes  a  Montanist       152  f. 

202  ?  Martyrdom  of  Iren;ecs  and  of  Pant.t.NL'S       96 

211.  Caracalla  and  (218)  Ei.AGAUALUS,  Emperors 104 

220  (cjVc).  Deaths  of  Tertullian  and  Clement  of  Alexandria      ..  132 

222.  Alexander  Severus,  Emperor;  his  toleration        104 

225  (ciVc).  Work  of  HiPPOLYTUS,  "  Against  all  Heresies  "        ..        149  f. 

226.  The  Persian  kingdom  revived  by  Ardshir 105 

•' Life  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana  "  by  PniLOSTRATUS      116 

232.  Sextus  Julius  Africaxus,  o6 147 

235.  Maximin,  Emperor.     Sixth  General  Persecution        105 

243.  Death  of  AmmoniUS  Saccas,  the  Neo-Platonist 122 

244.  Arabian  Synod  against  the  heretic  Beryllus       138 

Philip,  called  (very  doubtfully)  the  first  Christian  Emperor  ..  1C5 

248.  The  Millennian  festival  of  Rome 106 

Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage      IGO 

HeraCLAS,  catechist  and  bishop  of  Alexandria,  oi 145 

251.  Rise  of  J/o?jas<(ctsw.     Paul  of  Thebes        300-1 

Birth  of  St.  Anthony        300-1 

249.  Decius,  Emperor.     Seventh  General  Persecution       106 

Origen  sufters  as  a  Confessor       106 

Cyprian  flies.     Question  of  the  "  Lapsed  "        107,161 

250-1.  Schism  of  Felicissimus  and  Novatian      162,168 

251.  Gallus  and  (253)  Valerian,  Emperors 108 

253-6.  Dispute  on  Heretical  Baptism 162 

254  (cjVc).  Death  of  OuiGEN        138 

255-6.  Council  held  by  Cyprian  at  Carthage      162 

256  (ciVc).  Birth  of  Arius,  the  heresiarch         253 

21J7.  The  Eighth  General  Persecution 108 

258.  Martyrdom  of  Cyprian        109,166 

260.  Galltenus  Emperor.     First  Edicts  of  Toleration      109 

260,  f.  J/onarc/iwn  Heresy  of  Paul  of  Samosata 230 

262.  Synod  at  Rome  against  the  Sabellian  heresy      232 

270.  Aurelian,  Emperor 110 

Death  of  Plotinus,  the  >Jeo-Platonist        122 

Gregorius  Thaumaturgus,  o6 145 

Rise  of  the  Mauichean  heresy  in  Persia       224 

272  (or  274).  Birth  of  Constantine  the  Great 237 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xvii 

A.D.  J'ACE 

275.  Edict  against  the  Christians,  wrongly  called  the  Xinth  General 

Pcrsecuiion ;  revoked  by  the  Emperor  Tacitus 122 

Long  peace  and  growth  of  Christianity       122 

276.  Gothic  wars  of  Pkouus  and  (278)  Cakus  and  his  Sons      ..       ..  122 

277  (cjVc).  Manes  put  to  death  by  Varanes        224 

2S0  (circ).  St.  Anthony  becomes  a  hermit 302 

284.  Diocletian,  Emperor  (^M(7Ms<Ms) ;      110 

286.       associates  Maximian,  as  Augustus  in  the  West ; 

292.       and  Galkrius,  as  Ccesar  in  the  East ; 

and  CONSTAXTICS  Cmlorus,  as  Civsar  in  the  West. 

New  Constitution  of  the  Empire 110 

Christians  at  court  and  in  high  places        IIU 

Partial  persecution  by  Maximian:  the  "Theban  Legion"      110-111 
Christianity  generally  diffused  in  and  beyond  the  Empire  111  f. 

290.  DonOTiiEUS,  of  Antioch,  of) 147 

300  (c(>c.).  Lactantius  at  Nicomedia         327 

Armenia  converted  by  GREGORY  the  Illuminator  ..       ..    37U 


FOURTH  CENTURY. 

:i03.  The  great  Tenth  General  Persecution 124 

St.  Aluan  the  proto-martyr  of  Britain      125 

HiEKOCLES,  persecutor  and  literary  opponent  of  Christianity  ..  117 

304.  PoKPiiYRV,  Neo-Platonist,  opponent  of  Christianity,  o6.  ..        122-3 

305.  Abdication  of  Diocletian  and  Maximian        125 

Galerius,  .<4u(/MstMS  in  the  East 125 

Maximin,  Cccsa;- in  Syria  and  Egypt          125 

Severus,  Ctcsar  in  Italy  and  Africa 125 

Constantius  I.  CiiLORUS,  Augustus  in  the  West      125 

306.  His  death  at  York  ;  and  pi-oclamation  of 

Constantine  THE  Great  as  Ccrsnr*         126 

Severus  made  Augustus  by  Galerius 126 

Maxentius,  son  of  Maximian,  proclaimed  Augustus  at  Rome.  126 

The  Persecution  continued  in  the  East        126 

Meletian  Schism  in  Egypt 259 

307.  Severus  killed  in  battle  by  Maxentius         126 

308.  Licinics  declared  Augustus  by  Galerius  ;  likewise  Constantine 

and  Maximin  (there  are  now  4  August! ;  besides  Maxentius)    126 

309.  Pamphilus  of  Cxsarea  martyred         146 

311.  Hesychius,  Methodius,  and  Lucius  martyred      146-7 

Edict  of  toleration  by  Galerius.     His  death        128 

Death  of  Mensurius,  bishop  of  Carthage.     Donatist  Schism     -..    249 


•  His  regnal  years  are  dated  from  306,  though  he  was  not  Aujustus  till  308. 


xviii  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  rAGE 

312.  Victory  of  CONSTANTINE  over  Maxentius 128,239 

313.  Edict  OF  Milan,  establishing  Universal  Freedom  of  Eelijion  128,  243 
313-323.  Other  Acts  in  favour  of  Christianity 244 

^'GIS,  f.  Lateran  Council  against  the  Donatists 249 

-314.  Council  at  Arelate  (^r/c's) 249 

315.  Don  ATUS  "the  Great"  made  bishop  of  Carthage       249 

315  (cjVc).  Eusehius  made  bishop  of  Cajsarea 310-11 

316.  Edicts  of  Constantine  against  the  Donatists        249-50 

318.  Dispute  between  Alkxander,   bishop  of  Alexandria,  and  the 

—^)resbyter  Auius  on  the /tOTWooMSjan  doctrine         2'>Z 

321.  Excommunication  of  Arius  by  a  Synod        253 

324.  Defeat  of  Licinius.     Constantine,  sole  Emperor,  publicly  pro- 

fesses Christianity,  and  recommends  it  to  his  subjects  ..  237 

Constantinople  founded  245 

An  QScumcnical  Council  summoned      245 

End  of  the  "  Ecclesiastical  History"  of  Eusebi us        311 

325.  The  I'tcenwato  of  Constantine      25G 

-"First  Oecumenical  Council  at  Nic^ea  :   condemns  Arius ; 

frames  the  "  Nicene  Creed"  (comp.  a.d.  381);  settles  the 

Paschal  Feast  (Easter) 258-59 

Pachomius,  founder  of  ccenobite  monasticism  in  Egypt     ..      ..  306 
End  of  the  "  Chronicon"  of  Eusebius  (but  continued  by  Jerome 

to  378) 312 

328.  Atiianasius,  bishop  of  Alexandria      260 

329  (cjVc).  Birth  of  Basil  THE  Great      313 

330  (ciVc).  Death  of  Lactantius        327 

Birth  of  Gregory  ^'AZIANZEN        317 

333.  Jambliciius,  the  Neo-Platonist,  o6 122 

-834-5.  Councils  of  Cajsarea  and  Tyre  against  Athanasius 260 

336.  His  first  Exile.     Death  of  Arius 261 

337.  Baptism  and  Death  of  Constantine  THE  Great     247 

Constantine  IL,  Constantius  II.,  and  Con.stans,  Emperors  .  247 

338.  Return  of  Athanasius.     Schism  and  Riots  at  Alexandria        ..    261 
340.  Constantine  II.  killed  in  battle        248 

Eusebius  of  Ca!sarea,  o6 311 

340  (oiVc).  Birth  of  HiERONYMUS  (St.  Jerome)       328 

--341.  The  Council  of  Antioch  condemns  Athanasius 248 

His  Second  Rxile.     He  is  received  at  Rome         262 

Eusebius  of  Nicomc-vlia  maile  patriarch  of  Constantinople         ..  262 
His  death.     Schism  between  Macedonius  and  Paul. 

~343.  The  Council  of  Sardica  against  Arianism 262 

-Rival  Council  at  Philippopolis 262 

Persecution  by  Sapor  II.,  king  of  Persia 289 

345  (or  346).  Second  Restoration  of  Athanasius         262 

347.  John  Chkysostom  born       320 

348.  Ulkilas  bishop  of  the  Goths        288-9 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xix 

A.D.  I'AGK 

350.  CONSTANS  killed  in  Gaul       248 

Cyril,  bishop  of  Jerusalem 32-t 

Hilary,  bishop  of  Pictavum  (/Vi/cvs)       323 

_o51.  First  Council  of  Sirmium  against  Marcellus. 

353-5.  Ariaa  Councils  of  Aries  and  Milan 262 

354.  Birth  of  Augustine 336 

356.  Third  Exile  of  Athanasius 263 

357-60.  Death  of  St.  Anthony.     His  '  Life '  by  Athanasius   gives  a 

great  impulse  to  Monasticism 304 

— Several  Councils  on  the  Arian  dispute        264 

360.  Monastic  life  of  Basil  and  Gricgory  Nazianzen     ..      ..   314,318 

361.  JuLiAX  "the  Apostate,"  Emperor       266 

362.  The  public  rites  of  heathenism  restored      270 

Liberty  proclaimed  for  all  Christian  sects 270 

Third  return  and  fourth  exile  of  Athanasius      271 

-  362  (or  370  circ).  The  Sy7iod  of  Gatujra  opposes  the   growing  zeal 

for  monasticism  and  celibacy 307 

363.  JoviAX,  Emperor.     Christianity  restored 271 

Edict  of  toleration  for  all  religions      271 

364.  Valentixiax  (in  West)  and  Valexs  (in  East),  Emperors       ..    271 
The  Arian  Valens  persecutes  the  Orthodox         271 

367.  GUATIAN  associated  with  Valentisian  L  in  the  West    ..       ..    272 

368.  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  o6 328 

370.  Basil,  bishop  of  Ca;sarea  in  Cappadocia 314 

371.  HiLARiON,  chief  of  Syrian  hermits,  oi 304 

372.  Council  of  Laodicea       293 

Gregory  Nyssi:n,  bishop  of  Nyssa 316 

Traditional  date  of  St.  Patrick's  birth      506 

373.  Death  of  Athanasius.     Sohism  at  Alexandria 271-2 

374.  Ambrose  chosen  bishop  of  Milan         274 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  bishop  of  Nazianzus       318 

Augustine  joins  the  Manicheans        j      ..    337 

375.  Death  of  Valentixian  L     Valentinian  H.  (o-^.  4)  associated 

with  Gratian  in  the  West        272 

—Rise  of  the  Apollinarian  heresy 350 

379.  Valens  killed  in  battle  with  the  Goths        350 

TiiEODOSius  L  THE  Great  made  Emperor  in  the  East      ..       ..    350 
Death  of  Basil  the  Great  and  of  Ephr.em  Syrus         ..   315,  325 

380.  Edicts  of  both  Emperors  against  Pagans  and  heretics        ..        272-3 
Mission  of  Gregory  Nazianzen  to  Constantinoj)le.     He  is 

elected  to,  and  resigns,  the  Patriarchate  of  Constantinople  272-3 

381.  Second  (Ecumenical  Council,  the  First  of  Constantin- 

ople.    Addition  to  the  Nicene  Creed 273-4 

^facedonian  and  ApoUinarian  heresies  condemned      274 

381  (and  385).  Laws  against  heathen  rites  in  the  East  and  West    ..    280 


•XX  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE, 

A.n.  PAGE 

382,  Removal  of  the  Altar  of  Victory  at  Rome 280 

Plea  of  Symmachus  for  Paganism       280 

Jerome  at  Rome 330 

383.  Revolt  of  Maximus  and  death  of  Gratian        276 

Augustine  at  Rome  :  he  renounces  Manicheism       337 

385.  Jerome  i-etires  to  his  monastery  at  Bethlehem         33-1 

Contest  of  Ambrose  with  the  Arian  empress-mother  Justina  276-8 

Augustine  is  with  Ambrose  at  Milan        276-8,  337 

The  heretic  Priscillian  beheaded  in  Gaul 28S 

Earliest  Papal  Decretal  Epistle  (of  Siricius)  against  the  Marriage 

of  the  Clergy 296 

386.  Cyril,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  o5 325 

Commission  to  close  the  temples  in  Egypt ..  280 

387.  Augustine  baptized.     Death  of  Monica 338 

388.  Augustine  returns  to  Carthage -. 338 

Victory  of  Theodosius  over  Maximus 278 

390.  Death  of  the  heretic  Apollinaris 350 

Massacre  of  Thessalonica.     Penance  of  Theodosius 278 

Plea  of  LiBANius  for  Paganism 281 

Destruction  of  the  Serapeum  at  Alexandria       281 

390  (or  391).  Gregory  Nazianzen,  o6 319 

392,  Valentinian  II.  ob.     Theodosius  I.  sole  Emperor 282 

Edicts  against  Paganism  and  Heresy 282-3 

393,  Augustine,  bishop  of  Hippo  Regius 338 

Council  at  Hippo  Regius 342 

394,  DiODORUS,  bishop  of  Tarsus,  o6 351 

395,  Death  and  Apotheosis  of  Theodosius  1 279,283 

Final  Division  of  the  Empire  between  Arcadius  (in  the  East) 

and  HoNORius  (in  the  West)  ..      283 

395  (cjVc).  Gregory  Nyssen,  o6 317 

Didymus  of  Alexandria,  o6 319 

"■397.   Coitnpil  of  Ca7-thage  settles  the  Canon  of  Holy  Scripture  ..       .,  342 

Death  of  Ambrose        279 

398.  Chrvsostom,  patriarch  of  Constantinople 321 

400  (or  397).  St.  Martin,  bishop  of  Turonum  (7b?»'s),  o6 308 

400  (c(Vc.).  Augustine  writes  his  "Confessions"       341 


FIFTH  CENTURY. 

402.  The  Western  capital  transferred  to  Ravenna      283 

Innocent  I.  extends  the  papal  jurisdiction        394 

Epipiianius  of  Cyprus,  o6 323 

Contest  of  Chi-ysostom  with  the  Empress  Eudoxia 321 

404.  Gladiatorial  shows  and  heathen  sacrifices  abolished 284 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxi 

A.D.  PAGE 

405.  The  Barbarians  invade  Gaul         386 

Settlement  of  the  BuRGUNDiANS         386 

The  Vandals  and  SuEVES  in  Spain 386 

407.  Banishment  and  death  of  CiiRYSOSroM        321-2 

408.  Death  of  Arcadius.     Theodosius  II.  Emperor  in  East       ..       ..    284 

410.  Sack  of  Rome  by  the  Goths  under  Alaric 386 

410-32  ?  St.  NiNiAN,  apostle  of  the  Picts o04 

411.  Pelagius  and  CcELESTius  in  Africa 344 

^^Rise  of  the  Fclagian  Heresy         345 

412-16.  Various  Synods  against  it       345-6 

412  (cw-c).  Cyril,  bishop  of  Alexandria 352 

Paulus  Orosius,  historian  and  anti-Pelagian 345 

411.  Council  at  Carthage  against  the  Donatists  215 

415.  Severe  laws  ofHonorius  against  them        215 

Kingdom  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain 386 

"418.  The  ^'i/norf  o/ C(»'</iaje  condemns  Pelagianism 346 

Theodoric  I.  King  of  the  Visigoths 386 

Honorius  interferes  in  a  Papal  election       394 

420.  Death  of  Jerome 333 

Persecution  of  Christians  in  Persia      290 

420  (circ).  Theodore  r,  bishop  of  Cyrus,  commentator 352 

423.  St.  Symeox  Stylites 304 

Death  ot  Honorius       284 

425.  Valentinian  III.  ((Tf.  6)  Emperor  in  the  West        284 

426.  St.  Honoratus,  bishop  of  Aries,  founds  the  monastery  of  Lerins    308 

428.  Nestorius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople 351 

—  Rise  of  the  iVes^o?-(<«i  ^t'r(?S'/        351 

429.  St.  Germanus  of  Auserre  visits  Britain 506 

The  Fa/icJcf/s  led  into  Africa  by  Genseric 339 

Death  of  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia         351 

430.  Nestorius  condemned  by  a  Council  at  Rome       352 

Death  of  Augustine 339 

"431.  Third  CEcumenical  Council,  at  Ephesus  :    condemns  Nes- 
torius, the  Pelagians,  and  Apollinarianism 353  f. 

Pallabius,  missionary  to  the  Scots  in  Ireland 505 

432.  Mission  of  Patricius  (St.  Patrick):  traditional  date        ..       ..    507 

John  Cassian,  monk  and  semi-Pelagian,  ob 308,  347 

435.  Edict  of  Theodosius  II.  for  the  destruction  of  heathen  temples 

or  their  use  as  churches  ..       284 

439.  Carthage  taken  by  the  Vandals  ;  Africa  conquered 387 

Persecution  by  the  Arian  Genseric 387 

440,  f.  Leo.  the  Great  extends  the  Papal  power      395 

444.  DiOSCORUS,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  leader  of  the  Monoj)h]jsite  party  356 
^-Hise  o£  the  Eutychian  Heresy       ..       ..    357 

445.  Law  of  Valentinian   III.    asserting   the   supremacy  of  the 

Bishop  of  Rome        395 


xxii  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.I).  PAGB 

447.  TiiEODORKT  opposes  the  Eutychians 357 

448.  EuTYCiiES  deposed  at  Constantinople 357 

449.  The  "Tome"  of  Pope  Leo  THE  Great        357 

The  "7i'o66«'r-iS''//iorf"  at  Ephesus 357 

Deposition  and  JIurder  of  the  patriarch  Flavian 358 

450.  Death  of  Theodosius  II 285 

Maucian',  Emperor  in  the  East,  with  PULCHERIA 358 

St.  Vincen'T  of  Lerins,  monk  and  semi -Pelagian,  oh.         ..   308,  347 

^^51.  TheFocrth  Q-]ccmexicalCol'XCIL,  atCiialcedox:  condemns 

the  Eutychians  ;  New  Confession  of  Faith 359 

The  See  of  C6nstantinople  declared  second  to  Rome,  but  with 

equal  rights 360 

-452,  f.  Renewal  of  the  Monophysite  disputes      362-3 

452.  Attila  defeated  at  Chalons.     Theo DORIC  slain         ..       ..        386  n. 

455.  Valentinian  in.  killed  at  Ravenna 387 

Sack  of  Rome  by  Genseric  and  the  Vandals        387 

457.  Leo  I.  the  Thracian,  Emperor  in  the  East  363 

Death  of  Tiieodoret  ;  and  of  Deogratics,  bishop  of  Carthage    388 

474.  Leo  II.  and  Zeno,  Emperors  in  the  East 363 

475.  The  usurper  Basiliscus  supports  the  Monophysites 363 

Semi-Pelagian  Synods  at  Aries  and  Lyon 347 

476.  End  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  ^Vest        364 

477.  Restoration  of  Zeno,  whom  the  Senate  of  Rome  acknowledge  as 

so'e  Eomin  Emperor        365 

Hunneric,  Vandal  King  of  Africa  :  Arian  persecution     ..       ..  388 

480  (ciVc).  Birth  of  Benedict  of  Nursia 406 

482.  The  i/enoiicon  of  Zeno  published         365 

Severinos,  the  "  apostle  of  Noricum,"  o6 510 

483.  King  Odoacer  claims  a  voice  in  papal  elections        396 

484.  Schism  between  the  East  and  West  for  thirty-five  years  ..       ..  366 

Arian  Council  of  Carthage,  and  great  persecution      388 

The  "African  Martyrs"  of  Typasa      389 

485.  Pkoclus,  the  Neo-Platonist,  o'j 122 

489.  School  of  Edessa  dissolved  by  Zeno      • 355 

The  Ostrogoths  in  Italy 392 

491.  Anastasu'S  I.  Emperor.     Monophysite  disputes       367 

492.  Traditional  date  of  St.  Patrick's  death 506 

493.  TiiEgDORiC  I.  King  of  the  Ostrogoths  at  Rome 392 

496.  Nestorian  patriarchate  at  Ctesiphon  on  the  Tigris 350 

Baptism  of  Clovis,  King  of  the  Salian  Franks 390 

498.  The  "Chalda;an"    Nestorians    in    Persia  renounce    connection 

with  Rome        355 

Theodoric  decides  a  disputed  papal  election        396 

500  (ciVc).  The  Bishop  of  Rome  first  called  Pope     396  n. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  •  xxiii 

SIXTH  CENTURY". 

A  D.  PACK 

511.  First  Council  of  the  Frank  Church  at  Orleans 391 

Death  of  Clovis 391 

518.  Jl'STIX  I.  Emperor.     Restoration  of  Orthodoxy         368 

519.  Reconciliation  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches        ..       ..  368 
5'23.  Justin's  Edicts  against  Heretics 369 

Manicheans  condemned  to  death 369 

Theodoric  asserts  the  principle  of  toleration      3G9 

526.  First  visit  of  a  Pope  (John  I.)  to  Constantinople       369 

Law  of  Theodoric  on  the  election  and  confirmation  of  I'opes    ..  397 

Death  of  King  Theodoric       392 

527.  Accession  of  Justinian  I.  and  TiiKODORA 369 

529.  Benedict  of  Nursia  founds  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cass;no  ..  407 

The  "Rule  of  St,  Benedict"        407 

The  Schools  of  Athens  closed  by  Justinian         371 

529-30.  Synods  of  Orange  and  Valence  against  semi-Arianism         ..  347 

532.  Burning  of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople 370 

533.  Remigius  (St.  Remi),  bishop  of  Rheims,  c/6 391 

534.  Africa  recovered  from  the  Vandals  by  Belisariiis  ;  and  Ariiiuism 

extinguished  there 389 

535.  The  Empress  Theodora  favours  the  Monophysites      371 

537.  Schism  of  the  Monophysite  Copts  of  Egypt        381 

541.  Renewed  condemnation  of  Origenism 372 

Jacob  Baradai,  Monophysite  Patriarch  of  Syria      379 

543.  Death  of  St.  Benedict  of  Nursia 407 

544,  Justinian's  Edict  against  the  "  Three  Chapters"       372 

552.  Severance    of  the    Armenian    Monophysite    Church   from   the 

Orthodox  Eastern  Church        380 

-553.  Fifth  IFIcumenical  Council:  the  Second  of  Cunstantinople    373,  f. 

554.  End  of  the  Gothic  Kingdom  of  Italy 393 

The  jETxarc/ia^^  o/ T^arennx  established        393 

562.  Second  dedication  of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople 371 

563.  Foundation  of  the  Scottish  Church  at  lona  by  COLUMisA  ..       ..  508 
565.  Justin  II.  Emperor.     Edict  of  toleration 375 

End  of  the  IMonophysite  Controversy 375 

568.  The  Lombard  kingdom  in  Italy 393 

578.  TiHEiuus  II.  Emperor.     Origenist  disputes        491 

582.  Mauricius,  Emperor 491 

589.  Spain  renounces  Arianism  at  the  Council  of  Toledo,  under  King  . 

Recared 392 

590.  Gregory  I.  the  Great  elected  Pope 491 

595.  The  Monophysite    Armenian  Synod    at    Thwin  condemns    the 

decrees  of  Chalcedon         380 

596.  Mission  of  Augustine  to  Britain        496 

Death  of  COLUMBA         508 


xxiv  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.I).  TAGf. 

.')97.   Baptism  of  Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent         497 

583.  f.  Dispute  on  the  title  of  "(Ecumenical  Patriarch"  ..       ..    398,493 


SEVENTH  CENTURY. 

602.  Phoc AS,  Emperor 493 

604.  The  British  (Welsh)  bishops  reject  Augustine 502 

Gregory  the  Great  and  Augustine,  ob 494 

611.  Heracuus,  Emperor.     War  with  Chosroes  II.  of  Persia         ..  529 

015.  Death  of  St.  COLUIIBAN       510 

622.  Rise  of  Mohammed.     Epoch  of  the  Ilcgira        530 

627.  Conversion  of  Northumbria  by  Paulixus 503 

Death  of  St.  Gall,  the  "apostle  of  Switzerland" 510 

636.  Isidore  of  Seville,  o6 561 

637.  Jerusalem  taken  by  the  Caliph  Omar 531 

638.  il/ono<Ae/(<e  disputes.     The  iftiAes/s  of  Heraclius       375 

641.  Mohammedan  conquest  of  Egypt         381,531 

642.  CONSTANS  II.   Emperor.     (648)  His  "  Type  ;"    condemned    by 

the  First  Lateran  Synod  under  Martin  1 376 

653.  Imprisonment  and  death  of  Martin  1 377 

664.  Sjnod  of  Streoneshalh    (Whitby :    Stjnodtis   F/iarensis),  under 

King  Oswy,  adopts  Roman  usages .-.      511-12 

668.  Constantixe  IV.  Pogonatus,  Emperor 377 

Theodore  of  Tarsus,  archbishop  of  Canterbury       513 

672.  The  Venerable  Bede  born 516 

673.  S>jnod  of  Hertford  :  practical  union  of  the  English  Church       ..    513 

674.  Benedict  Biscop  founds  Wearmouth  Monastery      516 

678.  Benedict  Biscop  brings  pictures  into  Britain 451 

Wilfrid  visits  the  Frisians 519 

679.  Council  at  Rome  under   Pope  Agatiio  condemns    the  ^lono- 

thelites.     (Wilfrid  present)         377 

680  (arc).  Winfrid  (St.  Boniface)  born        519 

680-1.  The    Sixth    (Ecumenical    Council,    the    Third    of  Con- 
stantinople   {First     Trullan),   condemns    the    Monothelite 

heresy 377-8,  493,  532 

682.  Benedict  Biscop  founds  Jarrow  monastery 516 

684.  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow  united  under  abbot  Ceolfrith  ..       ..    516 

685.  Wilfrid  converts  the  South  Saxons,  the  last  heathen  people  in 

Britain       544 

691.  The  Sccojid  Trullan  Council  at  Constantinople  {Concilium  Quini- 

sex/um)  on  discipline  ;  approves  the  Cr!(c(^j         446 

696.  WiLLiBRORD,  archbishop  of  Utrecht,  preaches  in  Denmark  519,  587 
698.  Carthage  taken  by  the  Arabs;  final  end  of  Roman  rule  in  Africa  531 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XXV 


EIGHTH  CENTURY. 

i-I>.  PAGE 

701.  John  Maron,  the  younger,  of  the  Lebanon,  oi 382 

709.  Arab  conquest  of  North  Africa  complete 531 

Death  of  Wilfrid,  bishop  of  York      515 

710.  Naitun,  king  of  the  Picts,  sends  for  architects  to  build  churches 

after  the  Roman  fashion 515 

711.  Mohammedan  conquest  of  Spain '.        531-2 

716.  Mission  of  Winfrid  (St.  Boniface)  to  Frisia        519 

717.  Leo  III.  the  Isaurian,  Emperor 532 

724.  Leo's  first  edict  against  Pictui-es ;  beginning  of  the  Iconoclast 

Disputes 533 

731.  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  Jlistori/ comi^htei 517 

A   Roman   Council,    under  Gregory  III.,   anathematizes   (he 

Iconoclasts        535 

732.  Egbert,  archbishop  of  York        517 

Charles  Martel  defeats  the  Saracens  at  Tours       520 

733.  Greece  and   Illyricum  transferred  by  the  Emperor  Leo  to  the 

patriarchate  of  Constantinople        535 

735.  The  Venerahle  Bede,  06.     Alcuin  born         516-7 

739.  Death  of  WiLLiimoRD 519 

741.  Deaths  of  Leo  III.,  Charles  Martel,  and  Gregory  III.     522,  535 
CoxsTANTiNE  V.  CoPROXYMrs,  Emperor 535 

742.  Boniface  made  Archbishop  of  Mainz         521 

The  Monastery  of  Fulda  founded 522 

750.  .loHN  OF  Damascus,  ob 534-5 

752.  Pepin  the  Short  deposes  Childeric,  the  last  Merovinfjian 
king  of  the  Franks ;  founds  the  Carolitiijian  I)i/nastij,  with 
the  sanction  of  Pope  Zacharias.  Severance  of  the  West 
from  the  Empire       521 

754.  Iconoclast  Council  at  Constantinople 536 

Pepin  named  Patrician  of  Rome  by  Pope  Stephen  II 522 

755.  His  expedition  to  Italy,  and  Donation  to  the  Roman  See,  which 

first  makes  the  Pope  a  Temporal  Prince        523 

Boniface  martyred  in  Frisia         521 

767.  Execution  of  Constantine,  patriarch  of  Constantinople      ..       ..  536 
Synod  of  Gentilliacum  on  the  question  of  Images      539 

768.  Pepin  06.     Charles  and  Carlomax,  kings      523 

771.  Charles  the  Great,  sole  King  of  the  Franks 523 

772.  First  Campaign  of  Charles  against  the  Saxons  ;  destruction  of 

the  Irminsul 525 

774.  Charles    overthrows    the    Lomhard  Kingdom;    confirms    and 

enlarges  the  Donation  of  Pepm       523 

775.  Leo  IV.  Emperor.     Irene  favours  Image-worship    ..      ..       536-7 

2 


xxvi  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  J-AGB 

780.  CONSTANTINE  VL  Emperor.     Irene  governs 537 

Alouix  goes  to  Rome  ;  meets  Charles,  and  accepts  his  invita- 
tion to  court 527 

~783.  The  "J(iy/)<wnisr' dispute.     Felix  of  Urgel 526 

785.  Pope  Adrian  I.  condemns  Adoptionism      527 

787.  Seventh  OSccmenical  Council,  the  Second  of  Niccea,  autho- 
rizes Image-worship         537 

Charles  the  Great  conquers  South  Italy 523 

790.  The  Zi6ri  Caro/mj  issued      539 

794.  General  Council  of  the  West  at  Frankfort 540 

795.  Pope  Leo  III.  a'cknowledges  the  supremacy  of  Charles      ..       ..  523 

796.  Alouin  abbot  of  St.  Martin  at  Tours 526 

796  (cjVc).  Charles    founds  a   church  at  Hamburg   for  the  region 

beyond  the  Elbe  (A'orcf((/6m^ja)       587 

799.  Council  of  Aix  on  Adoptionism.    Alcuin  convinces  Felix  ..       ..    527 
800  (Christmas  Day).     Charles  the  Great  crowned  by  Leo  III.  at 
Rome  as  AUGUSTUS  and  King  of  Italy.     Beginning  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire     524 

NINTH  CENTURY. 

804.  Conquest  of  the  Saxons  by  Charles      525 

Death  of  Alcuin 525 

809.  Council  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  on  the  "fiUoque"  in  the  Creed. 

812.  The    new    Western    Empire    acknowledged    by    the    Eastern 

Emperor,  NiCEi'HORUS 524-5 

813.  Leo  V.  the  Armenian,  Eastern  Emperor 541 

814.  He  orders  the  removal  of  images        542 

Louis  I.  the  Pious  succeeds  his  father  Charles 548,  552 

816,  f.  Reformation  of  the  Frank  Church 553 

817.  LOTHAIR  I.  associated  in  the  Empire 553 

820.  Michael  II.  Balbus,  Eastern  Emperor      642 

821.  Benedict  OF  Ani AN E,  monastic  reformer,  «& 553 

823.  Ebbo,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  missionary  to  Denmark         ..       ..    587 

824.  Letter  of  Michael  to  Louis  on  Images      542,548 

825.  Council  of  Paris  on  Image-worship      548 

826.  Theodore  the  Studite,  supporter  of  Images,  of> 541-2 

Mission  of  Anskau  to  Denmark 587 

Harold,  King  of  Denmark,  baptized  at  Ingelheim 587 

827.  Missionaries  expelled  from  Denmark 588 

Anskar's  mission  to  Sweden        588 

Beginning  of  the  Saracen  rule  in  Sicily. 

Dispute  of  Claudius,  Duxgal,  &c.,  oo  Images 548 

829.  Theopiiilus,  Eastern  Emperor,  opposes  Imago-worship    ..       ..  543 
The  Sixth  Council  of  Paris  claims  episcopal  jurisdiction  over 

princes      558 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxvii 

A.D.  I'AGE 

832.  Synod  at  Constantinople  against  Images 543 

833.  AxsKAR  made  archbishop  of  Hamburg       588 

Louis  the  Pious  deposed.     The  "  Field  of  Lies" ,")55 

833  (cjVc).  Vrohahle  date  o{  the  Fseiido-IsidoriaH  Decretals      ..       ..  50 1 

835.  Louis  I.  restored.     Synod  of  Thionville       555 

840.  Claudius  of  Turin  and  Agobard  of  Lyon,  06 548 

Death  of  Louis  the  Pious  :  civil  war  of  his  sons         555 

841.  Battle  of  Foutenailles 555 

842.  MiCHAKL  III.  (cc^.  5)  Eastern  Emperor        543 

His  mother  Theodora  restores  Image-\vorshij> 543 

The  Feast  of  Orthodoxy        54;; 

843.  Treafy  0/ T'tvcfMrt  ;  partition  of  the  Frank  Kingdom 55G 

LOTHAIR  I.  Emperor,  and  King  of  Zof/iaWn^w  ..       „       ..       ..  556 

Louis  THE  German,  King  of  Ccnmray       556 

Charles  the  Bald,  King  of  France 556 

844.  Pasciiasius  Radisert,   abbot  of  Corbie,  an<l    P.atramn  : 
Eiicharistic  Controversij  in  the  YvAnk  C\nu-{:)\ 564 

845.  HiNCMAR,  archbishop  of  Rheims 548-9,558 

Some  Bohemian  chiefs  baptized  at  Ratisbon       595 

847.  The  archbishoprics  of  Hamburg  and  Bremen  united 589 

847,  f.  Controversy    on    Predestination  :    Gottschalk   and    Raijax 

Maur        566-68 

848-9.  Councils  of  Mainz  and  Quiercy  against  Gottschalk        . .       . .    568 
Johannes  ScOTUS.  writes  on  Predestination      568 

852.  Pope  Leo  IV.  fortifies  the  Zeo«me  Ci'^i' at  Rome      558 

853.  Second  Council  of  Quiercy.     The  Capitula  Carisiaca         ..       ..    569 

855.  Eric  II.     Progress  of  Christianity  in  Denmark          589 

Council  of  Valence  in  favour  of  Gottschalk        570 

LoTHAiR  I.  06.     Louis  II.  Emperor 570 

856.  Raisan  Maur,  06 570 

857.  Photius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople 544 

858.  Pope  Nicolas  L  and  the  Eastern  Church 544-5 

The  first  Pope  who  was  crowned 559 

859-60.  Councils  of  Savonnieres  and  Toucy        570 

Work  of  HiNCMAR  on  Predestination 570 

861  ?  Baptism  of  BoGORis,  King  of  Bulgaria      545 

863.  Cyril  and  Methodius,  the  "apostles  of  Moravia"  ..      ..        593-4 

Synod  of  Metz       570 

The  ^^  Tri7ia  Deltas"  and '^ Sancta  Deitas"         570 

Synod  at  Rome.     NiCOLAS  condemns  PiiOTius 545 

865.  Death  of  Anskab 589 

867.  The  "  Encyclical  "  and  Council  of  Photius  against  Pope  Nicolas 

and  the  Roman  Church,  as  "apostate"  and  "Antichrist"  ..  546 
Basil  I.  the  Macedonian,  Eastern  Emperor,  deposes  Photius, 

and  acknowledges  the  autliority  of  Pope  Adrian  II 546 

Pope  Adrian  II.  worsted  in  his  contest  with  the  Frank  Church  559 


xxviii  CHKOJSOLOGICAL  TABLt. 

A.I).  TAGE 

8G8.  Methodius  bishop  of  the  Moravians 594 

869.  The    Eighth   General   Council   (as    aoknowledged   bv   the 

Homans)  at   Constantinople  condemns  Photius,  and  finally 
sanctions  Image-worship         546 

870.  Greek  Christianity  in  Servia        550 

871?  Baptism  of  Boiiziwoi,  duke  of  Bohemia 595 

872.  John  VIII.  Pope.     Contest   about  Bulgaria,    which   is  finally 

united  to  the  Greek  Church 547 

•875.  Charles  the  Bald  crowned  Emperor  by  John  VIII 556 

His  concessions  to  the  Roman  See       560 

876-7.  Louis  the  German  and  Charles  the  Bald,  ob 556-7 

878.  Baptism  of  GuTHORM  the  Dane  in  England        558 

Photius  restored  to  the  Patriarchate 547 

879.  The  Eighth  General  Council  (of  the  Greeks)  at  Constan- 

tinople)       547 

880  (circ).  JOHANNES  ScOTUS  Erigena,  ob. 

882.  HiNCMAR  dies  in  e.xile.     John  VIII.  o& 560 

882,  f.  Degradation  of  the  Papacy.     Factions  and  confusion     . .        572-3 
884-87.  Charles  the  Fat,  Emperor  ;  temporary  reunion  and  final 

partition  of  the  Frank  kingdoms 557 

886.  Bishop  Wichixg's  per.secution  in  Moravia 594 

Leo  VI. .THE  Wise,  Eastern  Emperor,  deposes  Photius     ..       ..  547 

888.  RiMBERT,  Archbishop  of  Bremen,  ob 590 

896.  Arnulf  crowned  Emperor  by  Pope  FORMOSUS 573 

891.  Death  of  Photius 547 

899.  Louis  THE  Child  King  of  the  Germans      557 

900  (circ).  GORM  the  Old,  first  King  of  all  Denmark,  destroys  the 

Chiistian  Churches 590 


TENTH  CENTURY. 

904.  The  "  pornocracy  "  at  Rome         573-4 

905-20.  Dispute  about  the  fourth  marriage  of  Leo  VI 549 

908.  Conquest  of  Moravia  by  the  Bohemians  and  Magyars        ..       ..  594 

End  of  its  independent  Church 594 

910.  The  abbey  of  Clugny  founded  by  Berno. 

911.  Louis  THE  Child  o'.».     End  of  the  Carolingians  in  Germany     ..  557 
Baptism  of  Rollo,  and  cession  of  Normandy      558 

915.  Berengar  crowned  Emperor  by  Pope  John  X 574 

918.  Henry  the  Fowler,  King  of  the  Germans;  foundation  of  the 

Saxon  imperial  line 573 

924,  933.  The  Huns  defeated  by  King  Henry 573 

928.  John  X.  murdered  in  prison        574' 

931.  John  XI.  Pope;  but  Hugh  the  Great  temporal  sovereign  of 

Rome         574 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxix 

A.D.  ''^«'-- 

934.  Aluekic,  Senator  or  Patrician  of  Rome      574 

Haco  the  Good,  first  Christian  king  of  Norway       591 

GORM  TiiE  Old,  defeated  by  Henrv  the  Fowler,  agrees  to 
tolerate  Christianity  and  put  down  human  sacrifices  in 
Denmark ^'"^ 

935.  Mission  of  Archbishop  Unxi  to  Sweden  (uIj.  936)      ...       ..       ..590 

936.  Persecution  in  Bohemia  by  Boleslav  the  Cruel 595 

Otho  L  the  Great,  King  of  the  Germans         574 

942.  Foundation  of  the  "  Cluniac  congregation  "  by  Abbot  Odo. 

948.  Gyulas,  Prince  of  Hungary,  baptized         598 

950.  Boleslav  conquered  by  Otho  1 595 

Christianity  tolerated  in  Bohemia      595 

954.  Alberig    succeeded  by   his  son  OCTAVIAN,  who  is 

955.  elected  Pope  John  XII 574 

955.  The  Huns  defeated  at  ZecV<?W  by  Otho  1 573 

Olga  of  Russia  baptized  at  Constantinople         597 

962.  Otho  I.  invited  to  Italy  against  Berengar,  and  (Feb.  2)  crowned 

Imperator   Augustus.     New  establishment   of  the  Holy 

ROMAX  Emi'IRE  Mnc?er  Maf  ^iY/e       57.) 

The  Z'o^iaiiwis  of  Pepin  and  Charles  confirmed 575 

963.  John  XII.  deposed  by  a  Roman  synod         577 

964-5.  Factions  and  rebellions  at  Rome 578 

965.  The  Pope  is  made  the  Emperor's  viceroy 578 

Imperial  consent  to  Papal  elections  established         577 

Harold  Blaatand,  first  Christian  King  of  Denmark,  baptized  590 

963.  NicephORUS  II.  Phocas,  Eastern  Emperor         578 

Embassy  of  Liudprand  to  Constantinople  , 578 

967.  MiECESLAV  establishes  Christianity  in  Poland 596 

968.  Otho  I.  founds  the  archbishopric  of  Magdeburg  for  the  m-nds    599 

969.  John  Tzimisces,  Eastern  Emperor.    Victories  over  the  Moham- 

medans       ^^'^ 

972.  Duke  Geisa  of  Hungary  becomes  Christian        598 

973.  Otho  II.  Emperor         ^^^ 

The  Roman  Republicans  under  Crescentius         578 

Boleslav   the    Pious    establishes   Christianity   in    Bohemia. 

Archbishopric  of  Prague  founded 595 

983.  Otho  II.  is  defeated  by  the  Saracens,  and  dies 578 

Otho  III.  (cct.   5),   under   the    guardianship     of   his    mother 

Theophano  and  Archbishop  WiLLiGis  of  Mainz 579 

Mistewoi  destroys  the  Christian  churches  among  the  Wends ..  599 

986.  Harold  Blaatand  killed  by  his  heathen  son  Sweyn      . .      . .  590 

987.  Hugh  Capet,  King  of  France      ^57 

End  of  the  Carolingian  Dynasty. 

988.  St.  Vladimir  establishes  Christianity  in  Ettssia       597 

991.  Synod  of  St.  Basle,  near  Rheims,  resists  Papal  jurisdiction       ..    580 

Gerbert  made  archbishop  of  Rheims,  in  place  of  AuNULP      ..    581 


XXX  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  FACE 

992.  BOLESLAV  Chobry  unites  Poland  to  the  Church  of  Rome        . .   596 
994-1026.  Olaf  Stotkunung,  Christian  King  of  Sweden        , .      . .    590 

SiGFRiED,  bishop  of  Wexio 590 

Olaf  Tryggveson,  King  of  Norway,  forces  Christianity  on  his 

subjects 592 

Gerbert  invited  to  the  Court  of  Otho  III 579-81 

995.  Arnulf,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  restored 581 

996.  Otho  III.  enters  Italy  ;  is  crowned  Emperor  by 

Gregory  V.  (Bruno),  the  first  German  Pope 579 

997.  Adalbert  of  Prague  is  martyred  in  Prussia 595,  602 

St.  Stephen  establishes  Christianity  in  Hungary 598 

998.  Gregory  V.  and  Robert  King  of  France 581-2 

Gerbert  made  archbishop  of  Ravenna,      582 

999.  and  Pope  Sylvester  II 580-2 

Grand  schemes  of  Otho  and  Sylvester         583 

1000.  The  Millennium  of  Christianity 583 

Otho  III.  in  Poland  ;  he  establishes  the  bishopric  of  Gnesen     595-6 

BOLESLAV  and  the  Pomeranians  ;  bishopric  of  Colberg     ..       ..  600 

St.  Stephen  of  Hungary  made  King 598 

Death  of  Olaf  Tryggveson       592 

1002.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Otho  III 582 

1003.  Death  of  Pope  Sylvester  II 583 


SEQUEL  OF  THE  CHRISTIANIZING  OF  EUROPE.* 

1009.  Bruno  martyred  in  Prussia        602 

1014.  Canute  establishes  Christianity  in  Scandinavia        590 

1015.  St.  Olaf  Haroldson,  King  of  Norway,  and  Bishop  Grimkil..  592 
Destruction  of  the  image  of  Thor  at  Dalen         593 

1019.  Yaroslav  of  Russia  :  union  with  the  Greek  V^hurch        ..       ..    598 

1026.  Canute's  pilgrimage  to  Rome 590 

1030.  Death  and  (1031)  Translation  of  St.  Olaf        593 

1032.  Gottschalk  prince  of  the  Wendish  Obotriti      599 

1034.  Mieceslav  II.  of  Poland.     Relapse  to  heathenism 596 

1035.  Canute  ob.    St.  Magnus  the  Good  establishes  Christianity  in 

Norway 593 

1038-97.  The  Abbey  of  Sazawa,  in  Bohemia,  preserves  the  Slavonic 

Liturgy 595 

1039.  Translation  of  St.  Adalbert     595 

1045.  Gottschalk,  King  of  the  Trend's,  establishes  Christianity        ..  599 

1077.  St.  Ladislaus  extinguishes  heathenism  in  Hungary         ..       ..  599 

1079.  Martyrdom  of  St.  Stanislaus  of  Poland 591 


•  As  the  work  ends  at  the  epoch  of  a.d.  lOftO,  the  following  entries  are  confined  to 
the  one  subject  which  Is  completed  in  Chapter  XXIV. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxxi 

A.D.  PAGE 

1084.  Inge,  King  of  Sweden,  puts  down  heathen  worship 591 

1120.  BOLESLAV  in.  forces  Christianity  on  the  E.  Pomeranians..       ..    600 

The  Monk  Bernard 600 

112-4-8.  Bishop  Otho  establishes  Christianity  in  Pcmerania      ..        600-1 

1154.  ViCELiN,  bishop  of  Oldenburg,  o6 600 

1155.  St.  Eric  IX.  establishes  Christianity  in  Sweden        591 

1157.  The  Wendish  Zuticii  subdued:  Aluert  the  Bear  founds  the 

marquisate  of  Brandenburg GOO 

1157-8.  Eric    conquers    Finland:    the    Finns    resist    Christianity: 

Henry,  bishop  of  Upsala,  martyred       591 

1156.  f.  Crusade  of  Henry  the  Lion  against  the  Wends 600 

1158.  German  settlements  among  the  Zeffs 602 

1164.  Privizlav,  prince  of  the  Ohotriti,  founder  of  the  house  of  Meck- 
lenburg, becomes  a  Christian 600 

1168.  ^i((;<?K  nominally  Christianized 601 

1186.  Bishop  Meinhard's  mission  to  the  ZiTOmaras 602 

1198.  Expedition  and  death  of  Bishop  Berthold         G02 

1202.  Crusade  of  Bishop  Albert.     "Brethren  of  the  Sword"  ..       ..  602 

1207.  Godfrey  and  Philip  martyred  in  PrMssta        603 

1214.  Christian,  the  "Apostle  of  Prussia"         603 

1225.  He  founds  the  order  of  "  Knights  of  Dobrin"    ..       603 

1230.  Crusade  of  the  "Teutonic  Knights"  in  PrMssta 603 

1236.  They  join  the  Brethren  of  the  Sword  in  Livonia,  &c 603 

1245.  Union  of  Prussia,  Livonia,  &c.,  by  the  legate  William,  bishop 

of  Modena 604 

1252.  Ringold,  prince  of  Zi^Awam'a,  baptized       604 

1253.  i?t^a  made  their  metropolitan  see        602,604 

1266.  ZjY/tJtanjrt  relapses  into  heathenism 604 

1279.  Za^j^anc?  conquered  by  Sweden,  and  Christianized 591 

1283.  Final  conquest  of  Prussia  by  the  Teutonic  Knights 603 

1293.  Finland  f^THsMj  conquered  by  Sweden,  and  Christianized  ..       ..  591 

1315.  Toleration  established  in  Lithuania 604 

1380.  Lithuania,   the  last  heathen  state  in  Europe,  receives  Chris- 
tianity, on  its  union  with  Poland   604 


Episcopal  Chair,    (Martigiiy.) 


Symlxil  of  the  Apostles. 


LIST  OF  POPES*  AND  EMPEEOKS. 


T.- 

Before  the  Division 

OF  THE  Empire,     Cent.  I.-IV.f 

From 

Empebobs. 

From 

Popes. 

To 

A.D. 

A.D. 

A.Dl 

41 

Claudius. 

42 

St.     Peter   (according 
to  Jerome) 

67 

54 

Nero. 

67 

Linus    (frenccus,   Euse- 
hius,  &c.) 

79 

68 

Galba. 

[68 

Clement      ( Tertullian, 

79] 

69 

Otho:  Vitellius. 

&c.) 

69 

Vespasian. 

79 

Titus. 

79 

Cletus  or  Anacletus     .. 

91 

81 

Domitian. 

91 

Clement  (plater  writers) 

100 

96 

Nerva. 

100 

Evaristus      

109 

98 

Trajan. 

109 

Alexander  I. 

119 

117 

Hadrian. 

119 

Xystus  or  Sixtus  I. 

128 

138 

Antoninus  Pius. 

128 

Telesphorus 

139 

139 

Hyginus        

142 

142 

Pius  I 

157 

161 

Marcus  Aurelius. 

157 

Anicetus       

168 

Antoninus. 

168 

Soter 

176 

180 

Com  modus. 

177 

Eleutherius 

190 

193 

Pertina.x. 

190 

Victor  I 

202 

193 

Didius  Julianus. 

193 

Severus. 

202 

Zephyrinus 

218 

211 

Caracalla. 

217 

Macrinus. 

218 

Elagabalus. 

218 

Callistus  or  Calixtus  I. 

223 

222 

Alexander  Severus. 

223 

Urban  I 

230 

235 

Maximia. 

230 

Pontianus 

235 

238 

Gordian  I.,  II. 

235 

Anterius  (or  Anteros) . . 

236 

Maximus,  Balbinus. 

236 

Fabianus       

250 

238 

Gordian  111. 

244 

Philip. 

249 

Decius. 

251 

Cornelius  [No  vatian,  251] 

252 

251 

Gall  us. 

252 

Lucius  I 

253 

253 

^'Emilianus. 

253 

Stephen  I 

257 

Valerian,  Gallienus. 

257 

Sixtus  or  Xystus  II.    .. 

258 

258 

Claudius  II. 

259 

Dionysius     

269 

270 

Aureliaa. 

269 

Felix  I 

274 

•  This  title  is  used  as  convenient,  though  it  was  not  appropriated  to  the  Bisliop  of 
Rome  till  about  a.d.  500  (see  p.  .396,  n.)    The  names  in  brackets  are  those  of  Anti-Popes. 

f  For  the  first  two  centuries  the  names  of  the  Popes  are  for  theTnost  part  traditional 
and  uncertain. 


LIST  OF  POPKS  AND  EMPERORS. 


XXXUl 


I. — Before  the  Division  of  the  Empire. — continued. 


From 

Emperors. 

From 

Popes. 

To 

A.D. 

A.D. 

275 

Tacitus. 

275 

Eutychian 

283 

276 

Probus. 

282 

Cams. 

283 

Carinus.     \ 
Numerian.  / 

283 

Caius 

296 

284 

Diocletian.  \ 
Maximian.  / 

296 

Marcellinus 

304 

285 

(A  vacancy  of  four  years), 

305 

Constantius  I.  ^ 
Galerius.           / 

! 

306 

CONSTANTINE  J.    | 

i     308 

Marcellus 

310 

307 

Licinius.                \ 

;    310 

Eusebius    (Apr.     18  to 

310 

308 

Maximin.               ) 

Sept.  26) 

:124 

Constantine  (alone). 

311 

Melchiades 

314 

337 

Constantine  11.  j 

314 

Sylvester  I. 

335 

Constantius  II.  > 

336 

Mark  (Jan.  18  to  Oct.  7) 

336 

Constans.            ) 

337 

Julius  I 

352 

361 

Julian. 

352 

Liberius        

366 

363 

Jovian, 

i 

[Felix  II.,  355-358] 

364 

Valentinian  I.l 
Valens.             / 
Gratian.              j 

1 

[Ursinus,  366-7] 

367 

366 

Damasus       

384 

375 

Valentinian  II.  > 

379 

Theodosius  I.      ) 

384 

Siricius         

398 

II. — After  the  Division  of  the  Empire, 


A.D. 

East. 

A.D. 

395 

AVest. 

A.D. 

398 

Popes. 

A.D. 

395 

Arcadius. 

Honorius. 

Anastasius  I. 

4ni 

408 

Theodosius  II. 

423 

Theodosius  11. 

402 

Innocent  1 

417 

425 

Valentinian  III. 

417 

Zosimus         . .     . . 
[Kulalius  418-9] 

418 

456 

Maxiraus. 

418 

Boniface  I 

422 

455 

Avitiis. 

422 

Celestine  I 

43? 

450 

Marcian. 

457 

Majorian. 

432 

Sixtuslll 

44(1 

457 

Leol. 

461 

Severus  (Ricimer). 

440 

Leo  I.  the  Great   . . 

461 

467 

Antheraius. 

461 

Hilary 

468 

474 

1^0  11. 

472 

Olybrius. 

468 

Simplicius     . .     . . 

4ii3 

474 

Zeno. 

1  472 

fGlycerius.                 \ 
INepos.                       j 
Augustulus. 

483 

Felix  11.  [III.]      .. 

492 

475 

Basiliscus. 

475 

492 

Gelaslus  I 

496 

477 

Zeno  restored.* 

476 

End  of  W.  Empire. 

496 

Anu^tai^ius  II. 

493 

*  Though,  for  convenience  sake,  the  division  of  East  and  West  is  preserved,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  Zfixo  was  acknowledged  bv  the  Roman  Senate  as  Emperor,  and  that  all  the  Emperors  rejpning  at 
Constantinople  claimed  to  be  Roman  (and  not  merely  Eastern  or  Byzantine)  Emperors,  till  Michael  I- 
acknowledged  the  new  Western  Empire  of  Charles  the  Grtat  (812). 


LIST  OF  POPES  AND  EMPERORS. 


II. — After  the  Division  of  the  Empire. — continued. 


A.D. 

East. 

A.D. 

West. 

A.D. 

Popes. 

A.D. 

RosiE  AND  Italy. 

491 

Anastasius. 

476 
480 
493 

Odoacer,     patrician 
and  (480)  King. 

Clovis,  king  of  the 
Saltan  Franlcs. 

Tbeodoric  I. 

{Kingdom  of  the 

498 

Symmachus  . .     . . 
[Laurence  498-505] 

514 

518 

Justin  I. 

Ostroyoths  till 

514 

Honnisdas     . .     . . 

523 

567 

Exarchate   of    11a-  ' 
venna    tilt    752; 

523 

John  I.   . .     ; .     . . 

526 

527 

Justinian  I. 

and 

526 

Felix  III.  [IV.]  . .; 

530 

565 

Justin  11. 

568 

Alboin,  Kingdom  of 
the  Lombards  till 
774 :    besides   the 

530 
530 

Boniface  il 

FDioscorus,  Sept.  17- 
Oct.14] 

532 
530 

578 

Tiberius  II. 

Saracens   in    the 

532 

John  II 

535 

582 

Mauricius. 

South.* 

536 
537 
555 
560 
574 
578 

Sylverius       . .     . . 

Vigilius 

Pelagius  I 

John  III 

Benedict  I 

Pelagius 

537 
555 
560 
573 

578 
590 

C02 

Phocas. 

591- 

Agilulf,  king  of  the 

590 

Gregory  I.  the  Great 

604 

615 

Lombards. 

604 

Sabinian 

606 

615 

Theolinda,  as  guar- 
dian of  her  son 

607 

Boniface  III.  (Feb. 
to  Nov.  12) 

607 

610 

Heraclius. 

Adelwald. 

608 
619 
625 

Boniface  IV 

Boniface  V 

Honorius  I 

615 
625 
638 

641 

Constantine  III. 

638 

Severinus       . .     . . 

640 

Heracleonas. 

640 

John  IV 

642 

641 

Constans  II. 

642 
649 
654 

Theodore  I 

Martini 

Eugenius  I 

649 
653 

657 

668 

Constantine  IV. 

657 

Vitalian 

672 

Pogonatus. 

672 
676 
673 
682 
683 

Adeodatus     . .     . . 

Douus 

Agatho 

Leo  II 

Benedict  IL   . .     . . 

676 
678 
681 
683 

685 

685 

Justinian  II. 

687 

Pipin,  of   Ileristal, 

685 

JohnV 

686 

695 

Leontius. 

dukeof  the  Franks, 
Major  domus  of  all 
the  three  Merovin- 
gian kingdoms. 

686 

Conon     

[Paschal  687-692.] 
[Theodore  Sept.- 
Dec.  687.] 

687 

688 

Cunibert,    king    of 
the  Lombards. 

687 

Sergius  I 

701 

698 

Tiberius  A  psimar. 

698 

Anafestus,  the  first 

701 

John  VI 

705 

705 

Justinian  II. 

(restored). 

Doge  of  Venice. 

705 

Sisinnius       (Jan.- 

711  '  Philipplcus. 

Feb.  7.) 

713  1  Anastasius  II. 

^12 

Liutprand,  king  of 

708 

Constantine  I. 

715 

the  Lombards. 

716 

Theodosiuslll. 

715 

Charles  Martel.duke 

715 

Gregory  11 

731 

717 

Leo  lir.  the 
Isaurian. 

of  the  Franks,  and 
Major  Domus. 

731 

Gregory  111 

741 

•  From  this  point  to  the  establishment  of  the  Carolingian  dynaitr,  only  the  more  important  names 
are  entered  in  tliia  column. 


LIST  OF  POPES  AND  EMPERORS. 


II. — After  the  Division  of  the  Empire. — continued. 


A.D. 

East. 

A.D. 

West. 

A.D. 

Popes. 

A.D. 

741 

Constantine  V. 
Copronymus. 

741 

747 
749 

753 

Carlonian  and  Pipin 
the  SLort  succeed 
Charles  Martel. 

Pipin  alone. 

Astulphus,  king  of 
the  Lombards. 

End    of    the    Ex- 
archate. 

741 

Zacharias       . .     . . 

752 

7.'56. 

Desiderius,  last  king 

752 

(Stephen,  died  with- 

774 

of  the  Lombards. 

out  consecration.) 

751 

Childeric   III.    (the 

752 

Stephen  II 

757 

last  Merovingian) 

757 

Paul  I 

767 

deposed.         PiriN 

[Constantine    11. 

THE   Short,  king 

767-8] 

of  the  Franks  (be- 

[Philip 768.] 

ginning      of     the 

Carolingian  line). 

76? 

Charles  &  Carloman. 

768 

Stephen  III 

772 

775 

Leo  IV. 

771 

Charles  the  Gbeat 
(alone). 

772 

Adrian  I 

795 

780 

Constantine  VI. 

795 

Leo  III 

816 

Irene. 

III. — From  the -Foundation  of  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire  in 
THE  West.* 


A.D. 

Eastern  Empire. 

A.D. 

Roman  Empire. 

A.D. 

795 

Popes. 

A.D. 

802 

NIcephorns. 

800 

Charles    I.    the 

Leo  III 

816 

Great. 

811 

Stauracius. 

814 

LoDis  I.  the  Pious 

816 

Stephen  IV 

817 

811 

Michael  I. 

(associated  in  the 

817 

Paschal  I 

824 

813 

Rhangate. 
Leo  V.  the   Ar- 
menian. 

817 

Empire,  813). 
LoTHAiR  I.  associ- 
ated iu  the  Em- 

824 

Eugenlus  II 

827 

820 

Michael  11. 
Balbus. 

pire. 

827 

Valentine       . .     . . 
(less    than    one 

827 

829 
842 

Theophilus. 
Michael  III. 

840 

Lothair  I.  (alone). 

827 
844 

month). 

Gregory  IV 

[John,  Jan.  844] 
Sergius  II 

844 
847 

867 

Basil  I.  the 
Macedonian. 

850 

Louis    II,    (associ- 
ated). 

847 

Leo  IV 

855 

855 

Louis  II.  (alone). 

855 

858 
867 
872 

Benedict  III 

[Anastasius,  Aug.- 

Sept.  855]. 

Nicolas  I 

Adrian  II 

John  VIII 

858 

867 
872 
882 

875 

Charles    II.,    the 
Bald. 

882 

Marinus  I 

(or  Martin  11.) 

884 

*  The  EmperoiB  are  distinguished  by  small  capitals.  The  other  names  are  those  of  kings  of  the 
Oermans  and  o/ the  Honxans,  who  never  receired  the  iraperlftl  coronation  at  Rome,  and  are  not.  therefore, 
properly  called  Emperors.  It  has  not  been  thought  necessary  to  give  the  dates  of  association  in  (Aa 
kiitgdom ;  the  dates  given  are  those  of  succession  and  of  imperia!  coroiuttion. 


LIST  OF  POPES  AND  EMPERORS. 


III. — From  the  Foundation  of  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire  ut 
THE  West. — continued. 


A.D. 

Eastern  Empire. 

A.D. 

Roman  Empire.     | 

A.D. 

Popes. 

A.D. 

884 

Charles  III.,  the 
Fat. 

884 

Adrian  HI 

885 

886 

Leo  VI.  the  AVise. 

885 

Stephen  V 

891 

891 

GUIDO. 

891 

Formosus     .  •     . . 

896 

894 

Lambert. 

896 

Boniface  VI. 
(May-June) 

896 

896 

Aenulf  (king  from 

887.) 

896 

Stephen  VI 

896 

899 

Louis  the  Child 
A.D.  911  (^l.ast  of 

897 

Romanus     . .     . . 
(July-Nov.) 

897 

the  CaroUngians 

897 

Theodore  II. 

897 

in  Germany). 

898 
900 

(Nov.-Dec.) 

John  IX 

Benedict  IV. 

900 
903 

911 

Constantine  VILN 
Porphyrogenitus. 

901 

Louis  HI.  of  Pro- 
vence. 

903 

LeoV 

(Aug.-Sept.) 

903 

911 

Alexander. 

903 

Christopher..     .. 

904 

919 

Romanus  I.           | 

904 

Sergius  11 J 

911 

Lacepeiius.        1 

911 

Anastasius  III.  . . 

913 

944 

Constantine         v  ) 

912? 

Conrad  I.  the  Fran- 

913 

Lando    

914 

VJII.                  ( 

conian. 

914 

John  X 

928 

944 

Stephen.              f 
(Sons  of  Roma-  ( 

The  Saxan  Line. 

nus)    reignrd 
only  5  weeks.-/ 

918 

Henry  I.  the  Fowler. 

928 
929 

Leo  VI 

Stephen  VJl. 

929 
931 

945 

Constantine  VII. 

931 

John  XI 

936 

Porphyrogenitus 

936 

Otho  I.  the  Great 

936 

LeoVll 

939 

(alone). 

939 
942 

946 

Stephen  VIU.     . . 

MarinuslJ 

(or  Martin  111.) 
Agapetus  11. 

942 
94t> 

955 

962 

Otho  I.  (cr.  Emp.) 

955 

Jobr.  XII 

963 

959 

Romanus  II. 

963 

Leo  VIU 

965 

963 

Nicephorus  II. 
Phocas. 

967 

Otho    II.     (associ- 
ated). 

965 

[Benedict  V.May- 
June,  964.] 
John  Xi  11 

972 

969 

Johnl.  Tzimiace8.\ 
Basil  II.                / 

972 

Benedict  VI. 

974 

969 

973 

Otho  II.  (alone). 

•[Bonifiice  VII., 

July-Aug.,  974.] 

976 

Basil  11.  Calone).! 
Constantine  IX.    / 

983 

Otho  in.   ■ 

983 

John  XIV 

984 

976 

[Boniface  VII. 

rest.  984-985.] 

985 

John  XV 

996 

996 

Otho  III.  (cr.  Emp.) 
ob.  1002. 

996 
999 

Gregory  V 

[John  XVI.  997-8.] 
Sylvester  II. 

999 
1003 

Bothlclipm  and  Jenis.ileni  as  Symbols. 


Crucifixion  from  :\I.S.  of  the  Monk  Rabula,  a.d.  586. 
(See  p.  448.) 


THE  HISTOEY  OF  THE  CHUKCH. 


INTRODUCTION. 

§  1.  Definition  of  "The  Visible  Church  of  Christ" — Distinction  between  it 
and  the  Invisible  and  Universal  Church.  §  2.  The  Church  under  the  Old 
Covenant — The  "Church  in  the  Wilderness,"  under  the  Angel  Jehovah, 
that  is,  Christ — The  Kingdom  of  David  a  type  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven — Its  proclamation  by  John  and  introduction  by  Jesus  Christ. 
§  3.  Names  of  the  Church  in  Scripture — The  word  €kkA7j<tio,  equiva- 
lent to  the  "  congregation  "  of  Israel.  §  4.  New  Testament  examples 
of  the  word  in  its  Jewish  sense.  §  5.  Use  of  the  word  for  the  Christian 
Church — Its  Head  and  Members.  §  6.  Varied  extent  of  the  Visible 
Church — The  "Church  in  a  House."  §  7.  The  Churches  in  the  several 
Cities.  §  8.  Churches  in  the  Provinces  throughout  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  the  whole  world.  §  9.  The  Church  Universal,  the  embodiment  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  §  10.  The  Ideal  Church  and  its  historic 
manifestation.  §  11.  Limits  of  the  Subject — Nature  and  Uses  of 
Ecclesiastical  History.     §  12.  Periods  in  the  History  of  the  Church, 


§  1.  "  The  visible  Church  of  Christ  is  a  Congregation  of  Faithful 
Men,  in  which  the  pure  Word  of  God  is  preached,  and  the  Sacra- 
ments be  duly  administered  according  to  Christ's  ordinance  in  all 
those  things  that  of  necessity  are  requisite  to  the  same."  ^  This 
definition,  framed  by  the  Reformers  of  the  Church  of  England,  is 

'  Articles  of  Religion,  Art.  XIX. 


2  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  Introd. 

accepted  by  the  general  consent  of  other  Christian  communities. 
It  is  based  on  the  great  truth,  tliat  Christianity  is  a  social  religion  ; 
not,  on  the  one  hand,  a  mystery,  of  which  the  sole  knowledge  is 
committed  to  a  priestly  order ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  a  matter 
solely  between  the  believer  and  his  God. 

The  definition  recognises  a  distinction  between  the  whole  body 
of  believers,  in  every  age  and  place,  and  the  society  of  faithful  men, 
who  are  known  as  such  to  one  another.  The  former  are  called 
in  Scripture  "  the  wdiole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  named  "  by  the 
name  of  Christ,^  "  the  Church  of  the  Lord,  which  he  hath  jnirchased 
with  liis  own  blood."  ^  These,  the  invisible  and  univer&ul  Church, 
can  be  known  only  to  Him  who  has  thus  redeemed  them  ;  but  those 
of  them  who  unite  on  earth  in  Christian  worship  and  ordinances. 
Christian  life  and  discipline,  and  Christian  effort  to  spread  the  trutli 
and  do  good  to  men,  form  the  visible  "Church  of  God,"  or  " of  Christ." 

§  2.  The  distinction  between  the  society  based  upon  true  religion 
and  all  political  and  other  worldly  societies  has  existed  from  the 
earliest  history  of  mankind.  Its  type  is  seen  in  the  faith  of  Abel 
and  the  disobedience  of  Cain ;  and  those  who,  in  the  time  of  Seth, 
"  began  to  call  themselves  by  the  name  of  Jehovah,"  are  not  unfitly 
called  the  Antediluvian  Church.  The  salvation  of  Noah's  family 
by,  as  well  as  from,  the  flood,  is  likened  by  St.  Peter  to  baptism, 
the  rite  which  admits  into  the  Christian  Church.'  The  foith  which 
severed  Abraham  from  the  idolatrous  Avorld  made  him  the  spiritual 
father  of  the  whole  family  of  the  faithful,  who  form  the  Church  in 
every  age.  His  natural  descendants,  springing  from  the  twelve 
sons  of  Israel,  like  the  nations  converted  by  the  twelve  apostles, 
were  called  out  from  Egyptian  bondage,  "  and  were  all  baptized 
unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea."  ■*  They  ate  the  food  from 
heaven,  which  was  the  tj'2>e  of  Christ's  bod}',  broken  for  His 
Church  ;  they  drank  the  draughts  that  flowed  from  the  rock,  "  and 
that  rock  was  Christ,"  the  foundation  on  which  He  builds  His 
Church.  Gathered  apart  from  the  whole  world,  in  the  solemn 
seclusion  of  Sinai,  they  were  constituted  the  Congregation  or 
Church  of  God,  and  received  that  law  from  the  mount  of  terror,  of 
which  Christ  gave  forth  a  new  spiritual  version  from  the  mount  of 
blessing,  as  the  law  of  admission  into  His  Church,  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  The  lawgiver,  in  both  cases,  was  the  same,  the  Angel 
Jehovah  and  tlie  Son  of  God.  He  is  expressly  said  to  have  been 
"  with  the  Church  in  the  wilderness," "  and  thus  the  name,  as  well 

■  Ei)hes.  iii.  15.  "  Acts  xx.  28.  »  1  Peter  iii.  21. 

*  1  C(ir.  X.  2.  *  Exoil.  XX. ;  Matthew  v. 

'  Acts  vii.  38.     The  word  iKK\ri<ria  is  used  here,  as  in  the  LXX.  version 

of  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  translation  of  ^i^p,  the  congregation  of  the 
people  of  Israel.     See  Note,  ]>.  11. 


iNTRoi).         ITS  ri:lation  to  tiik  old  covenant.  3 

as  the  essence  of  the  Christian  Cliurch,  are  both  derived  from  the 
Old  Covenant.  Of  that  church  Jeliovah  was  the  ever-present  head 
and  ruler ;  but  the  people,  unable  to  maintain  their  spiritual  con- 
dition, desired  to  be  like  the  political  societies  round  them,  and  to 
be  governed  and  glorified  by  a  king.  God,  in  condescending  to 
their  wish,  set  up  in  the  house  of  David  a  new  type  of  His  future 
universal  sjiiritual  kingdom  ;  and  the  whole  witness  of  prophecy 
pointed  to  the  coming  spiritual  king,  whose  subjects  were  to  fomi 
the  "  kingdom  of  heaven,"  "  the  kingdom  of  God  and  of  His  Christ." 
When  the  last  prophet  came,  as  the  forerunner  and  herald  of  Christ, 
he  proclaimed,  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,"  and  preached 
repentance  from  sin  and  reformation  of  life,  as  the  conditions  of 
entering  into  it.  Christ  began  His  ministry  with  the  same 
message;  and  His  first  formal  discourse  to  His  newly-chosen 
apostles  and  to  the  body  of  His  disciples— the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount— laid  down  the  laws  of  His  kingdom,  and  the  cha- 
racter of  those  who  have  a  part  in  it.  From  that  time  to 
this,  the  Christian  Church  has  been,  in  purpose  and  effort,  how- 
ever imperfectly,  the  outward  exhibition  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the 
world. 

§  3.  These  first  principles  and  their  consequences  arc  seen  more 
clearly  in  the  light  of  the  terms  used  in  Scripture  to  describe  the 
Church.  AVe  must  of  course  look,  not  to  the  word  used  in  our 
language,  which  is  of  doubtful  origin  as  well  as  of  a  double  mean- 
ing, but  at  the  original  language  of  the  New  Testament,  Nor  is 
it  less  important  to  bear  in  mind  the  principle,  that,  as  tbe  Chris- 
tian religion  is  derived  <Vom  the  Jewish,  so  the  language  of  the 
New  Testament  must  be  interpreted  by  the  usage  of  the  Old,  rather 
•  than  by  that  of  classical  Greek.  'J'hus,  for  example,  the  Christian 
"Church"  has  far  more  kindred  with  the  "congregation"  of  the 
Israelites,  than  with  the  "assonilily"  of  the  Greek  republics; 
though  the  name  of  the  first  {eKKkrjaia)  is  taken  from  the  last, 
which  is  also  used  in  the  Septuagint  to  describe  the  second. 

That  name  has  the  common  sense,  in  all  three  cases,  of  an 
assembly  convened  by  authority  for  counsel  and  united  action ; 
and  this  generic  meaning  of  "  an  assembly  "  at  once  marks  [the 
nature  of  the  Church  as  a  social  aggregate.  But  while  the  pre- 
vailing idea,  in  its  classical  use,  is  that  of  the  political  functions  of 
a  free  assembly,  its  Hebrew  and  Christian  use  point  rather  to  a 
people  called  together  to  hear  the  law  of  God,  to  bind  themselves 
in  a  solemn  covenant  with  Him,  to  live  worthy  of  this  their  calling, 
and  to  unite  in  doing  His  work  and  spreading  His  truth.  Further, 
as  the  name  applied  to  the  actual  assembly  of  the  Israelites  is  used 
also  to  denote  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  even  when  not  called 
forth  to  an  assembly,  so  the  name  of  the   Christian  Church   is 


4  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  IsxnoD. 

extended  from  an  actual  assembly  to  wider  unions  of  Christians  and 
to  the  whole  body  of  believers  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

§  4.  We  have  just  seen  one  example  of  the  use  of  the  word  in 
the  New  Testament  in  the  Jewish  sense,  where  Stephen  calls  the 
whole  body  of  the  newly-ransomed  and  or^^anised  Israelites  "  the 
Church  in  the  wilderness ; "  ^  and  this  with  special  reference  to 
the  fact  that  the  Angel  who  was  with  them  there,  and  sjxake  to 
them  in  Mount  Sinai,  was  Christ. 

A  second  example  is  the  quotation  from  a  Psalm — "  I  will  de- 
clare thy  name  unto  my  brethren,  in  the  midst  of  the  Church  will 
I  sing  praise  unto  thee,"  ^  which  clearly  extends  David's  praise  of 
God  in  the  assembly  of  the  people  to  the  Messiah's  glorification 
of  His  Father  throughout  His  (Jhurch. 

The  third  example  is  in  our  Lord's  directions  for  dealing  with 
an  offending  brother  :  when  more  private  remonstrances  have  failed, 
he  says,  "  tell  it  to  the  Church,"  that  is  to  the  congreyatioyi?  The 
allusion  is  clearly  to  the  practice  of  administering  discipline  in  the 
Jewish  synagogues,  and  this  is  cited  as  an  example  to  be  followed 
in  the  Christian  Church.'' 

In  these  three  passages,  then,  we  see  the  word  used  in  the  New 
Testament,  with  primary  reference  to  the  Jewish  Church,  in  the 
three  senses  of  the  whole  people,  their  great  assembly  in  the  solemn 
worship  of  the  Tabernacle  or  Temple,  antl  their  separate  mectiugs 
in  their  synagogues.  But,  in  all  three  cases,  there  is  a  plain  transi- 
tion to  the  Christian  use  of  the  word.  Thus  do  the  martyr  Stephen, 
the  Ajwstle  Paul,  and  Christ  himself,  point  us  to  the  congregation 
of  Israel  as  the  type  of  the  Christian  Church. 

§5.  As  the  former  was  called  the  "congregation  of  Jehovah," 
so  is  the  latter  distinguished  as  "  the  church  (and  churches)  of 
God,"  its  author  and  ])Ossessor,  its  life  and  ruler;  "the  church 
(and  churches)  of  Christ,"  who  asserts  His  authority  over  and  care 
for  it  by  calling  it  "my  church,"*  and  whose  relation  to  His  people 
is  described  by  such  figures  as  that  of  the  head  to  the  members', 
forming  one  body  in  sympathy  as  Avell  as  life,*  and  His  mystic 
marriage  with  the  Church,  His  spotless  bride.''  The  Church  is  His 
own  possession,  ])urchased  with  His  own  blood.  Its  members  are 
living  stones,  built  uixm  Him  as  the  corner-stone,  and  upon  His 

'  Acts  vii.  38  ;  iv  rij  (KK\7j(r'ia  tv  tj}  tp-nixtf). 

*  Hebrews  ii.  12,  iv  ixfffw  fKKK-qalas  :  Psalm  xxii.  22,  where  the  word 
*)T\,\I>  is  translated  in  our  Version  by  "  congregation." 

^  Matt,  xviii.  17:  dvf  t^  ^  k  k  A.  n  o"  (  a-  ^av  Se  koI  rfj  s  t  KKAT/trias 
TTOLpaKovari,  fffrw  ffoi  SxTirep  &  40i/iKhi  Ka\  6  rtXdvrjs. 

*  See  1  Corinth,  vi.  *   Matt.  xvi.  18. 

"  Romans  xii.  4,  5 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  15,  xii.  passim;  Kphes.  iv.  25,  v.  30. 
'  TMatt.  xiii.  2,  XXV.  10  ;   Ephes.  v.  23-32 ;    2  Cor.  xi.  2 ;   Rev.  xix.  7-9, 
xxi.  2,  9. 


INTHOD.  THE  FIRST  VISIBLE  CHURCH.  5 

Apostles  as  foundations,  and  joined  together  into  a  living  temple,  a 
si)iritual  house.  Like  the  ancient  people  who  formed  the  congre- 
gation of  Israel,  they  are  "  called "  by  Him,  but  with  a  more 
"  heavenly  calling,"  "  called  out  of  darkness  into  His  marvellous 
light."  ^  In  reference  to  their  new  character,  as  redeemed  from 
sin,  they  are  called  "saints;"^  as  believers,  they  are  designated 
by  the  word  adopted  in  our  Article,  the  "  faithful ;  "  and,  in  their 
relation  to  each  other,  they  are  constantly  styled  by  the  familiar 
name  of  "brethren."^  Such  are  the  essential  characters  of  the 
members  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  and  the  full  significance  of  these 
terms  is  declared  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  developed  in 
the  Apostolic  Epistles. 

§  6.  Where  is  this  "  congregation  of  faithful  men  "  to  be  seen 
embodied  in  a  "  visible  "  existence  ?  The  principle  of  the  answer 
is  to  be  found  in  our  Lord's  words  :  "  Where  " — whether  within 
the  narrowest  or  widest  bounds — "  two  or  three  " — however  few  or 
however  many — "  are  gathered  in  my  Name,  there  am  I  in  the 
midst  of  them."  *  Such  was  literally  the  case  when,  on  the  second 
day  of  our  Lord's  public  appearance,  the  two,  who  believed  John 
the  Baptist's  testimony  to  him  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  followed  him 
to  where  he  dwelt,  and  abode  with  him  that  day. ''  In  tliat  lowly 
dwelling  beside  the  bank  of  Jordan  there  was  gathered  on  that 
evening  the  first  Church  of  Christ :  Himself,  and  Peter,  and  another 
— most  probably  John. 

The  Church,  as  it  was  left  by  our  Saviour  at  His  ascension,  was 
gathered  together  in  an  upper  chamber  at  Jerusalem.^  And  so  we 
read,  in  several  cases,  of  the  Church  in  a  person's  house,^  whether 
that  phrase  denotes  the  believing  members  of  the  family  alone,  or 
whether  it  includes  others  who  were  wont  to  assemble  with  them 
for  "  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  breaking  of  bread,  and  prayers." 

'  1  Peter  ii.  9.  It  is  impossible  not  to  connect  this  character  of  be- 
lievers as  the  "  called,"  "  called  to  be  saints  "  (kAtjtoi  017/01 :  Rom.  i.  7  ; 
1  Cor.  i.  2),  "  partakers  of  the  heavenly  calling  "  (Hebrews  iii.  1),  with  the 
root  meanin_£j  of  the  word  c/ckAtjo-io  ;  though  it  would  be  wrong  to  make 
this  the  primary  reason  for  the  name. 

*  Rom.  1.  7,  xvi.  15;  1  Cor.  i,  2,  xiv.  33,  "all  the  churches  of  the 
saints,"  &c.  &c.  In  fact,  tiiis  and  '  brethren '  are  the  usual  titles  by 
which  Christians  are  called  in  the  New  Testament. 

'  All  three  terms  are  united  in  Coloss.  i.  2:  rois  iv  KoXocrffoTs  07(011 
Kol  triffrols    aSeA(^oiS. 

*  Matt,  xviii.  20.  '  John  i.  35-39. 

^  Acts  i.  13,  15;  the  word  used  is  'disciples.'  Here,  however,  we 
already  see  a  distinction  between  a  narrower  and  wider  sense  of  the 
Church;  for  the  120  among  whom  Peter  stood  \ip,  could  not  include  the 
500  brethren  to  whom  the  risen  Christ  had  appeared  at  once  (1  Cor.  xv. 
6),  and  there  were  doubtless  many  otlier  believers  scattered  throughout 
the  Holy  Land. 

'  Rom.  xvi.  5  ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  19;  Coloss.  iv.  15  ;  Philemon,  2. 


6  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  Lntuod 

§  7.  The  public  life  of  those  among  whom  the  Gospel  had  its  first 
great  success  was  for  the  most  part  civic ;  and  therefore  we  naturally 
find  each  body  of  Christian  converts  described  as  the  church  in 
the  city  of  their  abode  ;  the  Church  in  Jerusalem,  in  Antioch,  in 
Babylon,  the  Church  of  God  which  is  in  Corinth,  and  so  in  many 
other  cases.^  That  this  designation  included  the  whole  body  of 
Christians  in  each  city  is  further  clear  from  the  phrase,  "the 
Church  of  the  people  of"  such  and  such  a  city.^  This  also  appears 
from  the  case  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  where  the  number  of 
converts  was  manifestly  too  large  to  meet  for  ordinary  worship, 
though  they  might  have  been  assembled  on  special  occasions ;  ^  and 
yet  we  never  read  of  more  than  one  church  in  Jerusalem. 

§  8.  As  another  natural  result  of  the  civic  constitution,  when 
Christian  communities  Avcre  multiplied  in  each  portion  of  the 
Empire,  they  are  spoken  of  as  the  churches,  never  as  the  church,  in 
or  o/'each  district  or  province;  such  as,  "the  churches  of  Judea" 
and  "  through  all  Judea  ;"  *  the  churches  which  Paul  confirmed,  as 
he  went  through  Syria  ;  ^  those  in  the  south-east  of  Asia  !Minor,  in 
each  of  which  Paul  and  Barnabas  ordained  ciders ;  "^  the  churches 
of  Galatia,''  of  Macedonia,*  and  those  of  the  province  of  Asia,^more 

•  The  Greek  formula  has  the  preposition  iv,  which  may  also  be  translated 
*at';  for  example,  Acts  viii.  1,  ttjx/  iKKKriaiav  t^v  eV  'IfpoaoXv/xois.  The 
full  description,  in  1  Cor.  1.  2,  is  well  worth  noting,  tt?  (KK\ri<jla.Tov@tov, 
riyiaffixivois  iu  XpiffTcii  'lr]<rov,  t?7  ovctt]  if  Kopifdai,  k\t]to7s  aylon,  avv 
iraffiv  To7i  firiKaAovfxevots  rb  vvo/xa  rov  Kvpiov  rjfMCcy  '1t)(tov  Xpicrrov  iv 
ttovtI  Toirw,  avTwu  ts  Kal  r^/xwi''  where  we  have  a  transition  from  the  local 
church  to  tlio  whole  visible  church  on  earth.  Instead  of  the  word 
'church,'  we  find  sometimes  'the  saints'  or  'the  brethren'  in  such  and 
such  a  city,  as  Ephes.  i.  1,  rols  ayiois  to7s  ovcriv  iv  'Ecpeaij)  (cf.  Philip.  1. 1  ; 
Coloss.  i.  2,  iv.  15),  and  sometimes  only  the  definite  article,  '■^  those  in 
Laodicea,  and  in  Hierapolis"  (Coloss.  iv.  i;'),  rwv  4v  AaoSiKfia  kuI  twv  tv 
'l(pair6\fi),  and  more  comprehensively  ^' all  that  are  in  Rome,"  with  their 
characteristic  description  added  (Traffiv  rdis  ovcriv  ev  'Pwyurj  a.yaTrr]To1s  ©eoO, 
KArjTots  ayioi'i,  Rom.  ii.  7).  In  one  remarkable  case  the  whole  church  is 
saluted  as  the  brethren  in  the  city,  with  the  church  in  a  private  liouse 
(Coloss.  iv.  15,  acnracracrde  roiis  iv  AooSi/ceio  a5e\<povs  Kal  iivfKpav 
Kal  Trji/  war'  oIkov  avrov  e i{K\r)(riav). 

-  The  genitive  of  the  ethnic  name;  as  1  Thess.  i.  1;  2  Thess.  i.  \,rrj 
fKK\7](ria  SfffcraXoviKewv  (sc.  ayiwv  or  aSf\(pwvy  Coloss.  iv.  16,  rp  AaoSi- 
Kfoiv  fKK\r]ffl(f,  the  same  community  which  the  Apostle  has  described  just 
before  as  '■'the  brethren  in  Laodicea"  (ver.  14). 

'  As  at  the  so-called  Council,  Acts  xv.  By  this  time,  however,  fhe 
Christians  of  Jerusalem  had  been  widely  scattered  by  persecution  CActs  viii. 
1).  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that,  of  the  3000  converts  on  the  Day  of 
Pentecost  (Acts  ii.  41),  and  the  5000  added  soon  after  (Acts  iv.  4 ;  perhajis 
this  is  the  total  number  of  believers),  many  were  foreign  Jews,  who  would 
return  to  their  several  provinces. 

*  Galat.  i.  22;    Acts  ix.  31.         »  Acts  xv.  41.  «  Acts  xiv.  23. 

7  Galat.  !    1  ;   1  Cor.  xvi.  1.         »  2  Cor.  viii.  1.         »  1  Cor.  xvi.  19. 


INTROD.  THE  CHURCH  UNIVERSAL.  7 

particularly  described  as  tlie  seven  churches  in  Asia  ;  ^  besides 
numerous  examples  of  the  plural  used  alone  to  denote  the  churches 
of  a  district.  Going  beyond  the  boundaries  of  a  province,  and 
erabracin"-  the  whole  Roman  Empire  and  the  world,  Paul  speaks  of 
the  "churches  of  the  Gentiles,"^  and  "all  the  churches  of  the 
saints,"  * 

But  even  this  distributive  phrase  is  coupled  with  a  full  recognition 
of  the  united  social  whole,  made  up  of  the  several  churches  in  each 
province,  as  when  Paul  speaks  of  the  practical  love  of  the  'J'hessa- 
lonian  church  towards  "  all  the  brethren  in  the  whole  of  Mace- 
donia," and  enjoins  that  his  Epistle  be  read  to  all  the  brethren,* 
and  when  he  addresses  his  Second  Epistle  "  To  the  church  of  God 
in  Corinth  with  all  the  saints  in  the  whole  province  of  Achaia."  ^ 
Here  we  have,  in  essence  if  not  in  form,  churches  of  a  provincial 
extent,  fully  united  in  communion  and  in  doing  good,  though  no 
lifht  is  thrown  as  yet  on  their  union  for  government  and  discipline. 

§  9.  The  New  Testament  uses  the  word  Church,  and  the  phrases 
connected  with  it,  to  indicate  a  wider  extent  than  any  local  boun- 
daries can  define,  wider  even  than  any  visible  test  can  mark.  One 
mode  of  conveying  this  idea  is  by  the  absence  of  any  distinctive  or 
qualifying  phrase.  "  The  Church,"  absolutely,  is  often  spoken  of 
in  terms  which  can  only  apply  to  the  ivhole  body  of  believers,  in 
every  time  and  place,  regarded  in  their  essential,  but  therefore 
invisible,  unity.  The  Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  the  Colossians 
are  full  of  examples  of  this  use  of  the  word.  In  other  Epistles,  Paul 
describes  the  universal  church  as  the  "Church  of  God,""^  which  he 
elsewhere  calls  "  the  Church  of  the  Lord,  which  He  hath  purchased 
with  His  own  blood."''  It  is  this  universal  Church  that  is  de- 
scribed, in  the  splendid  imagery  of  the  Apocalypse,  as  the  Holy  City 
of  God,  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  spiritual  reality,  of  which  the  Jewish 
polity  was  but  the  outward  sign.  This  relation  is  most  vividly  de- 
scribed in  that  comprehensive  passage  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
which  contrasts  the  visible  and  tangible  Mount  Sinai  with  the 
spiritual  Mount  Sion,  which  jolaccs  the  Church  on  earth  in  its 
connection  with  God  and  angels  and  the  spirits  of  the  redeemed, 

'  Rev.  i.  4,  11.  ,  '  Rom.  xvi.  4. 

*  1  Cor,  xiv.  34 ;  see  also  the  comprehensive  phrase  quoted  above,  ^v 
iravr)  rSircfi  (1  Cor.  i.  2). 

*  1  Thess.  iv.  10 ;  v.  26,  27. 

5  2  Cor  ii.  1 :  tj)  dKKKria-ia  rod  0eov  rp  oUffti  iv  Koplv6<^  avv  rols  ayic-? 
iraffiv  To?j  odffiv  iv  o\ri  TJj  'Axa^a. 

«  1  Cor.  X.  32,  si.  22,  xv.  9 ;  Cial.  i.  13  ;  1  Tim.  iii.  5. 

^  Acts  XX.  28.  The  restoration  of  the  genuine  reading,  rov  Kvpiov,  for 
&eov,  does  not  at  all  diminish  the  force  of  the  passage ;  for  the  Kvpios  of 
the  New  Testament  is  tlie  Jehovah  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  the  Lord  and 
Head  of  both  the  Jewish  and  Christian  churches. 


8  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  Lmhoo. 

with  the  symbols  of  the  Old  Covenant  and  the  glories  of  the  New, 
with  the  Mediator,  Jesus,  whose  love  has  destroyed  the  teiTors  of 
the  law  given  by  Moses,  and  whose  blood  has  appeased  the  cry  for 
vengeance  against  all  the  sins  committed  on  the  earth  since  the 
blood  of  Abel.'  The  Old  Covenant  with  the  Patriarchs  and  the 
chosen  people  is  at  length  made  perfect  in  the  New  Covenant  with 
the  spiritual  and  imiversal  Church  of  Christ.  This  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  which  was  foreshadowed  in  the  kingdom  of  David; 
and  when  the  Jews  were  expecting  a  manifestation  of  that  kingdom 
suited  to  their  narrow  and  selfish  hopes,  Christ  proclaimed  that  His 
kingdom  was  among  and  within  men,  and  founded  His  Church  as 
its  exhibition  upon  earth.  As  it  consists  of  weak  and  erring  men, 
this  exhibition  is  of  course  imperfect ;  but  the  efforts  and  sufferings, 
nay,  the  very  errors  and  contentions,  of  the  (Church  militant  here 
are  ever  working  towards  the  future  manifestation  of  the  Church 
triumphant,  as  the  accomplished  kingdom  of  Christ,  when  the 
proclamation  shall  go  forth,  "  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ."  ^ 

§  10.  The  Visible  Church,  then,  is  the  objective  exhibition  of  the 
ideal  kingdom  of  heaven  in  a  society  distinct  from  and  independent 
of  all  worldly  social  organizations.  Its  essential  character  is  to  be 
sought  in  the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  its  divine  Head  and  King, 
who  has  redeemed  and  renewed  its  members  to  be  His  own  people, 
and  who  ever  lives  to  govern  them  and  guide  them  by  His  Spirit. 
The  New  Testament  identifies  the  Church  with  the  individuals  who 
compose  it,  and  those  individuals  with  the  Church.  In  its  organic 
nature  it  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  society  of  true  Christians ; 
but  its  actual  exhibition  falls  far  short  of  this  ideal ;  and  it  is  Avith 
that  actual  exhibition  that  History  alone  can  deal.  An  ideal 
History  of  the  Church  of  God  would  search  out  and  follow  all  the 
elements  of  truth  and  goodness  which  have  been  flowing  as  a  living 
current  through  the  whole  history  of  the  world.  Nay,  it  would 
even  embrace  that  whole  history,  the  course  of  which  is  governed 
by  the  providence  of  God  to  subserve  the  final  triumjih  of  His  king- 
dom. The  history  of  religion  before  Christ  bears  the  same  relation 
to  His  Church,  that  the  promises  and  prophecies  of  the  Old  Cove- 
nant bear  to  His  own  life  and  work.  But  this  vast  subject  requires 
subdivision,  and  by  the  History  of  the  Church  we  understand  that 
of  the  period  since  Christ's  advent.  Further,  as  the  time  of  Christ 
and  His  Apostles  is,  for  the  most  part,  incUuled  in  Scripture 
History,  it  is  usual  to  begin  the  detailed  History  of  the  Church 
from  tlie  period  Avhere  the  New  Testament  History  ends. 

*  Hebrews  xii.  18-24. 

*  Rev.  xi.  15.  For  the  fuller  exhibition  of  this  part  of  the  subject,  see 
Archbishop  Whately's  Tuo  Essays  on  the  Kingdom  of  Christ. 


INTROD.  LIMITS  OK  TIIK  SUBJECT.  9 

§  11.  The  enquiry,  thus  limited  in  extent,  is  modified  in  its 
cliaracter  by  the  imiMssibility  of  distinguishing  the  true  Church, 
by  any  certain  and  infallible  test,  from  the  various  societies  which 
have  borne  the  name. 

In  Christ's  own  parable  of  His  kingdom,  "the  field  is  the  world," 
in  which  the  good  seed  of  His  own  sowing  springs  up  side  by  side 
with  the  weeds  sown  by  the  enemy.  Orthodox  zeal  has  always 
attempted  to  distinguish  and  pull  up  these  lolia;^  but  the  his- 
torian is  especially  bound  by  the  command,  "Let  both  grow 
together  till  the  harvest."  All  of  these  must  be  included  in  the 
historical  treatment  of  the  subject ;  and  it  is  the  essential  character 
of  history  to  exhibit  facts,  rather  than  to  discuss  principles.  The 
essential  purpose  of  a  history  is  to  set  forth  a  body  of  objective 
facts  which  present  themselves  to  us  outwardly  and  in  action, 
with  intelligent  beings  for  the  agents,  forming  a  connected  series, 
and  capable  of  being  established  on  the  ground  of  testimony. 
Ecclesiastical  History  is  a  subject  distinct  from  the  science  of 
Theology  and  of  Christian  Evidence,  and  also  from  the  merits 
or  faults  of  different  systems  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity.  But  it 
involves  the  purely  historical  exhibition  of  these,  as  Avell  as  of 
the  doctrines  held  or  rejected  at  different  times ;  and,  whether  for 
good  or  evil,  its  largest  jmrt  is  occupied  with  the  controversies  and 
divisions  respecting  such  questior.s  of  doctrine  and  of  discipline. 
Next  to  the  chief  purpose  of  confirming  our  faith  in  God's  care  of 
His  own  truth  and  people  and  in  the  fulfilment  of  His  promise 
to  be  with  His  Church  till  its  end  shall  be  attained  in  the 
coming  of  His  kingdom,  the  second  great  use  of  the  subject  is 
to  teach  us,  by  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  facts,  to  do  justice 
to  all  parties  of  sincere  Christians,  in  a  ypirit  of  humility  and 
candour. 

§  12.  It  is  a  long-established  and  convenient  practice  to  arrange 
the  stages  in  the  history  and  condition  of  the  Christian  Church 
according  to  the  centuries  from  the  Christian  era.  The  division  is 
evidently  artificial,  and  a  proper  arrangement  would  be  basetl  uiwn 
those  epochs  of  great  change,  dividing  periods  of  more  quiet  i)ro- 
gress,  which  a  great  writer^  has  designated  as  historical  moments 
()f  revolution  and  moments  of  development.  The  relations  of  the 
Church,  moreover,  to  the  political  societies  under  and  amidst  which 
it  has  existed,  demand  a  close  and  constant  reference  to  the  epochs 
of  secular  history.  It  does,  however,  so  happen  that  these  ejwchs, 
both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  fall  in  many  cases  at  or  very  near  to 
the  dividing  points  of  centuries. 

The  whole  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  down  to  our  own 

*  This  is  one  derivation  of  the  name  Lollards  applied  to  our  own  early 
Reformers.  -'  Schleiermacher. 


10  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  Lntrou. 

times,  may  be  conveniently  distributed  into  the   following  nine 
periods : — ^ 

T.  First  Period. — Tlie  Apostolic  Church ;  corresponding  to  the 
Flrat  Century  and  the  Age  of  the  so-called  Caesars,  a.d.  10-100.'' 

II.  Second  Period. — The  Church  persecuted  as  a  Sect;  down  to 
Constantine,  the  First  Christian  Emperor;  corresponding  nearly 
to  the  Second  and  Tliird  Centuries,  a.d.  100-313. 

III.  Third  Period. —  The  Church  in  Union  with  the  Grceco- 
Jioman  Einpire,  and  amidst  the  storms  of  the  Great  Migratio'n ; 
to  Pope  Gregory  I.j  corresponding  to  the  Fourth,  Fifth,  and  Sixth 
Centuries,  a.d.  311-590. 

IV.  Fourth  Period. — The  Church  2^lcinted  among  the  Germanic 
Nations;  to  Pope  Gregory  VII.  (Hildebrand) ;  corresponding  nearly 
to  the  Seventh,  Eighth,  Ninth,  Tenth,  and  Eleventh  Centuries, 
A.D.  590-1073. 

V.  Fifth  Period. — The  Church  under  the  Papal  Hierarchy  and 
the  Scholastic  Theology;  to  Pope  Boniface  VIII.;  corresponding 
nearly  to  the  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Centuries,  a.d.  1073-129-1. 

VI.  Sixth  Period. — The  Decay  of  Medieval  Catholicism,  and 
the  preparatory  movements  of  Protestantism :  to  Pope  Leo  X.,  the 
Emjieror  Charles  V,,  king  Henry  VIII.,  and  Lnther;  corresponding 
nearly  to  the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Centuries,  a.d.  1294-1517. 

VII.  Seventh  Period. — The  Evangelical  Beformation,  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  Peaction,  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,  a.d.  1517- 
1600. 

VIII.  Eighth  Period. — The  Age  of  Polemic  Orthodoxy  and 
Exclusive  Confessional  ism ;  corresponding  to  the  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tury and  the  First  Half  of  the  Eighteenth,  a.d.  1600-1750. 

IX.  Ninth  Period. — Spread  of  Infidelity,  the  Pevival  of 
Evangelical  Christianity  in  Europe  and  America,  and  the  Pevived 
Efforts  of  the  Papacy,  to  the  adoption  of  the  dogma  of  Papal 
Infallibility  by  the  Council  of  Rome ;  a.d.  1750  to  the  present  time. 

The  last  three  of  these  nine  periods  lie  beyond  the  scope  of  the 
present  Avork. 

'  Schaft',  Historij  of  Ancient  Christianiti/,  vol.i.  p.  14,  slightly  altered. 
*  We  use  A.D.  1  here  for  convcnieuce   instead  of  the  u.c.  4  required  by 
strict  chronology. 


"•"'-"  Cr^u 


/""PBi:t7C£roiT  "'• 


^\ 


'''vtv':'i-i-w:'v'^* 
NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


THE  WORDS  ECCLESIA  ('E/c(cA^(7ia) 
AND  CHURCH .• 

To  the  remarks  made  for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  out  the  essential  idea  of  the 
Church,  sometliing  remains  to  be  added  on 
the  various  uses  of  the  word  eK(cA»)<n'a. 

1.  There  is  but  one  passage  in  tlie  New 
Testament  in  whicli  the  word  is  used  in  its 
classical  sense,  and  even  there  its  specific 
meaning  is  doubtful.  In  the  narrative  of 
the  "  no  small  riot  about  the  way  "  (one  of 
the  usual  terms  descriptive  of  Cliristianity 
in  the  New  Testament)  which  was  raised 
by  Demetrius  and  his  fellow-craftsmen 
during  Paul's  stay  at  Ephesus  (Acts  xix. 
23-41),  the  mob  {rj  a-vyxvcri^,  ver.  29) 
that  rushed  by  a  common  impulse  into  the 
tlieafro  is  Ciilled  a  confused  or  disorderly 
ecclesid  (^rfi/  yap  r)  €K/cATj(7ta  <TvyKe\vtJ.€yri, 
ver.  32);  for  it  seems  to  base  been  neither 
duly  summoned,  nor  held  in  the  proper 
place  of  meeting,  nor,  perhaps,  on  one  of  the 
properdays.  In  contrast  with  it  the  officer 
(o  ypanfioreus)  challenges  a  reference  to 
the  legal  assembly  («V  rj}  iwofiu)  fKK\r)(iCa., 
ver.  39) ;  and  then  he  dissolves  the  meeting 
(Tr]viKKKn(jiav,  ver.  4!).  Some  suppose  that 
this  was  a  real  ecc?«'5in,  though  irregularly 
convened;  but  the  one  point  worth  notice 
is,  that  this  solitary  N.  T.  example  of 
the  classical  use  of  the  word  eKK\r)(ria 
has  no  bearing  on  its  application  to  the 
Church. 

2.  This,  the  only  passage  in  which  our 
Version  does  not  render  eK<cA>)cria  by 
'church,'  stands  in  close  connection  with 
a  solitary  example,  in  which  'church'  re- 
presents a  Greek  word  difTerent  from 
cKKAy)(ria,  and  a  very  curious  example 
it  is.  The  officer  says  to  Demetrius  and 
his  fellows  (in  the  A.  V.): — "For  ye 
have  brought  hither  these  men,  which 
are  neither  robbers  of  churches,  nor  yet 
bla,sphemers  of  your  goddess."  Surely, 
says  the  '  simple  common-sense  reader  of 
our  admirable  translation,'  here  is  at  all 
events  a  reference  to  sacred  buildings; 
and  the  natural  inference  from  the  word 


'  Compare  the  aoalrsis  of  the  meanings  of 
Kedain  in  the  Appendix  to  Clinton's  Faiti 
Boitlam\  vol.  ii..  pp.  623-5. 


in  the  plural  would  be  that  heathen  tem- 
ples were  called  'churches'  (eKicAijfn'ai), 
and  that  the  word  was  transferred  from 
this  use  to  Christian  places  of  worship, 
just  as  the  heathen  name  of  temple  (tem- 
plum  and  the  Greek  Upov)  was  applied  to 
the  'house  of  Jehovah'  at  Jerusalem. 
But  the  word  is  UpocrvAou?,  'plunderers 
of  sacred  things,'  the  Latin  sacrilegus, 
whence  our  '  sacrilege '  and  '  .sacrilegious.' 
Though  it  would,  of  course,  include  'rob- 
bers of  temples,'  it  lias  no  necessary  refer- 
ence to  buildings ;  and  it  would  apply  just 
as  much  to  one  who  stole  a  fragment  of 
the  votive  offering  at  Artemisium  as  to 
one  who  broke  into  the  temi)le  of  .Xrtemis 
to  carry  off  any  of  the  silver  shrines  dedi- 
cated to  the  goddess. 

3.  The  apparent  use  of  '  church '  for  a 
sacred  building,  in  this  passage,  is  de- 
ceptive ;  and  there  is  no  clear  example  of 
that  sense  of  the  word  in  the  New  'Testa- 
ment. But  there  is  something  that  comes 
very  near  it  in  the  use  of  the  word  for  the 
meetings  of  a  church,  in  Paul's  1st  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  (ch.  xiv.).*  In  verses 
4  and  5,  the  '  church '  clearly  means  the 
believers  in  their  assembly ;  and  the  tran- 
sition to  its  meeting  in  a  pilace  is  made 
at  v.  19,  and  more  plainly  at  v.  23,  "If 
therefore  the  whole  church  I)e  come  to- 
gether in  one  place,"  apparently  a  regular 
and  not  a  private  place  of  meeting,  as  a 
stranger  is  supposed  to  enter  it;  and 
several  references  follow  to  speaking  or 
keeping  silence  in  the  church  (vv.  28,  33, 
34,  35).  In  the  same  Epistle  (xi.  22), 
there  Ls  a  striking  passage  which  contrasts 
the  '  chtircli  of  God '  with  the  houses  of  the 
Christians,  following  upon  the  mention  of 
their  habitual  "coming  together  in  the 
church"  (ev  eKKArjo-i'a,  v.  18).f  It  may 
b?  that  the  wealthj'  and  powerful  church 
of  Corinth,  under  the  impartial  protection 
of  such  a  proconsul  as  Gallio,  held  its 
meetings  more  openly  and  regularly  than 

*  The  wortl  is  eit(cA>)iTi'a  thronshont. 

t  The  phrase  "  when  re  come  t<i>,-ether  into  one 
ptaee"  (v.  20),  which s^enis  still  more  plainly  su^- 
^estive  of  an  habitnal  place  of  meetinK.  is  not 
qnite  so  decisive  in  the  original,  cttI  to  aino, 
thoucb  these  words  may  bear  the  sense  given  in 
our  Version. 


12 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Introo. 


was  customary  elsewhere.  At  Ephesus, 
too,  when  the  Cliristian  members  of  the 
synagogue  seceded  to  the  school  of  Ty- 
raniius,  Paul's  ministry  there  for  two 
years  must  have  given  the  place,  for 
the  time,  the  character  of  a  Christian 
church. 

4.  As  a  general  rule,  however,  the 
Christians  of  the  apostolic  age,  from  the 
very  fact  that  they  were  a  persecuted  sect, 
could  as  yet  have  had  no  buildings  set  apart 
for  worship.  They  met  in  private  houses, 
generally  in  the  seclusion  of  upper  rooms  ;* 
and  such  places  of  meeting  were  furnished 
by  eminent  converts,  like  Lydia,  Jason, 
Justus,  Priscilla,  Philemon,  and  Nym- 
phas,  at  I'hilippi,  Thessalonica,  Corinth, 
Ephesus,  Colossa?,  and  Laodicea.  As  their 
numbers  grew,  and  as  persecution  became 
fiercer,  the  Christians  met  in  desert  places, 
at  the  tombs  of  martyrs,  and  in  the  cata- 
combs. We  shall  meet,  in  due  time,  with 
the  deeply  interesting  memorials  of  "  the 
Churcli  in  the  Catacombs  "  at  Rome.  Even 
if  any  special  circumstances  had  given 
them  the  opportunity  of  converting  hea- 
then sanctuaries  to  the  purpose  of  Chris- 
tian worship,  their  deep  alihorrence  of  all 
the  symbols  of  pagan  idolatry  would  have 
forbidden  their  use  of  such  buildings. 

Special  buildings  for  Christian  worship 
are  not  mentioned  till  about  the  end  of  the 
second  century;  and  they  are  then  called 
both  by  the  name  of  the  cltiirches  tli.it 
met  in  them  (fK^ATjcriai).  and  after  the 
example  of  tlie  Tabernacle  and  Temple, 
Houses  of  the  Lord  or  of  God  (ifupio/fai, 
oiKot  ©eoO).  The  earliest  allusions  to 
them  are  made  by  TertuUian,  who  speaks 
of  "  going  to  church "  (in  ecclesiam,  in 
domum  Dei  venire).f  On  the  principle, 
common  to  all  ages  and  languages,  of 
naming  a  place  of  regular  meeting  from 
the  body  that  meets  there,  the  word 
ecdesia  became  tlie  common  name  for 
(Christian  places  of  worship,  both  in  Greek 
and  Latin.    Clement  of  Alexandria,  the 

»  Acts  i.  13.  «.  8;  comp.  iv.  21,  xil.  12:  in  the 
liist  case,  ill  a  time  of  violent  peraectition,  tlie 
doors  were  locked.  Another  example  of  their 
ineetings  is  in  the  resort  of  PanI  and  his  com- 
panions to  Iho  >rpo(r(vxi^ ,  outside  the  walls  of 
Philippi  hy  the  river  side,  which  was  alreaily 
nsed  hy  Lydia  and  the  other  Jewish  proselytes. 
There  is  nothing  to  shew  that  this  was  a  ImiUliiig, 
and  the  words  ou  cuo^C^ero  npocrev^r) 
tivai.  seem  rather  to  imply  a  mere  spot,  8ha<le<I 
perhaps  hy  trees,  of  customary  resort  for  prayer, 
(Acts  xvi.  13, 16.) 

t  Dt  Iilnl  7 ;  rf«  Corona,  3  :  de  Pudic.  4. 


contemporary  of  TertuUian,  explicitly  dis- 
tinguishes the.  two  senses  of  the  word 
e'ic(cA7)<7-io,  a  'place'  (tottos),  and  a  'con- 
gregation of  the  elect'  {adpOKTixa  tCjv 
tWeKTOiv).  The  word  KvpiaKq,  however, 
was  still  preserved  in  the  l^ast,  and,  in 
Latin,  churches  were  also  citlled  'conven- 
ticles' (conventicula  i.e.  'assemblies'),  a 
term  which  corresponds  exactly  to  the 
.Jewish  '  synagogue '  and  the  modern 
'meeting-house.'  When  Constantine  and 
his  successors  granted  the  Cliristians  the 
use  of  the  basiliccB  (the  form  of  which  was 
admirably  suited  to  the  more  ceremonial 
worship  which  was  then  already  prac- 
tised), the  old  name  was  naturally  kept, 
and  was  also  applied  to  the  new  churches 
built  after  their  model ;  and  many  of  the 
great  churches  at  Rome  are  still  called 
basilicas. 

5.  The  Graeco-Latin  name  ecdesia,  alike 
for  the  church  and  for  its  places  of  meeting, 
was  naturally  transferred  to  the  languages 
of  the  western  nations,  both  those  which 
adopted  the  Latin  language  (as  in  the 
French  eglise),  and  those  which  received 
their  Christianity  from  Rome,  like  the  old 
British  church.  The  word  is  preserved,  not 
only  in  the  Welsh  eglwys,  but  in  the  old 
English  form  jfCgales  or  ^Cgles,  in  many 
names  of  places,  as  JEglesforda  (Aylesford 
in  Kent),  and  JEglesburh  (Aylesbury  in 
Bucks.).  The  English  people  received  it, 
with  Christianity,  through  the  mission  of 
Augustine ;  but,  instead  of  the  word  keep- 
ing its  place,  like  other  religious  terms  of 
Greek  and  Latin  origin  {abhat,  hiihop, 
&c.),  it  was  replaced,  both  among  us  and 
the  other  Teutonic  nations,  by  the  word 
which  appears  in  the  various  forms  of 
cyrice,  cyrce,  cyrc,  (also  with  i  for  y,  as 
well  as  other  forms,  in  Anglo-Saxon),  fciVfc 
(.Scotch),  church  (English),  Kirche  (High 
German),  &c.  The  origin  of  this  word  is  still 
a  point  of  doubtful  controversy.  Some  hold 
that  the  Goths  received  the  name  Ktiptaxi] 
from  their  Greek  teachers,  and  that  it 
spread  from  them  to  the  other  Teutonic 
nations.  Others  claim  for  it  a  native 
Teutonic  etymology,  from  the  root  com- 
mon to  all  the  Indo-European  languages, 
signifying  an  enclosure.  In  either  case,  it 
it  would  seem  th.tt,  instead  of  a  church 
(the  building)  being  named  from  the  con- 
gregation, as  was  the  case  with  ecdesia, 
the  inverse  process  has  taken  place  in  the 
Teutonic  languages. 


Christ  sitting,  with  the  Doctors  standing  before  him.     (From  a  Diptych  of  the 
Fifth  Ceotury.) 


BOOK    T. 

THE  PEIMITIVE   AND   PEKSECUTED 
CHURCH. 

FROM  THE  COMING  OP  CHRIST  TO  COXSTANTINE's  EDICT  OP  UNIVERSAL 
TOLERATION;  CORRESPONDING  TO  THE  FIRST,  SECOND,  AND  THIRD 
CENTURIES.      A.D,  1-313. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE   MINISTRY   OF   JESUS  CHRIST   IN    ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   ORIGIN   OP 
THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.      A.D.  1-30. 

§  1.  Christ  the  Foundation  of  His  Church  —  Special  offices  of  the  three 
chief  Apostles,  Peter,  Paul,  and  John.  §  2.  Preparation  for  the 
Church  in  the  Jewish  and  heathen  world.  §  3.  Introduction  to  the 
Church,  and  proclamation  of  its  principles  by  John  the  Baptist  — 
The  Ordinance  of  Baptism.  §  4.  Christ's  Ministry  in  training  His  Dis- 
ciples for  His  Kingdom.  §5.  Gradual  growth  of  the  Church — Its 
first  great  gathering  in  Galilee  —  Character  of  Christ  as  its  Head. 
§6.  Appointment  of  the  Apostles — Their  commission  and  office. 
§  7.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  as  the  Laio  of  the  Christian  Church. 
§  8.  Appointment  and  Commission  of  the  Seventy  Evangelists  —  Sup- 
port of  the  Christian  Ministrj'.  §  9.  Unbelief  and  defection  of  Christ's 
Disciples  —  Confession  of  Peter  —  The  Church  built  on  Christ  the 
Rock.  §  10.  Christ's  entry  into  Jerusalem  as  the  Head  of  the  Jewisn 
Church —  Rejection  by  and  of  the  Jews.  §  11.  The  Passover  and  the 
3 


H  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  Chap.  I. 

Lord's  Supper.  §  12.  The  Passion  of  Christ,  in  its  relation  to  His  Churcli 
—  Typical  characters  of  Judas,  Peter,  and  John — John's  testimony  as 
an  eye-witness.  §  13.  The  Resurrection  of  Christ,  the  Now  Creation  of 
the  Church  —  Celebration  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  meetings  of  the 
Disciples  —  Christ's  Commission  to  the  Apostles.  §  14.  And  the  body 
of  the  Disciples.  §  15.  The  Quadragesimal  interval,  and  Christ's  Final 
Interview  with  the  Disciples,  and  promise  of  the  Spirit  —  His  Ascension 
and  the  promise  of  His  Second  Coming. 

§  1.  The  scriptural  narrative  of  the  age  of  Christ  ami  His  Apos- 
tles has  been  followed  in  the  '  Student's  New  Testament  History,' 
and  need  not  be  rejieated  here.  But  in  order  not  to  omit  the  very 
source  and  foundation  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  it  is  essential  to  select 
from  the  whole  mass  of  tliat  narrative  the  facts  which  exhibit  the 
foundation  and  diffusion,  the  doctrines  and  practices,  of  the  primi- 
tive Church,  as  it  was  first  built  up  on  Christ  its  rock  and  corner- 
stone,' and  on  the  twelve  Ajwstles  of  the  Lamb  as  its  foundations.^ 
Its  very  existence  was  made  possible  by  the  redeeming  Avork  of 
Christ ;  its  principles  were  laid  down  in  His  teaching ;  its  first 
members  were  chosen  by  Him  and  trained  by  constant  converse 
-with  Him  for  the  Avork  of  its  diffusion,  to  which  He  finally  sent 
them  forth  Avith  a  solenui  commission,  authenticated  by  miraculous 
jiowers,  and  with  the  promise  of  His  presence  with  them  to  the  end 
of  the  world.  When  He,  the  Head,  ascended  to  Heaven,  the  Church 
was  left  as  the  Body,  with  members  quickened  by  His  Spirit,  to  do 
His  work  and  maintain  and  spread  His  truth,  njwn  the  earth.  The 
three  great  stages  in  that  work  are  represented  by  the  three  chief 
Apostles: — Peter,  who,  in  the  office  symbolized  by  the  " keys,"' 
opened  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  Jews  and  proselytes  ;  Paul,  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles;  and  John,  Avhose  work  united  that  of  the 
other  two, and  who  lived,  according  to  His  Lord's  prophecy,*  to  see  the 
first  coming  of  Christ  accomplished  in  the  end  of  the  Jewish  dispen- 
sation and  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  through  the  Boman  empire,  and 
to  record,  in  his  Apocalyptic  vision,  a  prophetic  anticipation  of  the 
future  history  of  the  Church. 

§  2.  'J'he  point  in  the  history  of  the  world  marked  by  the  coming 

/of  Jesus  Christ  is  called  by  the  Apostle  Paul  "  the  fulness  of  the 

'/time."'*     All  the  dealings  of  God  with  the  Jewish  people,  and  all 

the  "  feeling  after  Him  "  of  the  heathen  world,  as  well  as  all  the 

vain  efforts  of  its  iiders  to  estaV)lish  lasting  empires,  had  concurred 

'  Matt.  xvi.  18,  xxi.  42;   Mark  xii.  10,     Luke  xx.  17;  Acts  iv.  11; 
Eph.  ii.  20 ;  1  Peter  ii.  7.  *  Rev.  xxi.  14;  comp.  Gal.  ii.  9. 

»  Matt.  xvi.  19.  *  John  xxi.  22,  23. 

*  Galat.  iv.  4.     The  most  eminent  Church   historians  have  introduced 
1  their  subject  by  an  exhibition  of  the  state  of  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  world 
at  the  time  of  Christ's  coming,  for  which  space  can  hardly  he  all'ordcd  here. 
I  See  especially  the  works  of  Neandw,  (tieseler,  and  Schatf. 


A.D.  1-3U.  TRAINING  OF  THE  FIRST  DISCIPLES.  15 

to  prepare  for  the  divine  kingdom,  by  the  exiwctation  of  which 
botli  Jews  and  Gentiles  were  at  that  epoch  deeply  moved.  The 
difl'usion  of  the  Greek  language  through  the  conquests  of  Alexan- 
der, and  the  subjection  of  the  civilized  world  to  the  sway  of  liome, 
had  levelled  a  broad  highway  * — intellectual,  political,  and  physi- 
cal— for  the  spread  of  a  social  system  based  on  truth,  moral 
suasion,  and  spiritual  power,  and  asking  no  worldly  help  save  that 
impartial  suficrance  which  it  was  the  policy  of  liome  to  extend  to 
all  religions.         • 

§  3.  Such  was  "  the  fulness  of  the  time,"  when  "  God  sent  forth 
His  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them 
that  wero  under  the  law "  and  "  in  bondage  to  the  elements  of 
the  world,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons."^  No  words 
could  express  more  fully  the  foundation,  the  character,  and  the 
privileges  of  that  new  society,  which  was  designed  to  embody  the 
"  kingdom  of  heaven ''  2)roclaimed  by  Christ  and  His  forerunner. 

John,  the  Elijah  of  the  New  Covenant,  insisted  on  the  first  con- 
dition of  fitnos!4  for  that  Kingdom  by  rejientance  and  refonnation 
of  life,  as  the  symbol  of  which  his  disciples  received  Baptism,  the 
washing  of  the  body.  But  ho  bore  emphatic  testimony,  that  "  to 
one  greater  than  he,"  who  was  coming  after  him,  he  must  leave  the 
work  of  purifying  the  inward  nature  from  sin  by  the  baptism  of 
fire,  burning  out  the  dross  from  the  gold,  and  by  the  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  creating  a  new  spiiitual  life.  Therefore  he  pointed 
his  disciples  to  "  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  laketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world; "  and  he  thus  laid  down  reconciliation  with  God  through 
sacrifice  for  sin,  as  the  way  of  entrance  into  the  new  Kingdom,  just 
as  into  the  old  congregation  of  Israel. 

§  4.  The  ministry  of  Christ  among  His  disciples  prepared  them  to 
understand  this  truth,  which  they  found  "a  hard  saying  "to  the 
very  last,  till  they  saw  it  fulfilled  in  His  death  and  resurrection. 
The  number  chosen  to  share  His  constant  societ}%  thus  forming 
already  the  nucleus  of  the  Church,  was  so  small,  that  they  could 
have  the  most  intimate  converse  with  him,  while  their  close  and 
daily  observation  would  fit  them  to  attest  the  facts  of  his  life,  his 
deeds  and  teaching,  his  death  and  resurrection.^  The  lowly  station  of 
these  fishermen,  publicans,  and  others,  who  were  despised  still  more 
for  theit' origin  from,  the  half-heathen  land  of  Galilee,  marked  them 
as  the  ministers  of  a  kingdom  widely  different  from  the  pharisaical 
pride  and  worldly  ho^ws  of  the  Jews.     The  retired  life  which  they 

'  Isaiah,  si.  4.  2  Gal.  iv.  3-5. 

•  St.  Peter  emphatically  describes  this  preparation  of  the  Apostles : — 
"  Him  God  raised  up  the  third  day,  and  shewed  him  openly  ;  not  to  all  the 
jieople,  but  unto  vitnesscs  chosen  before  of  Goil,  even  to-  us,  who  did  eat 
and  drink  with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead."  Acts  s.  40,  41.  See 
Bishop  Horsley's  Sermon  on  the  Resurrection  of  Christ. 


l(j  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  Chap.  I. 

led  with  Jesus,  and  tlie  slow  and  gradual  steps  by  which  He  entered 
on  His  public  ministry,  proved  that  "  the  Kingdom  of  God  cometh 
not  with  observation,"  and  He  ever  taught  them  "  that,  the  King- 
dom of  God  is  within  you."  But  He  plainly  announced  himself, 
first  to  the  Jews  assembled  for  the  Passover  at  Jerusalem,^  as  the 
Lord  who  had  authority  in  the  House  of  God,  as  prophesied  by 
Malachi,  and  afterwards  in  his  own  city  of  Nazareth,  as  the  Mes- 
siah, the  anointed  King  of  Israel,  on  whom  the  spirit  of  Jehovah 
rested,  and  who  had  come  to  proclaim  "  the  yeaifof  Jehovah,"  the 
Jubilee  of  the  wo);ld,  in  the  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah .^  But 
the  Jews  waited  to  see  if  he  would  lead  them  to  victory  against  the 
Romans ;  and  his  own  countrj-men  rejected  him  with  rage  when  he 
revealed  his  mission  to  all  the  world. 

§  5.  Meanwhile  the  Church,  which  began  with  the  two  disciples 
of  John  who  followed  Christ,  was  slowly  enlarged  by  the  followers 
whom  He  gathered,  partly  in  his  visits  to  Jerusalem — but  of  these 
few  were  real  converts ;  '^  partly  from  the  outcast  Samaritans,  of 
whom  the  woman  of  Sychar  was  the  type  ;  *  but  chiefly  during  His 
Galilean  ministry. 

It  was  in  the  second  year  of  that  ministry,  when  He  was 
endangered  by  the  enmity  of  the  Jews,  who  would  not  receive, 
and  of  Herod,  who  could  not  understand,  the  spiritual  nature  of  His 
Kingdom,  that  Jesus  withdrew  to  a  retired  sjjot  on  the  Lake  of 
Galilee ;  but  even  there  He  was  followed  by  a  multitude  from  all 
])arts  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  even  from  beyond  its  borders,  from 
Idumea  on  the  south,  to  Tyre  and  Sidon  on  the  north.  In  the 
acts  of  mercy  and)  healing,  which  He  performed  on  that  retired 
scene  for  those  who  were  in  part  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel,  Matthew  sees  the  fulfilment  of  Isaiah's  prophecy  concerning 
the  Messiah  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God  to  judge  Gentiles  as  well 
as  Jews;  so  meek,  that  he  would  not  strive  or  cry  for  his  rights; 
so  merciful,  that  he  would  not  break  the  bruised  reed  as  useless, 
nor  quench  the  struggling  light  figured  by  the  smoking  lamp- 
wick  ;  and  yet  so  powerful  by  this  very  might  of  gentleness,  that 
his  just  judgments  should  go  forth  to  universal  victory,  "and  in 
his  name  shall  the  nations  trust." ''  Here  is  the  express  character 
of  the  liead  of  the  new  kingdom  of  heaven ;  and  in  that  assembly 
on  the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  we  see  all  the  elements  of  His 
visible  church  gathered  in  separation  from  the  world. 

§  G.  For  that  Church  he  now  provided  the  teachers  who  were 
to  guide  them,  and  the  doctrines  which  were  to  mould  their  life 
and  character.     From  among  those  whom  he  called  to  himself,  as 

>  John  ii.  "^  Luke  iv.  16-31 ;  Isaiah  Ixi.  1,  2. 

=>  Joha  ii.  23-25.  *  John  iv. 

»  Matt.  .xii.  15-21  ;  Mark  iii.  7-12;  comp.  Isaiah  xl.  10,  xlii.  1-3. 


A.D.  1-30.  ORDINATION  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  17 

his  more  select  disciples,'  "  he  chose  twelve,  whom  also  he  named 
Apostles," ■■*  "and  he  ordained  them,  that  they  should  be  with 
Ilini,  and  that  He  might  send  them  forth'"  (according  to  the 
significance  of  the  Greek  name  of  their  oflice)  "  to  preach,  and  to 
have  power  to  heal  sicknesses,  and  to  cast  out  devils."^  From  this 
and  other  passages  we  gather  the  essential  marks  of  the  apostolic 
office : — personal  intercourse  with  Christ ;  apix)intment  by  Himself; 
the  power  to  work  miracles  in  proof  of  their  divine  mission ;  the 
gilt  of  the  Holy^  Spirit,  breathed  ui^n  them  by  their  risen  Lord, 
and  afterwards  conferred  openly  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  enabling 
them  to  sjxjak  in  foreign  tongues ;  and  the  ix)wcr  to  confer  that 
gift  on  others.  The  union  of  these  signs  distinguished  the  Apostles 
from  every  other  class  of  ministers ;  and  their  number,  that  of  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  symbolized  their  primary  mission  to  the 
Jews.  The  office  of  the  Ajx)stles  was  tem^wrary ;  they  were  first 
in  time,  as  well  as  authority  and  jwwer,  among  the  ministers 
whom  Christ  appointed  to  build  up  His  Church — "for  the  edifying 
of  the  body  of  Christ."  * 

§  7.  To  them,  primarily,  but  with  them  to  the  whole  assembled 
multitude,  he  addressed  that  discourse  from  the  Mount  of  Blessings, 
which  renewed  and  explained,  in  more  spiritual  freedom,  the  law 
which  he,  as  the  Angel  Jehovah,  had  given  to  the  elders  and  the 
whole  congregation  or  church  of  Israel  from  Mount  Sinai.  It  lays 
down  the  character  of  those  who  may  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  beginning  with  that  poverty  of  spirit,  meekness,  and  gentle- 
ness, which  at  once  excluded  the  marked  characters  of  worldly  king- 
doms and  societies ;  and  its  climax  is  the  jjatteru  of  likeness  to  their 
common  Lord,  and  the  law  of  mercy  as  they  had  received  mercy, 
and  of  brotherly  love,  which  binds  together  the  members  of  the 
Church,  and  governs  their  conduct  to  the  world : — "  Be  ye  perfect, 
even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect" — "Be  ye*merciful,  as 
your  Father  also  is  merciful " — "  As  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them  likewise."  ° 

§  8.  It  was  not  till  six  months  before  the  end  of  his  ministry, 
that  Christ  apjx)inted  and  sent  forth  a  second  order  of  ministers, 
who  are  simply  described  by  their  number,  the  Seventy,  but  are 
commonly,  and  doubtless  rightly  called  Evangelists,  from  their 
office  of  proclaiming  the  kingdom  of  God,*  as  now  at  hand,  in  the 
villages  which  He  designed  to  visit  on  His  journey  to  the  Feast  of 

'  Mark  iii.  13.  *  Luke  vi.  13. 

'  Mark  iii.  13-15.  On  the  essential  characters  of  the  apostolic  office, 
see  further  in  the  Student's  N^ew  Testament  History,  chap.  ix.  §  4. 

*  1  Cor.  xii.  28;  Ephes.  iv.  11,  12.  *  Matt,  v.-vii. 

"  Called  "  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God,"  in  Matt.  iv.  24,  ix.  35, 
ixiv.  14 ;  Mark  i.  14. 


18  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  Chap.  I. 

Tabernacles.'  The  number  of  the  Seventy,  and  the  scene  of  their 
mission,  alike  indicated  that  the  time  was  at  hand  for  preaching 
the  Gospel  to  the  heathen ;  whereas  the  Apostles  were  forbidden 
to  preach,  at  present,  to  the  Samaritans  or  the  Gentiles.-  Keither 
had  the  Seventy  the  special  training  of  the  Twelve ;  but  their 
instructions  for  their  work  were  the  same,  and,  in  their  essence, 
they  are  those  which  should  always  guide  the  ministers  of  Christ. 
The  authority  of  their  mission  in  Christ's  name  was,  like  that 
of  the  Aix)stles,  fully  identified  with  His  own.*  And  it  is  to 
be  observed  that  pur  Lord  lays  down  for  them  the  principle, 
on  which  St.  Paul  afterwards  insisted,  that  the  preacher  of  the 
Gospel  ought  to  be  supix)rted  by  the  free  aid  and  hospitality 
of  those  to  whom  he  ministers,  "  for  the  labourer  is  worth  his 
wages."*  The  Seventy  had  the  power  of  working  miracles;  but 
Christ  taught  them  to  rejoice  less  at  the  subjection  of  the  devils 
to  them  through  His  name,  than  in  the  record  of  their  own  names 
in  heaven.  In  like  manner  He  contrasted  the  privileges  of  each 
member  of  His  Church  with  the  last  and  greatest  of  the  prophets, 
"  He  that  is  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  John 
the  Baptist." 

§  9.  Throughout  the  ministry  of  Christ,  His  own  Church  was 
troubled  by  the  same  doubts  which  in  other  Jews  became  oj)en 
imbelief ;  they  found  it  hard  to  learn  the  lesson  of  the  spirituality 
of  his  kingdom,  when  they  were  exjxicting  a  King  to  sit  as  a 
conqueror  on  the  throne  of  David.  In  one  great  defection  even 
the  Twelve  were  tempted  to  follow,  when  the  Lord's  ap|)eal,  "  Will 
ye  also  go  away?"  called  forth  the  confession  in  which  Peter 
recognised  Him  as  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  because 
He  had  the  words  of  eternal  life.*  It  was  in  answer  to  this 
confession  that  He  declared  the  distinction  between  his  visible  and 
spiritual  church,  by  denouncing  one  of  the  twelve,  whom  He 
himself  had  chosen,  as  a  devil.  And  it  is  a  most  instructive  fact, 
that  Judas  Iscariot  was  suffered  to  remain  in  fellowship  with  the 
other  Apostles,  and  to  hold  high  trust  among  them,  up  to  the  night 
in  which  he  betrayed  his  Lord  with  a  kiss. 

'  Luke  X.  1-16;  compared  with  1  Cor.  xii.  28,  and  Ephes.  iv.  11,  12, 
where  Evangelists  are  named,  after  Apostles  and  Prophets,  among  the 
orders  of  the  ministry  instituted  by  Christ,  and  1  Tim.  iv.  5.  The  title 
given  to  "Philip  the  Evangelist "  (Acts  xxi.  8)  deserves  the  more  notice  in 
this  connection,  as  it  was  Philip  who  afterwards  converted  the  Samari- 
tans. The  name  Evangelist  ((vayyt\i(rTrts)  signifies  "a  messenger  of  good 
tidings,"  that  is,  of  the  Gospd  ("  good,"  or  "  God's  spell,"  a  word  of  the 
same  significance  as  fbayytKla),  and  (bayy^XiCftv  ("evangelize")  is  "to 
announce  good  tidings,"  or  "  preach  the  Gospel."  The  application  of  the 
name  to  the  writers  of  the  four  Gospels  was  made  later. 

*  Matt.  X.  5.  '  Verse  16.  ••  Verse  7.  *  John  vi.  69. 


A.D.  1-30  THE  ROCK  AND  LIVING  TEMPLE,  1» 

The  confession  of  Peter  was  renewed  on  an  occasion  memorable 
fur  Christ's  full  revelation  both  of  the  spiritual  foundation  of  His 
Church,  and  of  the  great  doctrine  of  their  redemption  by  His  blood. 
In  that  momentous  conversation  at  Ca'sarea  I'hilipi^i,  the  faith 
which  Peter  confessed,  in  the  name  of  all  the  Apostles,  was 
rewarded  with  the  emphatic  statement  of  the  truth,  symbolized  by 
Peter's  own  name,  that  Christ  himself  was  the  eternal  Pock,  on 
which  He  had  built  His  Church,  and  that  all  the  powers  of  destrtic- 
tion  should  assail  that  Church  in  vain.*  Peter  himself  expounds 
this  truth  (already  suggested  prophetically  by  David,-  and  dwelt  on 
also  by  PauP)  in  the  beautiful  figure  of  the  Church  as  the  spiritual 
house,  built  up  of  believers  as  living  stones,  on  Christ  the  living 
foundation-stone,  chosen  of  God  and  precious,  but  rejected  by  the 
disobedient  builders,  who  stumble  at  the  truth,  like  those  who 
pretend  from  this  very  text  to  found  their  own  false  church  on 
Peter  himself.  And  in  that  house  he  declares  that,  not  a  con- 
secrated order,  but  all  believers  are  the  living  priesthood  who 
ofier  up  only  spiritual  sacrifices,  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus 
Christ.* 

§  10.  This  lesson  was  designed  to  prepare  the  disciples  for  what 
they  might  have  deemed  the  end  of  Christ's  kingdom,  with  His  life, 
when  the  Jews  consummated  their  rejection  of  that  true  foundation 
of  the  church  and  kingdom  they  liad  hoped  for.  But  first,  our 
Lord  assumed  His  dignity  as  head  of  the  Jewisli  Church  by  His 
triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem.  In  His  discourses  and  jiarables 
during  that  final  week.  He  fully  exposed  their  fatal  error  concern- 
ing His  kingdom,*  and  taught  more  plainlj^  than  ever  the  true 
character  of  His  church,  as  based  on  repentance  and  faith,  not  on 
the  privileges  of  the  chosen  people,  nor  on  a  self-righteous  claim  to 
goodness.  Throughout  His  course  He  had  oflended  the  Pharisees 
by  receiving  publicans  and  sinners,  and  He  had  plainlj^  told  them, 
"  The  publicans  and  harlots  «o  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before 
you.'_'  And  now  the  parables  of  the  Tii:o  Sons  and  the  Vine- 
yard, of  the  Wicked  Jluslxindmen,  and  of  the  Wedding  Garment 
illustrated  the  same  truth ;  and  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  (as  such) 
from  the  Church  was  pronounced  by  the  sentence,  "  The  Kingdom 
of  God  shall  be  taken  from  j'ou,  and  given  to  a  nation  bringing 
forth  the  fruits  thereof."  On  leaving  Jerusalem,  He  brought  His 
teaching  to  a  climax  in  the  great  prophecy  of  His  coming  to  put  an 

'  Matt.  xvi.  18.  For  a  critical  discussion  of  this  passage,  and  a  refuta- 
tion of  the  great  Romish  perversion,  which  makes  Peter  the  i-ock  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  the  superstructure,  see  the  Student's  A'co 
Testament  Jfiatory,  chap.  ix.  §  14-. 

*  Psalm  cxviii.  *  Ephes.  ii.  20  «  1  Peter  ii.  4-9. 

»  A'.  T.  History,  chap.  ^v.  §§  3-6. 


20  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  Chap.  I. 

and  to  the  apostate  Jewish  church,  and  to  establish  His  own 
kingdom.^ 

§  11.  The  last  act  of  Christ's  ministry  was  to  keep  with  His 
disciples  the  Passover,  the  rite  by  which  the  Jewish  church  had 
been  formally  initiated,  and  to  found  upon  it  the  ordinance  which 
has  ever  since  been  the  outward  sign  of  fellowship  in  the  Church, 
*'  the  communion  of  the  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ."  The  Paschal 
Lamb,  as  a  prophetic  type,  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  as  the  commemora- 
tion of  an  accomplished  act,  alike  teach  the  twofold  truth,  that  all 
true  members  of  the  Church  are  redeemed  from  the  bondage  of  sin, 
and  saved  from  the'  doom  of  death,  only  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ, 
and  that  their  nature  is  united  with  His,  and  their  spiritual  life  and 
strength  drawn  from  Him,  as  the  body  is  nourished  by  bread  and 
invigorated  by  wine.  "  This  is  my  body  broken  for  you  " — "  This 
is  my  blood  of  the  New  Covenant  shed  for  the  many  for  the 
remission  " — "  Eat  and  drink  ye  all  of  it " — "  Do  this  in  remem- 
brance of  me  " — "  Whenever  ye  do  it  ye  show  forth  the  Lord's 
death  till  He  come  " — are  the  sentences  which  ever  keep  before  us 
the  foundation,  the  continuance,  and  the  future  consummation  of 
the  fellowship  of  the  Christian  Church. 

§  12.  In  the  trial  and  passion  of  our  Lord,  He  was  finally  chal- 
lenged by  the  solemn  adjuration  of  the  High  Priest,  by  the  search- 
ing inquiries  of  Pilate,  and  by  the  taunts  of  the  Jews,  to  avow  and 
assume  His  kingdom.  Before  the  Sanhedrin  He  claimed  His  uni- 
versal dominion  as  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  and  as 
the  Son  of  Man,  the  future  judge  of  all  mankind.  "  Before  Pontius 
Pilate  He  witnessed  the  good  confession  " — "My  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world."  To  the  taunting  challenge  of  the  Jews,  to  show  His 
power  in  the  last  extremity,  by  coming  down  from  His  cross  to 
assume  His  kingdom.  He  replied  only  by  proving  that  cross  to  be 
His  throne  of  mercy,  in  the  forgiveness  of  the  penitent  thief  and 
his  call  to  Paradise  as  the  first  member  of  the  Church  glorified  in 
heaven. 

Pilate  unconsciously  marked  the  relation  of  Christ's  death  to  the 
life  of  His  Church  by  affixing  to  His  very  cross  the  title  "  This  is 
the  King  of  the  Jews."  For  He  is  the  head  as  well  as  Saviour  of 
the  Church  in  His  suffering  humanity.  Its  highest  office  was  per- 
formed by  Him  as  at  once  its  only  true  Priest  and  its  only  atoning 
sacrifice,  when,  of  His  own  free  will.  He  offered  Himself  upon  the 
cross.  His  human  nature,  "made  perfect  through  suffering," 
joined  Him  in  full  sympathy  with  the  weak  and  suffering  brethren, 
who  form  the  body  of  which  He  is  the  divine  Head,  but  "  touched 

'  For  an  exposition  of  this  prophecy,  viewed  as  the  first  stage  in  the 
establishment  of  Christ's  kingdom,  as  well  as  of  its  higher  meaning,  see 
the  Student's  New  Testament  History,  chap.  xix.  §  20. 


A.D.  1-30.        THE  NEW  CREATION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  'Zl 

with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities."  ^  His  dying  cry,  "  It  is 
finished,"  marked  the  end  of  the  old  dispensation,  as  well  as  the 
fulfilment  of  the  sacrifice  which  redeemed  His  Church,  and  the 
rending  of  the  Temple  veil  was  a  sign  that  the  Church,  both  on 
earth  and  in  heaven,  was  open  for  all  to  enter  by  "the  new 
and  living  way  which  He  hath  consecrated  for  us  through  the 
veil,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh,"  if  only  we  "  draw  near  with  a  true 
heart,  in  full  assurance  of  faith,  having  our  hearts  sprinkled  from 
an  evil  conscience,  and  our  bodies  washed  with  pure  water  "  (Heb. 
X.  19-22). 

Three  incidents  of  the  Saviour's  passion,  which  have  a  close 
connection  with  His  Cliurch,  are  the  treachery  of  Judas,  the  fall 
of  Peter,  and  the  faithfulness  of  John.  The  three  Apostles  are 
types  of  the  selfish  hypocrite,  the  unstable  but  jDenitent  disciple, 
and  the  follower  stedfast  through  love ;  all  within  the  circle  of  the 
visible  Church.  To  John's  courageous  attendance  on  his  Lord  to 
the  judgment  hall,  to  the  cross,  and  to  the  sepulchre,  the  Church 
owes  the  historical  basis  of  her  faith  :  "  He  that  saw  it  bare  record, 
and  his  record  is  true."  ^  The  flight  of  the  rest  of  the  disciples 
seemed  for  the  moment  like  the  dispersion  of  the  Church  which 
Christ  had  gathered;  and  its  last  visible  representatives  were  the 
devoted  women  '  who  were 

"  Last  at  the  cross  and  earliest  at  the  tomb," 

and  the  secret  disciple,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  furnishes  another 
type  of  its  true  though  unknown  members. 

§  13.  The  tidings  of  the  Lord's  resurrection  rallied  the  scattered 
disciples ;  and  their  meetings  during  the  ensuing  forty  days  are  of 
great  importance  in  the  History  of  the  Church.  First,  however, 
stands  the  vast  significance  of  the  event  itself.  As  the  death  of 
Christ  made  atonement  for  sin  and  symbolized  the  death  of  His 
Cimrch  to  the  world,  so  did  His  resurrection  mark  the  beginning  of 
a  new  spiritual  life,  or,  in  the  words  of  Paul,  "  a  new  creation  in 
Christ  Jesus."  This  new  creation  was  the  higher  renewal  of  that 
first  one  which  sin  had  marred  ;  and  therefore  we  find  the  disciples, 
from  that  very  day,  celebrating  the  first  day  of  the  lueek  as  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  the  Lord's  Day,  on  which  they  met  for  worship 

'  Hebrews  iv.  15,  where  the  whole  context  sets  forth  the  relation  of 
Christ's  human  nature  to  His  Church  as  His  brethren. 

*  John  xix.  35,  xxi.  24;  1  John  i. 

'  The  prominent  part  borne  by  women  in  the  ministry  of  Jesus  and  in 
the  early  Church  is  an  emphatic  testimony  of  their  full  share  in  church- 
membership,  in  contradiction  of  that  Oriental  idea  of  their  natural  in- 
feriority, which  was  expressed  by  the  disciples  when  "  they  marvelled 
that "  their  Master  "  talked  with  a  (not  the)  woman."  (John  iv.  27.) 
3* 


22  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  Chap.  L 

and  fellowship.*  These  assemblies  began  on  that  very  evening, 
when  the  risen  Lord  entered  the  cliambor  where  the  eleven  Apostles^ 
had  met  with  doors  shut  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  saluted  them  with 
the  blessing  of  "  Peace,"  showed  them  His  wounded  body,  and  ate 
bread  with  them ;  and  then  breathing  His  Spirit  upon  them,  He 
repeated  their  commission,  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature, 
and  to  baptize  all  believers,  conferred  on  them  the  power  to  work 
miracles,  and  gave  them  the  authority  of  remitting  and  retaining 
sins.  Such  was  the  first  meeting  of  the  apostolic  church  on  the  first 
Lord's  day.  "And  cfter  eight  days  again  his  disciples  were 
within,"  the  doors  being  shut  as  before,  when  Jesus  stood  again  in 
their  midst,  with  the  salutation  of  "  Peace,"  and  satisfied  the  doubts 
of  Thonias  with  the  tangible  proof  of  His  resurrection.  His  third 
appearance  to  His  Apostles  (but  to  only  seven  of  them  this  time), 
beside  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  was  marked  by  the  second  miracle  of  the 
great  draught  of  fishes,  which  He  had  himself  exi)lained  as  a  sign  of 
the  gathering  of  believers  into  His  Church  by  His  ministers,  once 
fishermen,  but  now  called  to  be  "  fishers  of  men."  The  emphatic 
record  that  "  the  net  did  not  break,"  as  wlien  He  had  taught  them 
the  lesson  before,  signified  that  the  time  had  come  for  their  entrance 
on  the  evangelic  work  with  the  assurance  of  success.^  It  was  on 
this  occasion  that  he  marked  out  John  as  the  disciple  who  should 
live  to  see  His  coming  in  the  full  establishment  of  His  Church. 

§  14.  That  this  church  was  not  restricted  to  the  Apostles,*  was 
signified  by  the  appearance  of  Jesus  to  the  great  botly  of  His  discir 
pies,  "  five  hundred  brethren  at  once,"  on  a  mountain  'in  Galilee." 

*  The  meetings  of  the  disciples  on  each  eighth  day  have  the  more  force 
as  an  argument  from  the  very  fact  of  their  being  only  incidentally  recorded. 
The  correspondence  of  the  interval  with  the  week,  and  the  distinction  of  the 
dan  from  the  old  Sabbath,  are  facts  which  admit  of  no  other  explanation ; 
and  all  doubt  is  removed  by  Paul's  allusions  to  the  meetings  of  the  dis- 
ciples on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  by  the  testimony  of  heathen  as 
well  as  Christian  writers  to  the  practice  "from  the  earliest  age  of  the 
Church.  John,  in  mentioning  the  day  as  a  season  of  spiritual  ecstasy, 
in  which  Christ  appeared  to  him  and  showed  him  the  worship  of  the 
heavenly  temple,  expressly  calls  it  by  the  name  which  it  has  always  borne 
in  the  Church,  "  the  Lord's  Day  "  (J)  Kvpiaxii  vfitpa:  Dies  Dominica  :  Rev. 
i.  10). 

»  Mark  xvi.  14-18;  Luke  xxiv.  36-49;  John  xx.  19-23;  1  Cor.  xv.  5; 
where  "the  twelve"  is  used  as  the  usual  name  of  the  Apostles,  though 
Mark  says,  more  exactly,  "  the  eleven." 

*  John  xxi.  1-14;  oomp.  Luke  i.  G. 

*  It  appears  also  that  on  the  first,  at  least,  of  the  appearances  specified 
as  made  to  the  Apostles,  others  of  the  disciples  were  present  with  them  (see 
Luke  xxiv.  35,  36). 

*  1  Cor.  XV.  16;  comp.  Matt,  xxvjii.  16,  17.  On  the  hannony  of  these 
two  testimonies,  see  the  Student's  New  Testament  Jiistoru,  chap.  xii. 
§  13. 


A.D.  1-30.  COMMISSION  TO  THE  CHURCH.  23 

In  tliis  \vc  recognize  tlie  great  interview  of  Jesus  with  His  disciples, 
of  which  He  had  spoken  before  His  death,  and  to  which  they  were 
siuiunoned  with  the  announcement  of  His  resurrection.'  Its  scene 
was  (Jalilee,  where  Jesus  had  begun  His  public  teaching,  and  where 
His  life  had  been  chiefly  spent.  As  He  had  oj^ened  His  ministry 
on  a  mountain,  by  the  discourse  which  set  forth  the  conditions  of 
discipleship,  so  He  closed  it  on  a  niountain,  by  the  commission  and 
the  promise,  which  He  based  on  His  own  unbounded  authority  as 
Head  over  all  things  to  His  Church  : — "  All  jwwer  is  given  unto 
me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  make  discijdts  of 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  ttachiny  them  to  observe  ail  things, 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you :  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  always 
imto  the  end  of  the  world."  Thus  the  commission,  given  before  to 
the  Apostles,  was  now  repeated  to  the  disciples  in  general,  that  is, 
to  the  cburch,  and  not  only  to  its  ministers.  That  this  is  true  also 
of  the  promise  of  miraculous  powers,  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
apix?ars  from  the  record  of  Mark  and  John.  One  special  appearance 
of  our  Lord,  to  James  (the  Less),^  is  important  from  the  mention  of 
that  Apostle  as  being,  like  Peter  and  John,  one  of  the  "pillars 
of  the  church,"^  and  from  that  Apostle's  close  connection  with  the 
Church  of  Jerusalem,  of  which  ho  is  commonly  reputed  the  fust 
bishop. 

§  15.  The  whole  interval  of  forty  days  between  our  Lord's  re- 
surrection and  ascension  is  marked  as  a  time  of  special  preparation 
of  His  disciples,  and  especially  the  Apostles,  fur  their  part  in  His 
Church.  While  He  ])repared  them  to  lay  its  foundation  of  truth  in 
the  great  fact  of  His  resurrection,  "  presenting  himself  to  them  alive 
after  his  passion  by  many  proofs,"  He  spent  the  time  with  them  in 
"  speaking  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  Kingdom  of  God."^ 

The  quadrafjcsinial  period  itself  had  a  mystic  meaning.  As  the 
founder  of  God's  Kingdom  on  earth  had  his  own  faith  and  patience 
tried  during  a  solitude  of  forty  days  between  His  baptism  and  His 
showing  to  Israel  (like  Moses,  the  founder,  and  Elijah,  the  reformer, 
of  the  Jewish  church),  so,  as  the  risen  Head  of  the  Church,  he  sj^nt 
his  last  forty  days  on  earth  in  coufiniiing  the  faith  of  His  disciples, 
and  working  in  them  a  conviction  of  the  truth  of  His  resurrection 
and  the  spiritual  nature  of  His  Kingdom.^ 

'  Matt.  xxvi.  32,  xxviii.  7.  ^  1  Cor.  xv.  7.  3  Galat.  ii.  9. 

■•  Acts  i.  ;i :  oTi  KoX  irapfcrrricrft'  tavrhv  (wvra  fxtra  to  ira6f7v  avrhy  tu 
■KoWols  TfKuripiuis,  5i'  i^ufpwf  TtaaapaKovra  oirroi'o^utj'or  ainols,  Kai 
Xiy  tisv  TO  irepl  Tf)s/3a<r(X«Iaj  tov  &  (  o  v. 

*  Hence  the  Church  celehratos  the  Quadragesimal  Fast  of  the  Spring- 
tide (Lent,  A.  S.,  Ictutcn,  from  the  lengthening  days),  and  the  period  of 
forty  days  tVom  Easter  to  Ascension  Day. 


24  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  Chap.  I. 

On  the  fortieth  day  He  met  the  disciples,  assembled,  as  it  seems,  by 
His  express  ap{X)intment  at  Jerusalem,  when  they  ate  their  simple 
meal  toi^ether ; '  and  He  told  them  to  wait  at  Jerusalem  till  they  should 
receive  the  gift  of  the  Paraclete,  whom  He  had  promised  that  the 
Father  would  send  forth  to  replace  His  presence  with  them,  to  tes- 
tify of  Him  in  their  hearts,  and  to  bring  all  his  teaching  to  their 
remembrance.**  On  the  night  of  His  passion,  while  preparing  them 
for  His  departure,  and  warning  them  that  they,  like  their  Master, 
would  be  cast  out  of  the  Jewish  church  and  be  persecuted  to  death,^ 
He  had  told  them  the  strange  truth,  "  It  is  for  your  advantage  that 
I  go  away  :  for,  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Paraclete  will  not  come  unto 
you ;  but  if  I  depart  I  will  send  him  unto  you ;  and  when  he  is 
come,  he  will  convince  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness,  and 
of  judgment."  This  was  the  jwwer  with  which  the  Church  was  to 
be  endowed  for  its  work  in  the  world.  And,  now,  on  the  day  of 
His  departure  from  the  earth.  He  told  them  that  the  time  was  come 
to  fulfil  the  promise,  which  had  been  made  even  from  the  appear- 
ance of  His  forerunner,  "For  John  truly  baptized  with  water;  but 
ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence."  * 

How  much  they  still  neetled  the  new  flood  of  light  and  life  which 
was  then  to  come  upon  them,  was  proved  by  their  last  persistent 
enquiry,  whether  He  spoke  of  the  time,  as  now  come,  to  restore  the 
kingdom  to  Israel.  The  answer,  in  the  last  words  that  Christ 
spoke  on  earth,  disclosed  the  true  sense  in  which  that  time  had 
really  come  :  the  spiritual  Kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  the  true  Israel 
was  now,  indeed,  to  be  established  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
given  to  His  Church  for  the  restoration  of  the  world — the  Jew,  the 
heretic,  and  the  heathen  alike — to  faith: — ^"But  ye  shall  receive 
power,  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you,  and  j^e  shall  be 
witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth."  ^ 

Either  before  or  during  this  conversation,  He  had  led  them  out 
as  far  as  Bethany,*  so  that  the  Mount  of  Olives  hid  His  ascension 
from  the  sight  of  the  city;  and,  even  as  He  uttered  the  last  words. 
He  rose  up  above  the  earth,  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of  the 
sight  of  His  disciples.     As  they  gazed  upward,  watching  the  course 

'  Acts  i.  4 :  ffvvaKi^Snevos  avro7s ;    comp.  ver.  6.  ol  fifu   oSc    <rui/e\- 

*  Luke  xxiv.  49  ;  Acts  i.  4 ;  comp.,  for  the  promise  itself,  John  xiv.  16,  26, 
XV.  26.  The  word  Paraclete  is  purposely  kept  untranslated.  The  "Com- 
forter" of  our  Version  is  quite  inadequate,  if  not  wrong.  "Advocate,"  or 
"  Exhorter,"  gives  a  much  nearer  approach  to  the  meaning.  On  the  whole 
subject,  including  the  oflice  of  the  Paraclete  in  the  Church,  sec  Arch- 
deacon Hare's  Mission  of  the  Comforter. 

»  John  xvi.  2.  ■•  Acts  i.  5. 

•  Acts  i.  8.  "  Luke  xxiv.  50. 


A.D.  1-30. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


25 


of  His  chariot  of  clouds,  two  angels  came  to  assure  them  that  Jesus 
would  come  agaiu  in  like  manner,  as  He  Himself  had  told  them,  in 
the  clouds  of  heaven,  to  assume  His  final  kingdom ;  ^  and  they 
returned  to  Jerusalem,  to  await  the  promise  which  was  to  make 
them  the  instruments  of  preparing  that  coming  through  the  gather- 
ing of  all  the  nations  into  His  Church. 

'  Acts  i.  11;  comp.  Matt.  xxiv.  30,  and  many  other  passages  of  the 
New  Testament,  down  to  Rev.  i.  7. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ON  THE  ALLEGED  CONTEMPORARY 
NOTICES  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  ELSE- 
WHERE THAN  IN  THE  NEW 
TESTAMENT. 

L  Notices  in  Greek  and  Roman 
Writeks. — We  must  be  careful  to  observe 
the  sense  of  the  word  contemporary  in  such 
an  enquiry.  The  despotism  of  Tilx-rius 
and  his  successors  was  adverse  to  history ; 
tlie  chief  historians,  who  were  contempo- 
rary with  the  age  of  the  Cffsars  in  general, 
wrote  near  and  after  the  end  of  the  first 
ceniuiy,  partly  under  Vespasian  and  Titus, 
but  chiefly  when  free  speech  was  restored 
under  the  constitutional  rule  of  Nerva, 
Trajan,  Hadrian,  and  the  Antonines. 
Thus  Tacitus  penned  his  Ukus  classicus 
about  Jesus  Christ  nearly  a  century  after 
the  event.  As  that  passage  shows,  it  was 
not  till  the  spread  of  Cliristianity  in  the 
Empire  made  its  followers  an  object  of 
inquisition  and  persecution,  that  historians 
thought  them  worth  their  notice,  and  even 
then  but  slightly  so.  If  it  seems  strange 
to  us  that  neither  of  the  two  great  brothers, 
the  philosopher  Seneca  and  the  historic;il 
poet  Lucan,  vouchsafed  even  a  passing 
allusion  to  Chrffetianity,  we  have  only  to 
remember  how  the  third  brother,  Gallio, 
resented  the  very  bringing  before  his  tri- 
bunal, as  proconsul  of  Achaia,  of  Jewish 
"  questions  of  words  and  names,"  that  is, 
of  the  name  of  Christ  (Acts  xix.  15). 

1.  The  earliest  writer  whose  silence 
would  have  caused  real  surprise  is  the 
Romanized  Jew,JosErHTt.s,  who  was  born  at 
Jerusalem,  a  very  few  years  after  our  Lord's 
ascension  (a.d.  37),  and  was  himself  an 
actor  in,  as  well  as  the  historian  of,  that 


terrible  war  which  (unknown  to  him) 
resulted  in  Christ's  predicted  "  coming  in 
His  kingdom,"  when  the  Jewish  Church 
fell  with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by 
Titus  (A.D.  TO). 

It  would  have  been  strange  if,  in  his 
larger  work,  which  follows  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  Jewish  commonwealth,  no 
allusion  had  been  madeto  Jesus,  especially 
as  Josephus  mentions  the  preaching  of 
John  the  Baptist ;  and  there  is  such  an 
allusion,  and  a  very  striking  one,  in  the 
existing  text  of  the  'Jewish  Antiquities' 
(xviij.  3,  5  3).  The  genuineness  of  the 
passage  has  been  questioned,  partly  on 
the  weak  negative  grotfnd,  that  Eusebius 
is  the  fir.st  Christian  writer  who  appeals 
to  so  remarkable  a  testimony ;  and  partly 
on  the  internal  evidence,  which  shows  the 
hand  of  a  Christian,  whereas  Josephus  was 
an  unbelieving  Jew  to  the  last.  (Origen, 
c.  Cek.,  i.  p.  35.)  But  he  was  too  candid  to 
have  abstained,  on  this  ground,  from  a 
purely  historical  mention  of  Christ;  and  the 
very  interpolations,  which  appear  to  have 
been  made  in  the  text  by  the  misguided 
zeal  of  Christian  copyists,  rather  tend  to 
confirm  the  genuineness  of  the  essential 
parts,  which  are  quite  in  a  different  vein. 
In  the  first  words,  for  example,  a  Christian 
would  hardly  have  introduced  Jesus  as  a 
(To<^bs  avrjp.  Obt^erve  also  the  rwr  n-pcoTioi' 
avSpiuv  Trap'  rifxlv,  and  the  whole  of  that 
sentence.  We  know  tliat  Josephus  was 
read  and  copied  by  Christians,  rather  than 
by  Jews ;  we  know  the  early  tendency  of 
copyists  to  interpolate  even  the  MbS.  of 
the  Scriptures ;  and  we  must  never  forget, 
in  all  questions  of  this  sort,  the  fatal  faci- 
lity which    MS.,  as  distinguished   from 


26 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Chap.  I. 


print,  presents,  especially  to  the  solitary 
scribe,  to  add  his  own  thoughts  and  com- 
ments as  he  goes  on  pen  in  hand. 

The  arguments  on  both  sidee  are 
summed  up  by  Gieseler  (i.  p.  61,  note), 
who  cites  the  passage,  distinguishing  by 
brackets  what  he  regards  as  the  interpo- 
lations. FiVeTai  5e  Kara  toCtoi'  Tbi"  xP°>'Oi' 
'ItjctoO?,  <ro<^6s  an7p,  {jlye  avSpa,  aiiToi' 
Ae'veti'  xpri '  riv  yap']  napaSo^iav  ipyiov 
7roir/r^9,  ^^tfiauKaAo?  avBpiiiiroiV  riav  <tvv 
r]Sovrj  Ta\ridr)  Sej^OficVtoi'],  icoi  ttoAAous  fikv 
riai>  'lovSaiiav,  ttoAAou?  Si  koX  curb  roii  'EAA17- 
i/iKov  eTrriyaycTO.  [_'0  Xpitrroi  oCto!  ^»'.] 
Kal  avTov  ei'Sii^et  Twr  nptoTtov  avSputv 
•nap'  rjfjuv  irravpiZ  tTrtTeri/oiijicdTos  IIiAaTOu, 
ovK  €^€navcravTO  ot  to  Trpwroi*  avrov  a*ya- 
nrj<TavTei.  [^E<j>dvri  yap  avToii  Tpirqv 
exwv  r))j.ipav  iraKiv  ^iov,  tCiv  Beiuiv  npo<l>y]- 
TMV  TavTOL  T€  Kal  oAAa  p-vpia  nfpl  avTOv 
OavfiatTia  eiprjKdroji'.]  Eio-tVi  re  vvv  tUv 
Xpio'Tiacui'  aTTo  Tou5e  civopLaap-ivtav  ovn 
iiTt\nre  to  <f>v\ov. 

A  translation  of  the  passage,  as  thus 
restored,  will  make  the  whole  case  clearer ; 
— "  About  this  time  there  arose  one  Ji  Sfs, 
a  clever  (or  wise)  man,  a  doer  of  wonderful 
deeds  (literally,  contrary  to  expectation), 
and  he  led  after  him  many  of  the  Jews 
[and  many  also  of  the  Gentile  world].* 
And  when  Pilate,  on  the  information  of 
the  chief  men  among  us,  had  punished 
Him  with  crucifi.xion,  his  adlierents  did  not 
cease  (from  their  faith  in  Jesus).  And 
still  to  the  presei^t  time  there  is  not  lack- 
ing a  multitude  of  those  who  from  this 
man  are  named  Christians."  These 
words,  as  they  stand,  are  just  such  an 
account  of  Jesus  as  Josephus  might  have 
been  expected  to  give. 

2.  The  testimony  of  Tacitus  (Jnji.xv.  44), 
though  written  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century,  refers  to  theeventsof  Xero's 
reign,  and  glances  back  to  that  of  Tiberius, 
being  doubtless  based  on  contemporary 
authorities.  In  his  account  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Christians  under  Nero,  he 
Bays : — "  Auctor  nominis  ejus  Cmristus, 
Tiberio  imperitante,  per  procuratorem 
Pontium  Pilatum  supplicio  affectus  est ; 
repressaque  in  pra\sens  exitiubilis  super- 
stitio  rursus  erumpebat,  non  modo  per 
Juda-am,  originera  ejus  mail,  scd  per 
urbem  etiara,  quo  cuncta  undique  atrocia 
aut  pudenda  confluunt  celcbrunturque." 
The  spirit  of  the  passage  forbids  all  bus- 
picion  of  Christian  interpolation,  which  is 
also  out  of  the  question  on  critical  grounds. 

»  r«rliapa  an  interpolation. 


II.  None  of  the  extra-scriptural  records, 
which  are  alleged  to  be  contemporary  with 
Christ  himself,  will  stand  the  test  of  criti- 
cism, and  we  have  not  space  for  their  full 
discussion. 

1.  The  Apocryphal  Gospels,  which  pro- 
fess to  relate  the  Life  of  Jesus,  especially 
his  birth,  youth,  and  last  daj-s,  more  fully 
than  they  are  found  in  the  four  Evan- 
gelists, are  embellished  with  marvels 
conceived  in  quite  a  different  spirit,  and 
often  most  childish.  These  may  be  clearly 
traced  to  the  controversies  between  sects, 
which  fabriciited  sayings  and  deeds  of 
Christ  in  support  of  their  opinions.  They 
originated  with  heretics ;  but  the  orthodox 
were  sometimes  tempted  to  counter-frauds. 
These  works  are  of  two  classes :  — 

(i.)  Those  of  a  comparatively  early  date, 
which  related  to  the  same  cycle  of  events 
as  the  canonical  Gospels ;  for  example,  the 
'  Gospel  of  the  Hebrews '  the  '  Gospel  of 
the  Egyptians,'  and  others.  They  are 
chiefly  marked  by  a  local  colouring,  re- 
flecting the  national  and  party  views  of 
sections  of  the  converts  to  Cliristianity. 

(ii.)  Those  of  a  later  date  give  addition.il 
and  generally  marvellous  accounts  of  the 
parents  of  Jesus,  his  boyhood  and  youthful 
life,  and  the  closing  scenes  of  his  course. 

The  best  English  work  on  the  Apo- 
cryphal Gospels  is  that  of  Jones,  'On 
the  Canon  of  the  Kew  Testament,'  which 
contains  the  text  of  the  most  important. 
They  are  also  edited  by  Thilo,  'C(xlex 
Apocryphus  N.  T.,'  vol.  i..  Lips.  1832, 
and  in  a  German  translation,  with  an  In- 
troduction and  Notes  by  Dr.  K.  F.  Bor- 
berg,  'Die  apokryph.  Evangelien  u.  Apos- 
telgeschichton,'  Stuttgart,  1841. 

2.  The  Letters  of  Christ  and  King  Jb- 
garus. — The  first  great  church  historian, 
EusKBius,  the  friend  of  Constantine  the 
Great,  cites  a  correspondence  held  with 
Christ  by  Abgarus  or  Agbarus  Uchomo, 
the  native  king  {ioparch)  of  the  Syrian 
principality  of  Edessa,  which  he  professes 
to  have  found  in  the  archives  of  the  cit  j'  of 
Edes.sa.  (Fuseb.  n.  E.  \.  13.  The  Arme- 
nian historian,  Moses  of  Chorene,  about 
A.i>.  440,  likewise  gives  the  document  in 
Greek  with  an  Armenian  translation.) 
Abganis  writes  to  Christ,  praying  for  the 
cure  of  a  grievous  disorder,  but  in  lan- 
guage quite  unlike  that  of  an  oriental 
prince ;  and  Christ  replies  in  a  style  which 
has  nothing  in  common  with  the  Gospels 
but  disjointed  quotations  from  them.  If 
such  a  correspondence  had  really  taken 
place,  it  would  not  have  remained  un- 


Chap.  I. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


27 


known  for  three  centuries.  Nor  have  we 
any  independent  pr<x)f  that  Christianity 
readied  Abgarus  and  his  people  in  the  age 
of  Christ  and  his  Apostles;  for  the  tra- 
dition, that  he  was  converted  by  Thaddeus, 
one  of  the  "0  disciples,  is  of  no  authority. 
Tlie  first  positive  indications  of  Cliristi- 
anity  in  Kdessa  belong  to  the  reign  of 
Abgar  Bar  Manu,  between  the  years  ICO 
and  170;  and  in  202  the  Cliristians  there' 
had  a  church,  built  (it  seems)  after  the 
model  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  It  is 
probable  that  the  correspondence  was  fa- 
bricated (in  order  to  give  consequence  to 
the  Christian  princes  of  the  country)  most 
likely  in  the  third  century. 

3.  On  the  pretended  Kpittle  of  P.  Len- 
tulus  to  the  Roman  Senate,  in  which  a 
Uoman  officer  in  Judea  is  made  to  de- 
scribe the  person  of  Clirist,  see  J.  B. 
Carpzov,  De  Oris  et  corporis  Jesu  Christ  i 
forma  Pseudoknlali,  lic,  Helmstad.  1777  ; 
J.  Ph.  Gabler,  in  avdivrCav  Epistolae  J'. 
Lentuli  ad  Sen.  Rom.  de  Jesu  Chr.  scriptcr, 
Jena-,  1819  (cited  by  Gieseler,  i.  p.  67), 
and  'American  Biblical  Kepository'  for 
1832. 

4.  Pretended  Likenesses  of  Christ. — 
The  abhorrence  of  even  the  smallest 
beginnings  of  image-worship  prevailed,  in 
the  primitive  Clmrch,  over  the  natural 
tendency  of  Christian  art  to  give  a  visible 
expression  to  the  features  of  the  Saviour, 
whether  as  an  ideal  or  a  real  portrait ; 
and  here  also  the  first  attempt  to  em- 
body his  features  is  ascrilx-d  to  heretics, 
and  to  the  comprehensive  idolatry  of  a 
heathen  emperor.  About  the  end  of  the 
2nd  and  the  Ijeginning  of  the  3rd  cen- 
turies, the  Carpocratians  claimed  to  possess 
a  likeness  of  Christ  (Irena'us,  Ilerr.  i.  25), 
and  one  was  set  up  in  the  chapel  of  de- 
ceased heroes  (lararium),  in  which  Alex- 
ander Scverus  (emperor  a. d.  222-235)  began 
each  day  with  devotion.  Lamprid,  AUx. 
Sev.  c.  29. 

In  the  earliestattempts  to  portray  the  fea- 
tures of  the  Saviour,  the  persecuted  Church 
embodied  the  pattern  of  a  sufferer,  and,  from 
a  literal  interpretation  of  I.saiah  liii.  2,  3, 
he  was  believed  to  have  been  of  unsightly 
form.  By  the  end  of  the  fourth  century 
the  pictures  and  other  images  of  Clirist 
had  become  far  moTC  common,  and  they 
rejiresented  Him  by  those  types  of  human 
beauty  and  divine  majesty  which  have 
l)een  handed  down  to  our  own  times. 
That  type  was  embtnlicd  in  many  va- 
rieties; but  it  was  confessed  that  none  of 
these  represented  an  authentic  likeness  of 


the  Saviour.     ( Angustin  de  Trinilale,  viii. 
4,  5.) 

When  ihit  character  was  claimed  for 
the  portraits,  legends  were  invented  to 
account  for  them.  (1)  The  story  of  the 
correspondence  with  King  Abgarus  was 
enilxUishcd  with  one  of  these  pictorial 
illustrations,  "  A  likeness  of  divine  origin, 
not  made  by  human  hands"  (Evagrius, 
ffitt.  Eccles.  iv.  27)  which  Christ  sent  to 
Aljgarus,  with  the  answer  to  his  letter, 
is  often  mentioned  in  the  great  controversy 
concerning  images.  The  picture  Wivs 
carried  from  Kdessa  to  Constantinople,  and 
the  honour  of  its  possession  is  now  claimed 
both  by  Rome  and  Genoa  (Bayer,  Uist. 
Osrhoena  et  Edess.  p.  112;  Gieseler,  I.  c). 

(2)  There  was  a  portrait  reputed  to  be 
a  miraculous  image  of  the  agonizing  .Sa- 
viour impressed  upon  the  napkin  with 
which  an  attendant  wiped  the  death- 
sweat  from  his  face  upon  the  cross.  This 
wjis  called  the  Veronica,  i.  e.  vera  icon; 
but,  by  a  curious  transition,  the  sacred  nap- 
kin became  a  female  saint,  and,  with  its 
impressed  likeness,  was  famous  as  the 
ludarium  Sancta  Veronica. 

(3)  Besides  these  miraculous  likenesses, 
portraits  of  Christ  were  said  to  have  been 
painted  or  carved  by  His  disciples. 

a.  A  pmrtrait  by  St.  Luke,  whom  tradi- 
tion made  a  painter  as  well  as  a  physician, 
is  first  mentioned  in  the  6tb  century ; 
and  a  picture  of  Christ,  as  a  Ixiy  of  thirteen 
years  old,  by  St.  Luke,  is  shown  in  the 
•Sancta  Sanctorum  of  St.  John  Lateran 
at  Rome.  The  age  of  the  Saviour,  in  this 
picture,  suggests  that  the  legend  arose 
from  that  wonderful  portraiture  of  the 
Iwyhood  of  Christ,  at  twelve  years  old, 
which  St.  Luke  gives  in  uords,  ii.  41-52. 

b.  An  image  of  Christ  on  the  Cross, 
carved  out  of  cedar-uood  by  Xicodemiis, 
and  set  up  at  Berj-tus — the  earliest  known 
crtuiifix -in  first  mentioned  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Second  Nicene  Council  (a.d.  787). 
It  was  brought  to  Constantinople  by  the 
Emperor  Nicephorus,  andis  now  at  Lucca. 


Portrait  of  Christ,  from  n  gem  of  the  2nd  or  3n) 
century. 


Ruins  of  the  Palace  of  the  Caisars  (St.  Peter's  In  the  background). 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE- APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

FROM    THE   ASCENSION  OF  CUBIST    TO    THE    DESTRUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM 
AND   THE   DEATH   OF  ST.  JOHN  ;     CORRESPONDING  WITH   THE   LAST  TWO- 
THIRDS   OF   THE   FIRST   CENTURY,   TO   THE   DEATH   OF   DOMITIAN. 
A.D.   30-96. 

§  1.  The  great  Jewish  Feasts,  types  of  epochs  in  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Church— The  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  §  2.  State  and  numbers  of 
the  primitive  Church.  §  3.  The  Day  of  Pentecost,  the  Gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  of  Tongues,  and  gathering  of  Jewish  converts  — 
Preaching,  Worship,  and  Fellowship  of  the  Church  —  Appointment  of 
Deacons  —  Cases  of  false  profession  —  Miracles  of  the  Apostles  —  First 
Jewish  persecution.  § +.  The  Church  scattered  from  Jerusalem  —  Con- 
version of  the  Samaritans  —  Simon  Magus — Conversion  of  Proselytes  — 

the  Ethiopian  Eunuch.     §  5.  Conversion  of  Saui Rest  of  the  Jewish 

Churches  in  the  time  of  Caligula.  §  G.  Conversion  of  Cornelius  and  the 
Gentile  proselytes.  §  7.  Beginning  of  the  Gentile  Church  at  Antioch  — 
The  name  of  Christians  —  Christian  use  of  the  name  of  Jesus  —  Their 
own  names  for  themselves  —  Relations  between  the  cliurches  of  Antioch 


A.D.  30.  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  JEWISH  FEASTS.  29 

and  Jerusalem.     §  8.  Accession  of  Claudius  and  of  Heuod  Agrippa  I. 

First  royal  persecution,  and   death   of  James,  the   son   of  Zebedee  — 

Escape'of  Peter  —  James  the  Less,  "  Bishop  of  Jerusalem."  §  9.  Com- 
mission of  Barnabas  and  Saul  —  Their  Apostleship  and  Ordination  — 
Their  First  Missionary  Journey  —  Turning  from  the  Jews  to  the  Gen- 
tiles  The  First  Gentile  Churches.     §  lU.  The  Judaizers  at  Antioch  — 

Peculiar  position  of  Paul  —  Decision   of  the  Apostles    and  Church    at 
Jerusalem,  commonly  called  the  "  First  Council  "  — The/'  Apostolic  Pre- 
cepts " —  Contest  of  Peter  and  Paul.     §11.  Paul's  Second  Missionary 
Journey  —  Christianity  in  Europe  —  Churches  in  Macedonia  and  Greece 
—The    Church    at  Rome ;   not  founded  by  Peter.      §  12.  Paul's  Third 
Missionary  Journey — Distress  of  the  Jews,  and  liberality  of  the  Gentiles 
—  Rise  of  Heresies  and  Schisms — Contest  with  Judaizers — The  Church 
of  Ephesus  —  Paul's  Work   in   Asia  —  His  Epistles.     §  13.  Paul's  First 
Imprisonment  and  Work  at  Rome — Tradition   of  his  preaching;  in  the 
West — Persecution  in  Judea,  and  martyrdom  of  James  the  Just.     §  14. 
The   Pastoral  Epistles  of  ^aul  —  Commission  of  Timothy  and  Titus  — 
Things  left  to  be  set  in  order  in  the  Apostolic  Churches  —  Constitution 
of  these  Churches.     §  15.  Internal    state  of  the  Churches— Corruptions 
and  Heresies  —  Judaism    and   Philosophy  —  Elements    of   Gnosticism  — 
Moral    License.     §  IG.  Specific    heresies  —  Hymena!us,    Alexander,    and 
Philetus  — The    Resurrection  —  Germs    of    all    future    heresies  — The 
Antichrists  and  spirit  of  Antichrist.     §  17.  Use  of  the  word  Heresy,  and 
dealing  with  it  by  the  Apostles — Heresies   about   Christ  —  Heresies  of 
open  immorality  —  Heresies   to  last  to  the  end.     §18.  Persecutions  of 
Christianity  by  the  Roman  Government — Their  causes  —  Heathen  view 
of  Christianity  — The   First   General  Persecution  by  Nero  —  Account 
of  Tacitus  — Martyrdom  of  Paul  and  Peter.     §  19.  The  Destruction  of 
Jerusalem  —  Its  significance  as  an  Epoch  for  the  Christian  Church  — 
Withdrawal   of  the    Christians   to    Pella.      §  20.  John  continues    the 
Apostolic   Age   to  the   end  of  the    First   Century  — His  Apocalypse  a 
prophetic  vision  of  the  Church's    History  —  His    banishment    to    Pat- 
mos  — The   Second  General  Persecution  by  Domitian —Toleration  re- 
stored byNerva  — St.  John  at   Ephesus  — His   Epistles  — His  title  of 
Theologus  —  His  Gospel,  the  crowning  contemporary  witness  to  Chris- 
tianity. 

§  1.  In  the  sacred  year  of  the  Jews,  the  three  great  feasts  were 
based  on  the  three  great  ei^chs  of  the  year  which  were  most  in- 
teresting to  an  agricultural  people.  In  this  respect,  as  well  as  in 
the  events  which  they  commemorated  in  the  beginning  of  Israel's 
history,  they  had  their  antitypes  in  the  history  of  the  earliest 
Christian  church.  At  the  Passover,  which  celebrated  the  deliver- 
ance of  Israel,  both  from  the  destroying  angel  and  from  their  bond- 
age to  the  Egyptians,  and  the  beginning  of  harvest  in  their  new 
land,  Christ  was  offered  up  as  the  first-fruits  of  the  spiritual  harvest 
of  the  world,  and  His  people,  redeemed  both  from  the  curse  and 


30  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II. 

slavery  of  sin,  were  called  to  follow  their  risen  Lord  out  of  the 
world  into  the  new  social  life  of  the  Christian  churcli. 

The  Feast  of  Weeks  or  Pentecost,  when  God  came  down  in  fire  upon 
Sinai  to  give  a  law  to  the  redeemed  people,  and  caused  His  glory  to 
shine  in  the  face  of  Moses,  the  expounder  of  that  law,  marked  the 
completion  of  harvest  in  the  Holy  Land.  And  this  was  the  season 
when  Christ's  promise  to  His  disciples  was  fulfilled  in  the  descent 
of  the  cloven  tongues  of  fire,  the  emblem  of  power  poured  out  ujwn 
them  to  enable  them  to  teach  to  all  tongues  and  nations  the  new 
law  of  Christ ;  wl^ile  the  first  act  of  the  spiritual  harvest  was 
completed  by  the  conversion  of  thousands  of  the  Jews. 

The  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  in  the  first  month  of  the  civil  year, 
commemorating  their  sojourn  as  strangers  and  pilgrims  in  the 
Wilderness,  and  the  gathering  in  of  all  the  fruits  of  the  year,  is 
the  fit  emblem  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  cycle  of  God's  work,  and  Plis 
people's  labours,  by  the  conversion  of  all  nations.* 

The  little  Church  left  on  the  earth  by  Christ  had  seen  the  work 
done  in  the  first  of  these  great  seasons,  and  was  now  awaiting  the 
second,  the  history  of  which,  and  of  the  first  stages  in  the  third,  is 
recorded  in  Luke's  "  Second  Discourse "  to  Theophilus,  which  is 
imperfectly  described  by  its  common  title  of  the  "  Acts  of  the 
Apostles."  The  true  subject  of  the  book  is  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise  of  the  Father  by  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the 
results  of  that  outpouring  in  the  diffusion  of  the  gospel  among  Jews 
and  Gentiles.  It  deals  only  with  the  beginning  of  this  great  theme ; 
and,  having  shown  us  the  full  establishment  of  Christ's  Church,  first 
in  the  Holy  Land,  then  in  those  Eastern  and  Grecian  provinces 
of  the  Roman  Empire  which  the  Jews  regarded  as  representing 
the  whole  heathen  world,  and  finally  at  Rome,  the  sacred  narrative 
breaks  off  with  an  apparent  suddenness,  leaving  all  the  future 
progress  of  the  gospel  to  be  recorded  by  the  Church  itself^  And 
this  point  is  further  marked  by  a  striking  change  in  the  character 
of  the  records.  There  is  a  great  gulf  between  the  end  of  the  Sacred 
History  and  the  first  authentic  chapters  of  uninspired  Ecclesiastical 
History. 

§  2,  The  waiting  Church,  small  as  it  was,  already  exhibited  a  local 

'  There  are  many  passages  in  which  this  last  stage  is  svmliolized  by  the 
vintage,  the  last  and  richest  of  the  natural  harvests.  There  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  the  conversion  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  took  place  at  the 
season  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  It  was  also  probably  the  time  of 
Paul's  first  visit  to  Jerusalem  after  hi.s  conversion,  as  it  certainly  w'as  of 
his  return  thither  with  the  report  of  his  second  and  great  missionary 
journey. 

-  For  the  details,  which  are  here  condensed,  on  the  principle  stated  in 
p.  14,  the  j-eader  is  referred  throughout  to  the  Student's  A\  2'.  History. 


A.D.  37.  THE  DAY  OF  PENTECOST.  31 

separation  of  the  parts  which  formed  its  one  body.  The  eleven 
Apostles,  with  the  mother  and  the  now  believing  brethren  of  Jesus, 
and  the  devoted  women  who  had  followed  Him  to  the  last,  kept 
together  in  an  upper  room,  waiting  in  united  prayer  for  the  pro- 
mised gift.  From  this  place  of  meeting  they  went  forth  to  spend 
their  days  in  the  Temple,  where  the  people  might  see  them  "con- 
tinually praising  and  blessing  God,"  doubtless  for  their  Lord's 
resurrection  and  ascension.^  The  disciples  who  resided  at  Jeru- 
salem, or  whose  occupations  permitted  their  staying  in  the  city, 
doubtless  met  the  Apostles  at  the  stated  times  of  worship  and 
breaking  bread,  and  they  were  called  together  to  join  in  the  first 
step  needed  for  the  administration  of  the  Church,  the  choice  of  an 
apostle  to  succeed  the  apostate  Judas. 

The  number  of  those  thus  assembled  was  about  120,-  just  ten 
times  the  number  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  first-fruits  of  the  multi- 
tude symbolized  in  Apocalyptic  vision  by  the  12,000  sealed  of  each 
tribe  of  the  spiritual  Israel.  That  these  did  not  include  the  dis- 
ciples scattered  through  Samaria  and  Galilee,  Pera-a,  and  the 
outlying  regions,  is  plain  from  that  other  account,  which  shows  us 
"500  brethren  at  once"  meeting  their  risen  Saviour  in  Galilee.' 
But  their  Lord's  command  was  added  to  the  attraction  of  the  Feast 
at  which  the  law  called  them  together  to  Jerusalem;  and  so,  ten 
days  after  the  Lord's  ascension,  "  when  the  day  of  Pentecost  was 
i'uUy  come,  they  ivere  all  iviih  one  accord  in  one  place." 

§  3.  That  Pentecost  has  been  called  "  the  birthday  of  the  Chris 
tian  Church ; "  but  it  was  rather  the  first  public  manifestation  of 
that  Church  in  the  jxtwer  given  to  it  by  its  living  Head.  While 
the  Apostles  were  still  within  the  house  where  they  were  wont 
to  meet,  the  baptism  of  fire  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon 
them  in  the  signs  of  a  rushing,  mighty  wind,*  and  of  cloven 
tongues,  as  of  fire,  which  sat  ujwn  each  of  them ;  and  then,  going 
forth  to  the  multitude  of  Jews  and  proselytes,  assembled  from  every 
nation  to  keep  the  feast,  they  declared  the  Gospel  to  all  in  their 
own  tongues. 

The  gift  of  tongues,  which  was  now  used  as  a  medium  of  instant 
communication,  was  also  a  sign  and  attestation  of  their  commission 
from  God,  and  as  such  it  was  accepted  by  those  of  the  people  who 
believed ;  °  and  this  continued  to  be  its  chief  use  in  the  ajxistolic 

'  Luke  xxiv.  55. 

*  Acts  i.  15.  We  should  mark  here,  at  once,  the  phrase,  "the  number 
of  the  names"  a  term  significant  both  of  the  Christian  profession,  a.s 
naming  the  name  of  Christ  "  (2  Tim.  ii.  19),  and  of  their  calling  by  Him 
who  knows  His  people  by  their  name  (comp.  Rev.  iii.  4). 

'  1  Cor.  XV.  6.  *  Comp.  John  iii.  7. 

*  Acts  ii.  7-12. 


32  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II, 

Church.*  The  mockery  of  the  unbelievers  called  forth  that^rs^  act 
of  Christian  jyreuching,  in  which  Peter,  as  the  Apostle  entrusted 
with  the  ke5^s  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  showed  forth  the  mission  and 
resurrection  of  Christ  with  such  etlect  as  to  win  3000  souls,  the 
Pentecostal  harvest  of  the  Jews  from  every  province,  who  were 
received  by  £aj)tism  into  the  Church,  'i'heir  simple  bonds  of  fel- 
lowship and  forms  of  worship  are  described  as  the  Apostles'  Doctrine 
and  Fellowship,  Brealcing  of  Bread,  and  Prayer — the  outward  ele- 
ments of  the  Church's  life  in  every  age ;  while  frequent  miracles 
attested  the  divine  commission  of  the  Apostles.^  It  seem's,  how- 
ever, that  the  felloivship  here  named  is  not  so  much  that  general 
sense  of  the  word,  which  is  implied  throughout,  as  that  communi- 
cation of  aid  to  the  poor  brethren,  to  which  more  special  reference 
is  made  in  the  statement  that  "  all  that  believed  had  all  things 
common,  and  sold  their  possessions  and  goods,  and  parted  them  to 
all  men,  as  every  man  had  need."  The  last  words  qualify  the 
conception  of  an  absolute  and  universal  community  of  goods, 
— a  notion  disproved  alike  by  the  stress  laid  on  the  liberality  of 
Barnabas,  and  by  the  whole  story  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  who 
falsely  affected  the  honour  of  an  act  which  was  purely  voluntary.* 
The  result  was  to  exclude  want  from  the  Church,  though  it  was 
composed  chiefly  of  the  poor :  and  special  provision  was  made  for 
widows.*  Bi\t  the  faults  of  human  nature,  whether  shown  in  par- 
tiality on  the  one  side,  or  querulous  discontent  on  the  other, 
demanded  a  special  provision  for  the  orderly  distribution  of  the 
common  fund.  The  manner  in  which  the  office  of  Deacons  was 
first  instituted  shows  the  elasticity  with  which  the  administration 
of  the  Church  was  adapted  to  circumstances  as  they  arose,  as  in 
all  bodies  which  have  a  healthy  life.^ 

Nor  is  it  less  instructive  to  mark,  beside  this  case  of  human  infir- 
mity, that  there  were  examples  of  false  profession  in  the  Apostolic 
Church,  as  in  that  of  Christ  Himself,  and  that  the  falsehood  of 
Ananias  and  Sapphira  sprang  from  the  same  root  of  covetousness  as 
did  the  treason  of  Judas.®  Their  punishment  both  proved  that  the 
miraculous  power  of  the  Apostles,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  which  had 
already  made  the  lame  walk,^  reached,  like  that  of  their  Master,  to 
the  issues  of  life  and  death,  and  deterred  mere  professors  by  a  salu- 
tary fear  ;  but  such  a  proof  of  their  divine  power  was  magnified  by  the 
people,  and  multiplied  the  number  of  true  converts.®  The  wonder 
of  the  peoi'le,  and  the  faith  of  the  believers,  were  strengthened  by 

'  1  Cor.  siv.  22  :  "  tongues  are  for  a  sign."         *  Acts  ii.  43. 

*  Acts  iv.  34— 37,  v.  1-11  :  see  especially  v.  4. 

*  Acts  vi.  1.  *  Acts  vi. 

*  See  1  Tim.  vi.  10.  '  Acts  ill.  »  Acts  v.  13,  14. 


A.D.  41.        THE  CHURCH  BEYOND  JUDEA.  33 

the  frequent  miracles  wrought  upon  the  sick  and  the  demoniacs, 
who  were  brought  from  all  the  towns  and  villages  about  Jerusalem. 
Twice  did  the  iSanhedrin  use  tlieir  authority  in  the  vain  eifort  of 
persecution  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  Church  ;  *  first  by  strong 
threats,  when  Peter  and  John  had  healed  the  lame  man  at  the  Beau- 
tiful Gate  of  the  Temple  ;  and  afterwards  by  citing  all  the  Apostles 
before  them,  when  the  prudent  counsel  of  Gamaliel  caused  their 
dismissal  with  a  scourging  and  fresh  threats.  This  beginning  of 
persecution  was  followed  by  the  stoning  of  the  first  Christian  martyr, 
Stephen,  not  by  a  regular  sentence,  which  the  Sanhedrin  had  no 
power  to  pronounce,  but  in  a  fit  of  rage  which  carried  away  his 
very  judges.  His  deatli  was  the  signal  for  the  great  Jewish  per- 
secution of  the  Christians  in  Jerusalem  and  through  Judea,  in  which 
Saul  of  Tarsus  bore  the  leading  part,  and  which  was  the  very  means 
of  frustrating  the  hope  "  that  it  spread  no  further." 

§  4.  The  scattering  from  Jerusalem  of  all  the  Christians,  except 
the  Apostles,  began  the  second  stage  in  the  extension  of  the  Church, 
so  as  to  include  the  outcast  Samaritans  and  the  foreign  proselytes 
to  the  law  of  Moses,  and  soon  after  the  Gentile  "proselytes  of  the 
gate,"  and  then  the  heathen  Gentiles.  The  first  instrument  in  this 
work  was  the  deacon,  who  is  afterwards  called  the  evangelist,  Philip, 
whose  preaching  and  miracles  at  Samaria  won  many  converts.  It 
was  here  that  Christianity  first  came  into  collision  with  those  pre- 
tended spiritual  powers  and  magical  arts,  which  have  always  been 
among  its  most  insidious  foes.  But  the  power  of  God  was  too  mani- 
fest even  for  the  sorcerer  Simon,  who  himself  professed  the  faith 
and  received  baptism.  The  report  of  these  events  at  Jerusalem  kd 
to  the  first  step  which  the  Apostles  took  in  their  work  beyond  the 
city.  The  crowning  and  attesting  of  the  labours  of  the  evangelist  by 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  new  converts  was  a  special  jiart  of 
the  apostolic  office  ;  and  Peter  and  John,  sent  forth  by  the  Church  at 
Jerusalem,  called  down  the  gift  on  the  Samaritan  believers  by  prayer 
and  the  imposition  of  their  hands.  The  attempt  of  the  sorcerer  to 
induce  them  to  grant  him  a  share  of  this  wonderful  power,  and  the 
sentence  of  rejection  passed  on  him  by  Peter,  demand  special  notice 
in  the  history  of  the  Church,  as  some  of  the  heretical  sects  included 
under  the  general  name  of  Gnostics  are  said  to  have  sprung  from 
the  teaching  of  Simon  Magus.^  The  Apostles  returned  to  Jerusalem, 
preaching  in  the  Samaritan  villages;  while  Philip,  divinely  directed 
to  the  desert  on  the  Philistine  border,  near  Gaza,  through  which  was 

'  Acts  iv.  17. 

*  See  the  note  on  Simon  Magus,  appended  to  chap.  .xiii.  of  the  iV.  T. 
History, 


34  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II. 

the  great  highway  to  Egypt,  converted  and  baptized  the  Ethiopian 
eunuch,  the  first-fruits  of  the  native  African  Church.  Philip  preached 
the  gospel  at  Azotus  and  in  tlie  other  cities  of  tlie  Philistine  coast, 
and  then  took  up  his  abode  at  Caesarea,  probably  as  the  founder 
of  a  church.' 

There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Ethiopian  was  on  his  return 
from  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  when  he  was  met  by  Philip  ;  and  the 
probable  date  of  these  events  is  in  a.d.  37,  the  year  in  which  Tiberius 
died,  and  in  which  Pilate  was  recalled  from  Judea  and  banished, 
and  Caiaphas  was  deposed  from  the  high-priesthood. 

§  5.  It  was  about  this  time,  also,  that  the  conversion  of  Saul  of 
Tarsus  at  once  preimred  the  great  instrument  for  the  extension  of 
the  Church  among  the  Gentiles,  and  put  an  end  to  the  j)ersecution 
that  had  ensued  upon  the  death  of  Steijhen.  The  life  and  labours 
of  Paul  have  been  fully  treated  as  a  part  of  the  New  Testament 
history;  and  it  is  only  needful  here  to  notice  the  epochs  which  they 
mark  in  the  foundation  of  the  Church.  His  preaching  in  Arabia 
directly  after  his  conversion  sowed  the  seeds  of  Christianity  beyond 
the  eastern  frontier  of  the  Roman  Empire.  His  first  visit  to 
Jerusalem,  to  take  counsel  with  Peter, '^  when  he  received,  in  a 
vision  in  the  Temple,  his  plain  commission  to  the  Gentiles,'  coin- 
cided with  the  beginning  of  that  brief  period  of  tranquillity,  during 
which  "  the  churches  throughout  all  Judea  and  Galilee  and  Samaria 
had  rest  and  were  edified ;  and,  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and 
in  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost  were  multiplied."  *  This  interval 
of  rest  may  be  ascribed,  not  only  to  the  cessation  of  Saul's  persecu- 
tion, but  to  the  relations  of  Judea  to  the  empire  under  Caligula.® 
The  mad  emperor  aspired  to  be  the  one  god  of  all  his  dominions  ; 
and  his  attempt  to  set  up  his  own  statue  in  the  Temple  drove  the 
Jews  to  the  verge  of  a  rebellion,  which  was  only  averted  by 
his  death.  The  agitation  of  the  whole  people  at  this  attack  on 
their  religion  would  naturally  divert  their  attention  from  the 
Christians. 

§  6.  This  time  of  rest  invited  Peter  to  an  apostolic  visitation  of 
the  churches  already  founded,^  in  which  he  followed  the  steps 
of  Philip  through  the  great  maritime  plain,  doubtless  conferring 
spiritual  gifts,  as  be  had  done  at  Samaria.  While  staying  for  a 
time  at  Joppa,  he  received  that  vision  which,  in  opposition  to 
his  Jewish  prejudices,  prepared  him  to  open — if  we  may  so  speak — 

'  Acts  viii.      He  is  found  residing  here  afterwards,  Acts  sxi.  8. 

*  a.d.  39,  Gal.  i.  18.  3  Acts  .xxii.  17-21.  ••  Acts  is.  31. 

*  Caius  CjEsar,  nicknamed  Caligula,  reigned  A.D.  37-  41 .  For  his  trans- 
actions with  the  .Jews  see  the  N.  T.  /list.,  chap.  v.  §  6. 

*  Acts  ix.  32,  Sifp^ifityov  5ia  vdvrwv  (sc.  ^K/cATjtrtan'). 


A.D.  41.  ADMISSION  OF  THE  GENTILES,  35 

the  second  gate  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  Gentiles  by  birth, 
who  were  mere  "  proselytes  of  the  gate,"  that  is,  believers  in  the 
true  God,  but  not  marked  by  the  seal  of  the  covenant  made  with  the 
seed  of  Abraham.  This  great  transaction  derived  the  more  sig- 
nificance from  its  taking  place  at  Ca^sarea,  the  scat  of  the  Roman 
government  in  Judea,  and  in  the  person  of  an  officer  of  Caesar's 
army.  The  full  reception  of  the  Gentile  proselytes  into  the 
Church  was  confirmed  by  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  not,  as  at 
Samaria,  by  the  prayer  and  act  of  the  Apostle,  but  by  a  direct  out- 
louring  of  the  Spirit  from  heaven,  just  as  it  had  descended  on  the 
Apostles  themselves  at  Pentecost,  conferring  the  same  power  of  speak- 
ing with  tongues.^  This  sign  removed  from  the  mind  of  Peter 
and  his  astonished  companions  all  remaining  doubt  of  God's  purpose 
to  extend  His  Church  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Jewish  congregation. 
It  furnished  him  with  a  decisive  answer  to  those  Jewish  converts  at 
Jerusalem,^  whose  desire  to  maintain  the  ceremonial  law  became 
henceforth  the  chief  internal  trouble  of  the  Church,  when  they 
accused  him  of  holding  fellowship  w-ith  the  uncircumcised.  They 
were  silenced  by  his  plain  narrative,  tliough  (as  seems  implied,* 
and  as  was  soon  proved)  they  were  not  really  satisfied;  and  they 
joined  their  brethren  in  the  thanksgiving,  "Then  hath  God  also 
to  the  Gentiles  granted  repentance  unto  life." 

§  7.  This  new  revelation,  for  such  it  was  to  them,  was  already 
receiving  its  full  significance  in  the  third  stage  of  the  opening  of  the 
Church  to  the  heathen  Gentiles  without  any  intermediate  prose- 
lytism  to  the  Jewish  law.  The  chief  scene  of  this  event  was 
Antioch,  the  former  capital  of  the  Greek  Syrian  Empire,  and  the 
most  idolatrous  and  profligate  of  Oriental  cities.  Its  agents  were 
those  Hellenistic*  Jews,  who,  as  Oriental  Greeks  by  country  and 
language,  but  usually  more  devout  Jews  than  those  of  Judea,  were 
fit  instruments  to  spread  the  Gospel,  or  to  resist  its  progress,  in 
the  eastern  provinces.  Among  the  brethren,  who  had  been  driven 
from  Jerusalem  by  the  Stephanie  persecution,  were  some  Hel- 
lenists, natives  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene,  who,  on  reaching  Antioch, 
"spake  to  the  Greeks,  preaching  the  Lord  Jesus," ^  and  gaining 
many  converts.  The  news  reached  Jerusalem  at  the  very  time 
when  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  had  prepared  the  Church  for  its 
reception.  They  found  a  fit  messenger  to  Antioch  in  Barnabas, 
who  was  at  once  a  Levite  and  an  Hellenist  of  Cyprus.     Having 

'  Acts  X.  47,  xi.  15,  17.  *  Acts  xi.  2,  "  those  of  the  circumcision." 

»  Acts  xi.  18. 

■•  Respecting  the  Hellenists  and  their  important  pnrt  in  the  early  Chris- 
tian Church,  see  the  N.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  xiii.  §§  8,  9. 
»  Acts  xi.  20. 


36  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  H. 

assured  himself  that  the  work  was  of  God,  and  confirmed  the  Greek 
brethren  in  their  faith,  he  went  to  Tarsus  to  seek  Saul,  whom  he 
had  before  introduced  to  the  AjDOstles  at  Jerusalem,  that  they 
might  labour  together  at  Antioch. 

That  city  thus  became  both  the  birthplace  of  the  Gentile  Church 
and  the  place  where  the  Christians  were  first  known  to  the  world  by 
the  sacred  name  of  their  Lord,  as  not  only  the  followers  of  their 
master,  Jesus,  but  believers  in  God's  anointed,  the  Christ.  Christ 
himself  had  come,  not  in  his  own  but  in  his  Father's  name  ;  and  he 
had  bidden  his  disciples  to  baptize  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of 
the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.^  But  he  had  told  them  that  they 
should  be  hated  by  all  men  for  His  name's  sake  ;  and  they  made  the 
name  of  Jesus "  the  symbol  of  their  faith  and  power.  In  that  name, 
as  Jesus  himself  had  said,^  they  taught  and  preached  and  baptized 
and  wrought  miracles,  which  were  effective  "  through  faith  in  His 
name."  By  "  that  worthy  name  "  the  disciples  were  called  ■*  but  they 
honoured  it  too  much  to  adopt  it  as  their  own,  and  they  shunned  any 
api^ellation  that  would  mark  them  as  a  sect.  They  appeared  before 
their  Jewish  brethren  as  reformed  Jews,  the  disciples  of  Him  who 
"came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil  the  law."  It  was  "the  name," 
"  the  way,"  "  the  faith,"  that  they  professed,  and  they  were  content 
to  call  themselves  "  disciples  "  of  Jesus,  "  saints,"  as  those  made  holy 
by  His  Spirit,  and  "  brethren  "  to  one  another.  Their  Jewish  adver- 
saries spoke  of  this  "  name,"  but  only  with  contempt,  as  the  name 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  of  His  followers  as  Nazarenes  or  Gali- 
leans.^ They  would  certainly  not  recognize  them,  even  by  the  use 
of  a  party  name,  as  the  followers  of  Christ,  the  Messiah.  But  the 
Greeks  and  Komans  were  accustomed  to  name  every  philosophic 
and  religious  sect,  and  political  parties  also,  by  the  name  of  their 
leaders ;  and,  just  as  they  spoke  of  Pythagoreans  and  Pompeians,  so 
they  invented  the  name  of  Christians.^  There  is  no  proof  that  the 
name  was  applied  in  scorn  ;  and  its  invention  shows  that  the  Chris- 
tians had  become  of  sufficient  importance  to  have  a  place  among 
the  recognised  schools  of  religious  and  philosophic  opinion. 

'  They,  however,  showed  how  they  understood  this  by  baptizing  "  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  and  baptism  followed  on  the  profession  of  faith 
in  Him  (Acts  viii.  16,  37,  xix.  4  ;    1  Cor.  i.  13). 

*  It  is  to  be  observed  that  this,  and  not  "  the  name  of  Chri-'t,"  is  the 
usual  formula.  See  Acts  viii.  8,  12,  37,  ix.  27,  xv.  26,  xvi.  18 ;  1  Cor. 
i.  13,  v.  4,  vi.  11;  Eph.  v.  20. 

*  Matt.  vii.  22  ;  Acts  iii.  16,  iv.  7.  *  James  ii.  7. 

*  Acts  V.  28;  xxvi.  9.  This  name  already  occurs  iu  at  least  an  approach 
to  a  party  sense  in  Acts  ii.  7. 

"  Acts  xi.  26.  The  Latin  termination  should  be  noticed,  and  also  the  fact 
that,  besides  tliis  passage,  the  name  Christian  is  only  used  twice  in  the  N.  T., 
once  by  a  heathen,  and  once  as  the  name  under  which  the  believers  wer«> 
persecuted  (Acts  xxvi.  28;  1  Pet.  iv.  16). 


A.D,  41-44.  ANTIOCH  AND  JERUSALEM.  37 

If  any  church  were  to  be  recognised  as  the  mother  church  of  Gen- 
tile Christianity,  it  would  be  rather  the  Church  of  Antioch  than  the 
Church  of  Eome.  But  no  claims  or  contests  for  such  jirecedence  aire 
heard  of  among  the  apostolic  churches.  The  first  relations  of  the  new 
Gentile  to  the  older  Jewish  church  were  of  a  very  different  character. 
On  the  prophecy,  by  Agabus  and  others,  of  the  dearth  which  was 
coming  in  the  reign  of  Claudius,  the  disciples  at  Antioch  at  once 
resolved  to  send  relief  to  the  poor  brethren  in  Judea.  This  is  a  sign 
that  possessors  of  comparative  wealth  were  numbered  among  the 
Christians  of  Antioch  ;  but  all,  both  rich  and  poor,  gave  accordincr  to 
their  ability.  They  sent  the  fruits  of  their  liberality  to  Jerusafem 
by  the  hands  of  Barnabas  and  Saul  ;  and  thus  the  Gentile  church 
was  brought  into  fellowship  with  the  Jewish  by  a  Levite,  who  had 
been  the  close  associate  of  the  Apostles,  as  well  as  by  the  Apostle 
of  the  Gentiles.' 

§  8.  It  is  not  quite  certain  whether  this  visit  took  place  during 
the  first  persecution  in  which  the  Christians  were  assailed  by  the 
"  kings  of  the  earth,"  supporting  the  "  counsel  of  the  rulers  "  of  the 
Jews.2  On  the  accession  of  Claudius  to  the  purple,  his  feithful  friend, 
Hekod  Agiuppa  I.,  was  rewarded  with  the  kingdom  of  Judea,  in 
which  the  dominions  of  his  grandfather,  Herod  the  Great,  were 
re-united  (a.d.  41).  Himself  a  strict  observer  of  the  law,  he  uned 
every  effort  to  conciliate  the  Jews,  and  he  had  the  power  of  life 
and  death,  which  they  had  been  unable  to  use  legally  against 
the  Christians.  H  was  probably  in  the  last  year  of  his  reign 
(a.d.  44)  that  Herod  beheaded  tlie  Apostle  James,  the  son  of 
Zebedee,  and  cast  Peter  into  prison,  w'ith  the  intention  of  making 
his  execution,  like  his  Master's,  a  spectacle  for  the  Jews  assembled 
for  the  Passover.  The  Apostle's  departure  from  Jerusalem  for  a 
time,  after  his  miraculous  deliverance  from  prison,  gives  occa- 
sion for  an  allusion  to  the  presidency  of  the  other  James  over 
the  church  at  Jerusalem.  James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  sur- 
named  James  the  Less  (or  Little)  and  also  James  the  Just,  is 
named  by  some  writers  as  the  first  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  after  the 
Apostles,  as  if  he  were  not  himseh  an  Apostle;*  but  there  seems 
no  sufficient  ground  for  distinguishing  him  from  the  Apostle, 
James  the  son  of  Alphaeus. 

§  9.  This  visit  was  doubtless  the  season  of  Paul's  second  ecstatic 

'  Acts  xi.  27-30.  On  this  second  visit  of  Paul  to  Jerusalem,  see  the 
N.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  sv.  §§  5,  6. 

*  Psalm  ii.  2.  The  words  of  David  were  thus  applied  by  the  persecuted 
Christians  themselves  (Acts  iv.  25-28). 

_  -   Hegesipp.  ap.  Eusob.  //.  K  ii.  23;   Constitut.  Aposlol.  ii.   55,  vi.  12. 
For  the  passage  of  Hegcsipfng,  and  for  the  sequel  of  the  life  of  James,  and 
his  martyrdom,  see  the  A.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  xx.  §  0;  and  for  the  orgument 
respecting  his  identity,  ibid.  chap.  ix.  Note  A. 
4 


38  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  11. 

vision  (probably  in  the  Temple)^  as  a  new  preparation  for  the  work 
among  the  Gentiles,  to  which  he  was  called  soon  after  his  return  to 
Antioch.  A  special  revelation  of  the  Spirit  commanded  the  Church 
to  set  apart  Barnabas  and  Saul  for  that  work.^  This  divine  com- 
mission gave  a  public  confirmation  of  Saul's  apostleship,  and  con- 
ferred that  office  upon  Barnabas ;  ^  and  this  addition  to  the  mystic 
number  of  the  twelve  Apostles  was  one  sign  of  the  extension  of  the 
Gospel  from  Israel  to  all  the  nations.  I'hey  were  ordained  to  the 
work  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  a  ceremony  which  now  first  occurs 
as  performed  by  others  than  Apostles.* 

Though  clearly  sent  forth  on  a  special  mission  to  the  Gentiles, 
they  acted  on  the  principle  that  the  Christian  Church  should,  if 
possible,  be  founded  on  the  Jewish.  It  was  only  when  the  Jews 
"  contradicted  and  blasphemed,"  and  so  cut  themselves  off  from  the 
covenant  of  eternal  life,  that  Paul  made  the  proclamation  :  "  Lo !  loe 
turn  to  the  Gentiles  ;  for  so  hath  the  Lord  commanded  us."  ^  This 
decisive  step  was  taken  at  the  city  of  Antioch  in  Pisidia. 

This  First  Missionary  Journey  embraced  the  island  of  Cyprus, 
where  the  proconsul,  Sergius  Pauliis,  became  the  first  Gentile  con- 
vert of  rank,  and  the  wild  regions  of  Pampbylia,  Pisidia,  and  Lyca- 
onia,  in  Asia  Minor,  where  Jewish  synagogues  were  numerous,  and 
the  pride  of  Greek  civilisation  weakest.  The  first.  Gentile  churches 
were  founded  among  a  simple  and  almost  barbarous  people ;  and 
the  persecution,  which  turned  the  Apostles  back  and  almost  made 
Paul  a  sharer  in  the  fate  of  Stephen,  was  incited  by  the  Jews.® 
Churches  were  gathered  at  Antioch,  Iconium,  Lystra,  and  Derbe, 
as  well  as  at  the  ports  of  Perga  and  Attalia,  and  we  now  first  read 
explicitly  of  the  appointment  of  permanent  ministers,  called  pres- 
hyters  or  elders,  who  were  ordained  by  the  Apostles  for  each  church.'' 

-  »  2  Cor.  xii. 

*  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that,  at  first,  the  order  in  which  the  two  are 
mentioned  is  Baniabas  and  Saul,  as  if  the  precedence  were  given  to  Bar- 
nabas (Acts  xi.  30,  xii.  25,  xiii.  2,  7)  ;  but  when  Saul  becomes  Paul,  we 
at  once  read  of  Paul  and  his  company  (Acts  xiii.  13),  and  we  have  usually 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  but  in  one  case,  BuDutbas  ami  Paul  (xiv.  14). 

*  Both  are  expressly  called  Apostles  in  Acts  xiv.  14. 

*  Acts  xiii.  1-3.  A  distinction  seems  to  be  thus  established  between 
"  the  laying  on  of  the  Apostles'  hands,"  by  which  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
given  (Acts  viii.  18,  xix.  6 ;  2  Tim.  6),  and  the  laying  on  of  hands  as  a 
sio-n  of  ordination  to  evangelic  work  and  office,  which  might  be  by  the 
Apostles  (as  in  the  ordination  of  the  deacons.  Acts  vi.  6),  or  by  "the 
presbytery"  (1  Tim.  iv.  14),  or  by  a  minister  of  the  church  (as. Timothy, 
1  Tim.  v.  22),  or  by  an  individual  disciple  (Acts  ix.  12.  17).  In  the  case 
before  us,  it  is  the  act  of  the  Church,  but  it  would  probably  be  performed 
by  the  "  presbytery  "  (as  in  1  Tim.  iv.  14). 

»  Acts  xiii.  44-48.  •     «  Acts  xiv.  19. 

'  Acts  xiv.  23.  We  see  from  Acts  xi.  30  that  such  officers  already 
existed  in  the  churches  of  Judea ;  and  the  elders  at  Jerusalem  are  men- 


A.D.  48.  THE  JUDAIZERS  AT  ANTIOCH.  39 

§  10.  Paul  and  Barnabas  had  for  some  time  resumed  their  regular 
labours  at  Antioch,  when  that  church  was  disturbed  by  the  attempt 
of  some  Jewish  Christians  to  subject  the  Gentile  converts  to  the 
ceremonial  law,  and  especially  to  circumcision.*  These  Judaizers 
held  that  no  Gentiles  should  be  received  into  the  Christian  Church, 
except  by  passing  through  the  outer  court  as  "  proselytes  of 
righteousness."  This  effort  to  maintain  the  ceremonial  law  of 
Moses  was  the  source  of  the  chief  heresies  that  sprang  up  in  the 
primitive  Church,  and  its  first  authors  may  justly  be  called  heretics. 
They  are  not  named  "  brethren,"  but  "  certain  men,"  who  went 
from  Judea  to  Antioch,  who  "went  out"  from  the  Church  as  not 
truly  belonging  to  it.^  Paul  distinctly  calls  them  "false  brethren, 
unawares  brought  in,  who  came  in  privily  to  spy  out  our  liberty 
which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  they  might  bring  us  into 
bondage."'  ^  'i'hey  were  encountered  with  a  vigorous  resistance  by 
Paul  and  Barnabas  ;  and,  after  debate,  the  Church  of  Antioch  de- 
cided to  refer  the  question  to  the  Apostles  and  ciders  at  Jerusalem. 
'J'hey  sent  up  Paul  and  Barnabas,  with  others  of  the  Church,*  among 
whom  Paul  took  Titus  as  an  example  of  a  Greek  convert  wdio  had 
not  been  circumcised. " 

This  first  example  of  united  counsel  in  the  Church  on  questions 
of  doctrine  and  discipline  becomes  doubly  interesting  in  the  light  of 
Paul's  own  account  of  his  jiart  in  it.     The  Judaizers  were  (at  least 

tioned,  as  if  they  were  officers  next  after  the  Apostles,  in  Acts  xv.  2,  "the 
Apostles  and  elders."  The  word  translated  ordained  is  a  remarkable 
one:  ^f 'P''''"<"'i9<7'a»''''6S  Se  avTo7s  kclt'  iKKKrjaiav  irpefffivrepovs.  Asthis 
is  the  term  used  ior  voting  hy  a  show  of  hands  in  the  Aiheaian  Ecclesia,  some 
take  it  to  imply; the  election  of  ministers  by  the  people  in  the  Christian 
Ecclcsiu,  and  this  view  seems  supported  by  2  Cor.  viii.  19  (the  brother), 
Xeiporovi]Qi\i  virh  rSov  (KKKr)(xia>v.  But  this  is  a  good  example  of  the 
great  fact,  that  New  Testament  Greek  is  not  always  to  be  interjireted  by 
classical  usage,  witness  Acts  x.  41  (of  the  Apostles),  fidprvai  to?s  irpo- 
K€XftpoTovrifj.€Voi5  inrb  rov  Qeov,  where,  as  in  Acts  xxii.  14  (6  Qths  .... 
7rpo6x«'P'0'aT(!  (re,  &c.),  the  idea  seems  to  be  that  of  designating  a  person 
by  laying  hands  on  him.  The  passage  before  us  is  simply  silent  as  to  the 
mode  by  which  the  elders  were  chosen.  '  Acts  xv. 

^  Acts  XV.  i.  Koi  Tifes  KaTt\d6vT€s  a-irh  ttjs  'lovSaias,  and  ver.  24, 
rivis  t|  ijfxwu  4^e\06vTes,  words  which  form  a  striking  parallel  with 
St.  John's  double  application  of  the  phrase  f^rifiwv  to  the  many  antichrists 
of  the  apostolic  age,  "  they  Mr«<  out  from  us,  hut  they  were  not  of  us :" 
*|  V/ncov  e^rjxeav,  a\\'  oiiK  ^ffav  f^  Tj/jiciy  (1  .John  ii.  19). 

^  Gal.  ii.  4.  It  makes  no  real  difference  whether  the  specific  reference 
is  to  the  Judaizers  at  Antioch  or  Jerusalem  or  both. 

*  Acts  XV.  2  ;  Gal.  ii.  5. 

'  Acts  XV.  2.  Great  as  was  the  apostolic  authority  of  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas, the  church  of  Antioch  was  also  represented  by  other  members,  as 
was  the  church  of  Jerusalem  on  the  answering  mission  (ver.  25). 

«  Gal.  ii.  3. 


40  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  H. 

chiefly)  Pharisees ;  *  and  he  was  always  anxious  to  carry  Pharisaic 
principles  to  their  full  issue  in  Christianity.^  The  question  touched 
the  very  essence  of  his  apostolic  mission  to  the  Gentiles.  Must  he 
make  them  Jews  as  well  as  Christians,  and  bind  on  the  necks  of 
those,  who  were  free  to  begin  the  new  life  in  Christ,  a  yoke  which, 
as  Peter  himself  testified,  the  Jews  had  never  been  able  to  bear?' 
Was  it  possible  that  his  apostolic  course  in  the  past  and  in  the  future 
was  all  in  vain  ?  He  felt  the  need  of  fidl  conference  with  "  those 
who  were  apostles  before  him,"  not  that  he  had  any  doubts  himself, 
but  "  to  communicQ,te  to  them  the  Gospel  which  he  had  preached 
among  the  Gentiles."  For  this  purpose  he  was  directed  to  Jeru- 
salem by  an  express  revelation,  besides  his  mission  from  the  Church 
of  Antioch ;  *  and  in  separate  conferences  with  "  those  of  reputa- 
tion," the  "pillars"  of  the  Church,  James,  Cephas  (Peter),  and 
John,  the  common  grace  of  God  shown  in  each  of  their  works  was 
made  so  clear,  that  they  gava  Paul  and  Barnabas  the  right  hand  of 
apostolic  fellowship,  for  the  twofold  mission,  that  of  these  to  the 
heathen,  and  their  own  to  the  circumcision.'^ 

But  the  Apostles  did  not  decide  the  question  solely  by  their  own 
authority,  and  in  these  private  conferences  the  envoys  from  Antioch 
were  received  by  the  Church,  as  well  as  by  the  Apostles  and  elders ; 
and  to  them  Paul  and  Barnabas  reported  the  convincing  facts  of  their 
work  among  the  Gentiles,  just  as  Peter  had  related  the  conversion 
of  Cornelius.^  Upon  this  some  of  the  converted  Pharisees  contended 
that  the  Gentile  converts  must  be  circumcised,  and  must  keep  the 
whole  law  of  Moses.''  A  special  meeting  was  then  convened  of 
the  Apostles  and  elders,  with  the  whole  Church,  to  consider  the 
question.* 

Such  was  the  freedom  of  speech  in  this  assembly,  that  the 
objectors  urged  their  arguments  even  beiore  hearing  Paul  and 
Barnabas,^  till  Peter  (who  now  appears  for  the  last  time  in  the 
sacred  history)  stood  up  and  reminded  them  that  the  ques- 
tion was  really  settled  by  what  God  had  done  through  him  in  the 
case  of  Cornelius.  Silence  was  then  obtained  for  the  statement  by 
Paul  and  Barnabas  of  the  signs  and  miracles  by  which  God  had 
confirmed  their  mission  to  the  Gentiles ;  and  James  closed  the 
debate,  in  a  manner  which  agrees  Avith  his  traditional  position  in 

*  Acts  XV.  5.  *  Acts  xsiii.  6. 
»  Acts  XV.  10;  comp.  Gal.  v.  1.  *  Gal.  ii.  2. 

»  Gal.  ii.  6-9.  *  Acts  xv.  4.  '•  IhiJ.  6. 

*  Ibid.  6.  lifiwtpl  Tov  \6yov  rovrov.  Here  "  the -apostles  and  elders' 
only  are  mentioned  as  coniins;  together ;  but  at  the  same  meetins;  we  have 
"  the  whole  multitude  "  (irav  rh  ttAtjOos,  v.  12),  which  is  manifestly  equi- 
valent to  "  the  whole  church  "  and  "the  brethren,"  who  join  with  the 
Apostles  and  elders  in  the  decision  and  in  the  action  taken  thereupon  (vv.  22, 
25),  "  being  .assembled  together  with  one  accord"  (v.  2.">).      "  Acts  xv.  7. 


A.D.  48.  THE  APOSTOLIC  PRECEPTS.  41 

the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  with  a  decision  *  -which  was  adopted  by  the 
Ai30.stle«  and  elders,  with  the  whole  Church,^  Umler  tlieir  united 
name  also  it  was  embodied  in  a  letter  to  the  brethren  of  the  (Jentiles 
in  Antioch  and  Syria  and  Cilicia,  which  Judas  and  Silas  were 
appointed  to  carry  and  conhrm  by  word  of  mouth,  as  messengers 
from  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  on  their 
return  to  Antioch.  The  points  thus  expressed  are  called  "the 
decrees  "  (duymas,  or  points  of  doctrine)  decided  on  by  the  Apostles 
and  elders  which  were  at  Jerusalem ;  and  they  were  delivered  as 
such  by  Paul  and  Barnabas  and  Silas  to  the  (i entile  churches,  to 
be  observed.^  Besides  the  authority  derived  from  the  decided  ex- 
pression of  the  views  of  the  Apostles  in  the  Church,  they  seem  to  have 
been  confirmed  by  some  special  manifestation  of  the  Holy  Spirit.* 

Their  substance  was,  that  no  ceremonial  burthen  should  be  laid 
upon  the  Gentile  converts,  except  "  these  necessary  things,"  that 
they  should  abstain  from  food  that  liad  be6n  offered  in  sacrifice  to 
idols,  from  eating  blood  and  the  flesh  of  strangled  animals,  and 
from  fornication.  These  restrictions  were  deemed  necessary  with 
reference  to  the  relations  of  the  new  converts  to  their  Gentile 
brethren.  It  was  easy  for  them  to  argue  that,  as  an  idol  was  no 
god,  his  sacrifices  had  no  sanctity,  and  remained  common  food, 
which  might  be  eaten  with  Christian  liberty.  But  this  w\as  mani- 
fest sophistry,  and  to  some  at  least  the  act  of  joining  in  the  feast 
would  be  a  recognition  of  the  idol.*  The  pollutions  of  the  bloody 
heathen  sacrifices  required  the  strict  observance  of  tne  precept  of 
abstinence  from  blood,  which  had  already  been  given  to  Koah  when 
animal  food  was  first  allowed;  and  such  a  concession  to  the  Jews, 
who  abounded  in  every  Greek  city,  involved  so  decided  a  physical 
benefit,  that  its  perpetual  observance,  if  not  "  necessary,"  is  at  least 
"expedient."  'Ihe  essentially  moral  nature  of  the  last  restraint 
makes  it  seem,  at  first  sight,  rather  strangely  coupled  with  the 
others.  But  the  licentious  rites  of  the  heathen  worship,  especially 
in  those  oriental  forms  in  which  these  Asiatic  Greeks  had  borne  their 

'  Acts  XV.  19.  (ycD  Kpipu,  like  the  "censeo  "  by  wliich  a  Roman  senator 
gave  his  vote.  ^  Acts  xv.  22. 

Acts  xvi.  4:  irapeSiSocrai'  outoTj  (j)v\d<T<7eip  ra  SSy/xara  to,  KfKpi- 
fxfva  iiirh  rtuv  airoaroXwv  kol  irpea^vrfpcci',  k.t.\. 

*  Acts  XV.  28  :  "  It  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us  "  (iSo^fu 
yap,  the  same  word  used  in  ver.  22,  and  equivalent  to  the  Soyfiara  of 
vi.  4). 

*  Paul's  full  ar<^unient  on  this  subject  (1  Cor.  viii.  and  x.  14-23,  where 
the  whole  intervening  context  also  relates  to  the  same  principle  of  the 
doubtful  use  of  Christian  liberty)  seems  to  derive  the  greater  force  from 
a  manifest  vein  o{  irony  in  his  allusions  to  the  "stronger"  bi-ethren,  and 
their  "  strong  conscience,"  and  their  contemptuous  pity  for  the  '•  weaker 
brethren  "  and  their  "  weak  conscience." 


42  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II. 

full  share,^  had  thoroughly  confused  the  law  of  natural  morality,  and 
it  was  "  necessary"  to  make  this  also  one  of  the  precepts  against 
continuance  in  their  former  idolatry.  1'his,  in  short,  is  the  spirit  of 
these  "  Apostolic  Precepts  "  (as  they  are  called  by  way  of  parallel  to 
the  "Noachic  Precepts")'*: — the  Gentiles  were  not  to  be  subject  to 
restraints  purely  Jewish,  but  they  must  abstain  from  whatever  might 
still  link  them  with  and  tempt  them  back  into  heathenism.  When 
this  principle  is  clearly  seen,  the  question  as  to  the  permanent 
oblif^ation  of  the  first  two  of  these  precepts  becomes  comparatively 
insignificant. 

It  is  clearly  wrong  to  call  this  meeting  of  the  Church  at  Jeru- 
salem the  First  General  Council.^  Its  form  had  no  character  of 
an  oecumenical  council ;  *  and,  happily,  no  question  had  yet  arisen 
between  the  churches  to  call  for  such  a  council.  It  was  no  meeting 
of  delegates  from  all  the  churches,  for  we  read  of  none  but  those 
sent  from  Antioch,  and  they  went  rather  to  con.sult  the  Apostles 
and  the  mother  Church  at  Jerusalem,  than  to  represent  the  views 
of  their  own  church.  Above  all,  the  divine  authority,  on  which 
the  decision  was  based,  makes  it  quite  unlike  those  synodical 
sentences,  which  decide,  but  cannot  extinguish,  a  grave  difierence 
by  the  mere  voice  of  a  majority ;  and  this  so-called  first  council  of 
the  Church  was  the  last  which  had  a  right  to  say,  "It  seemed  good 
to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us." 

The  decision  in  favour  of  Gentile  liberty  soon  received  a  practical 
confirmation,  which  is  doubly  imjwrtant  in  Church  History  from 
its  illustration  of  the  free-working  of  human  nature  among  the 
Apostles  themselves.®  Peter,  on  a  visit  to  Antioch,  ate  with  the 
Gentiles  ;  but,  on  the  arrival  of  some  brethren  from  Jerusalem,® 
he  and  his  Jewish  companions,  including  even  Barnabas,  withdrew, 
through  fear  of  these  Jews,  from  such  free  intercourse  with  the 
Gentiles.  Paul's  reproof  of  this  conduct  is  based  on  Peter's  full 
approval  of  the  liberty  given  to  the  Gentiles. 

§  11.  The  Second  Missionary  Journey  of  Paul  cAtried  Christianity 
further  among  the  less  civilized  parts  of  Asia  Minor.  Churches 
were  planted  among  the  genuine  Asiatics  of  Phrygia  and  the  Gauls 
of  GalatiaJ  But  the  time  was  not  yet  come  for  its  reception  in  the 
province  of  Asia.     The  divine  revelation  which  called  the  Apostle 

'  1  Cor.  vi.  11  :  "and  such  were  some  of  vou." 

-  Gen.  ix.  4-6.     Stwlent's  0.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  iv.  §  8. 

3  The  date  was  either  a.d.  48  or  50. 

*  This  term  will  be  explained  in  its  place.  *  Gal.  ii.  11-14. 

"  The  phrase  iKOttv  riva.%  awh  'laKwjSou  is  an  incidental  testimony  to  the 
position  held  by  James  at  .Ternsaleni.  It  seems  from  this  that  doubts  still 
remained  among  the  Jewish  Christians,  whether  they  might  themselves  use 
the  liberty  which  they  had  fully  conceded  to  the  Gentiles. 

'  Acts  xvi. 


A.D.  52.  CHRISTIANITY  AT  ROME.  43 

and  his  band  across  the  Hellespont  marks  the  first  recorded  step  in 
the  Christianizing  of  Europe,  when  Paul  phinted  the  churches  of 
Philippi,  Thessalonica,  and  Beraa,  iu  Macedonia,  preached  the 
Gospel  at  Athens,  and,  staying  eighteen  months  at  Corinth,  esta- 
blished a  powerful  church  iu  that  capital,  as  well  as  others  in  the 
province  of  Achaia. 

An  incident  of  Paul's  residence  at  Corinth  shows  that,  before  this 
apostolic  visit  to  eastern  Europe,'  Christianity  had  obtained  a  footing 
in  the  West,  and  at  the  city  of  Romk  itself.  On  his  arrival  at 
Corinth,  he  found  there  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  who  had  lately  come 
from  Italy,  driven  out  by  the  edict  of  Claudius  banishing  all  Jews 
from  l\ome.^  It  was  in  the  character  of  a  Jewish  sect  that  Chris- 
tianity first  became  odious  to  the  Pomans ;  but  any  new  "  foreign 
superstition  "  was  sure  to  rouse  the  fanatical  hatred  of  Claudius ; 
and  the  name  of  Christ  is  mentioned  by  tie  biographer  of  the 
Caesars  in  connection  with  this  edict.^  The  plantation  of  Chris- 
tianity at  Pome  may  be  traced  from  the  very  beginning  of  the 
Apostolic  Church,  for  among  the  foreign  Jews  at  Jerusalem,  who 
witnessed  the  wonders  of  Pentecost  and  heard  the  preaching  of 
Peter,  were  residents  at  Home*  where  a  large  Jewish  settlement  had 
been  established  by  Pompey  in  the  trans-Tiberine  quarter,  enlarged 
by  the  attractions  of  the  commerce  of  the  capital,  and  favoured  by 
Augustus  and  Tiberius,  so  that  they  jiossesscd  a  school  of  their 
own.^  That  these  Jews  were  a  chief  element  in^the  Church  at 
Rome  is  proved  by  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  llomans,  written  from 
Corinth  six  years  later,  when  the  Church  had  gained  such  distinc- 
tion, that  "  their  faith  was  spoken  of  through  the  whole  world." '' 
This  early  appearance  of  this  Roman  Church,  as  a  sort  of  sponta- 
neous development  of  the  Christian  faith,  the  planting  of  which  is 

'  As  we  have  oocstantly  to  speak  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  divisions 
of  the  R(iman  world,  it  may  be  mentioned,  once  for  all,  that  the  recognised 
boundary  was  formed  by  the  Adriatic  in  Europe  and  the  Greater  Syrtis 
in  Africa ;  and  this  division  had  a  general  correspondence  with  the  pre- 
valence of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues. 

^  Acts  xviii.  2.  The  probable  date  of  this  edict  was  at  the  beginning 
of  A.D.  52.  See  the  N.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  xvi.  §  12,  note  (lOo).  That  Aquila 
and  Priscilla  were  already  Christians  seems  clearly  implied  by  the  mere 
absence  of  any  statement  that  they  were  converted  by  Paul. 

'  Suet.  Claud.  25:  "  .Tuda;os,  impnlsorc  Chresto  assiduo  tumuUuantes, 
Roma  expulit."  The  tumults  referred  to  were  probably  those  at  Jerusalem 
at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles ;  but  the  passage  afibrds  evidence  of  the 
attention  which  Christianity  had  by  this  time  attracted  at  Rome. 

*  Acts  ii.  10,  Kol  01    diriSfiuoiivrei  'PwfxaToi. 

*  See  also  the  allusions  of  Horace,  Martial,  and  Juvenal. 

*  Rom.  i.  8.  The  word  KaTayyfWtrai  suggests  the  constant  inter- 
course that  was  going  on  between  the  Christian.';  of  the  capital  and  of 
the  provinces. 


44  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  H. 

claimed  by  no  apostolic  or  other  name,^  forms  a  complete  exposure 
of  the  fiction  that  it  was  fomided  by  Peter,  and  of  the  usurpation 
of  authority  thence  derived.^ 

Besides  its  Jewish  basis,  there  was  a  strong  Gentile  element  in 
the  Church  of  Eome,  but  one  which  seems  to  have  been  rather 
Greek  than  Eoman.  An  indication  of  the  proportions,  both  of  Jews 
to  Gentiles,  and  of  Greeks  to  Eomans,  in  this  church,  is  furnished 
in  the  long  list  of  names  in  Paul's  salutation.'  Most  of  these  names 
belong  to  the  middle  and  lower  grades  of  society,  and  many  of  them 
are  found  in  the  columbaria  of  the  freedmen  and  slaves  of  tne  early 
Eoman  emperors.  It  was  among  such  members  "  of  Caesar's  house- 
hold,"* among  the  petty  officers  of  the  army,  and  among  the  less 
wealthy  merchants  and  tradesmen,  that  the  Gospel  first  gained  con- 
verts. There  are  allusions  to  Hellenistic  Jews,  with  whom  Paul 
was  personally  intimate ;  and  among  these  were  some  of  his  own 
kindred,  who  had  been  Christians  before  him  and  eminent  in  the 
Church  at  Jerusalem.*  Many  converts,  made  by  Paul  himself  and 
the  other  ministers  of  the  Gospel  throughout  the  empire,  were 
doubtless  continually  moving  to  Eome,  and  adding  to  the  vigour 
of  the  Church.  The  state  of  the  primitive  Eoman  Church  is 
peculiarly  interesting  with  reference  to  the  approaching  persecution 
by  Nero,  whose  accession  coincides,  or  nearly  r,o,  with  Paul's  return 
to  Antioch  from  his  Great  Missionary  Journey.* 

§  12.  The  new  Gentile  churches,  founded  in  flourishing  provinces, 
exhibited  Christianity,  from  the  first,  as  we  have  already  seen  at 
Antioch,  in  its  character  of  practical  beneficence.  "  To  remember 
the  poor"  was  the  only  special  injunction  which  the  Apostles  at 
Jerusalem  had  laid  on  Paul  and  Barnabas ; ''  and  how  truly  Paul 
was  "  forward  to  do  so,"  is  proved  by  his  repeated  exhortations  to 
the  Gentile  churches  to  make  a  practical  return  for  the  spiritual 
gifts  received  by  them  from  the  Jews,®  who  were  now  in  sore  need 

'  Contrast  with  this  the  plainness  with  which  Paul  sajs  of  the  Church  of 
Corinth,  "  I  have  planted,  ApoUos  hath  watered  "  (to  the  express  exclusion 
of  the  claims  set  up  for  Petor  even  there  and  thus  early:  1  Cor.  i.  12,  iii. 
4—6),  and  how  earnestly  and  tenderly  he  insists  on  his  paternal  relation 
to  the  churches  he  had  founded,  but  solely  as  the  minister  of  Christ 
(1  Cor.  iv.  15  ;  Gal.  iv.  19  ;  comp.  Philem.  10),  and  how  emphatically  he 
disclaims  interference  with  other  men's  foundations  (Kom.  xv.  20). 

-  For  a  discussion  of  this  question  see  the  N.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  six.  §  19. 

^  Rom.  xvi.  6-15.  But  the  frequent  use  of  Greek  and  Roman  names  by 
Jews  may  perhaps  reduce  the  proportion  of  Gentiles  in  the  church.  The 
passage  in  Rom.  i.  13-16  seems  rather  to  refer  to  the  Apostle's  desire  to  make 
new  converts  among  the  heathen  at  Rome,  than  to  the  Gentile  members  oT 
the  church.  *  Philipp.  iv.  22.  *  Rom.  xvi.  7. 

•  Claudius  was  murdered  by  Agrippina,  to  secure  the  succession  of  her 
son  Nero,  on  the  12th  of  October,  A.D.  54.   - 

^  Gal.  11.  10.  *  Rom.  xv.  25-28 ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  1-3;  2  Cor.  viii.  is. 


A.D.  54.  THE  CHURCH  AT  EPHESUS.  45 

of  help.  Ground  down  by  the  rapacity  of  the  procurator  Felix, 
Judea  was  groaning  beneath  the  miseries  that  soon  provoked  her 
last  rebellion.  To  collect  the  alms  of  the  faithful  in  Macedonia  and 
Achaia  for  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem  was  one  chief  object  of  the 
Third  Journey,  on  which  Paul  set  out  after  a  short  stay  at  Antiodi. 
Another  object  was  to  confirm  the  churches  against  dangers  that 
were  already  springing  up  within ;  for  the  Judaizers  were  busy  in  the 
corruption  of  Christian  simplicity  and  liberty,  and  were  even  ques- 
tioning Paul's  aijostolic  mission,  while  the  Greeks  were  mingling 
their  own  philosophy  with  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  breaking  up 
into  sects,  which  adopted  the  names  of  Paul  and  A  polios,  of  Peter 
and  of  Christ  Himself,  like  those  of  Plato,  Zeno,  and  Epicurus. 
Thus,  by  the  middle  of  the  first  century,  we  find  the  Church  already 
troubled  by  the  twofold  "  root  of  bitterness,"  from  which  sprang 
all  the  early  Judaistic  and  philosophic  heresies.  But  it  was  also  to 
these  corruptions  and  schisms,  as  well  as  to  th.e  disorders  which 
wealth  and  licence  brought  into  the  Church  of  Corinth,  that  the 
Church  owes  the  great  body  of  doctrine  and  of  instruction  in 
Christian  practice  and  discipline,  contained  in  Paul's  Epistles. 

Paul's  contest  with  the  Judaizing  teachers  in  the  churches  of 
Galatia  led  to  the  great  doctrinal  exposition  contained  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians,  which  he  wrote  from  Ephesus,  after  passing 
through  Phrj'gia  and  Galatia.  The  establishment  of  the  Church  of 
Ephesus,  where  Paul  laboured  for  three  years,  is  another  great  land- 
mark in  the  progress  of  Christianity.  To  the  great  centres  of 
Jerusalem,  Antioch,  Thessalonica,  Corinth,  and  Rome,  was  now 
added  the  capital  of  the  flourishing  province  of  Asia.  Indeed,  with 
reference  to  the  spread  of  the  Church  Catholic,  Ephesus  occupied 
the  most  central  position  of  all,  as  the  meeting-place  of  Jew  and 
Greek,  and  Roman  and  Oriental.  It  was  here  that  Paul,  rejected  by 
the  Jews,  again  turned  to  the  Gentiles ;  here  he  proved  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  against  Jewish  exorcists  and  every  class  of  pretenders 
to  magical  arts,  and  shook  the  foundations  of  the  great  Eastern 
worship  of  Artemis.  PI  is  preaching  of  the  Gospel  embraced  the 
whole  province  of  Asia,  whether  by  his  occasional  journeys  into  the 
country,  or  by  the  resort  of  the  people  to  hear  him  as  he  taught  in 
the  school  of  Tyrannus.^  Thus  Ephesus  became  a  kind  of  mother 
church  to  others  in  the  neighbouring  cities  of  Asia  and  Phrygia, 
which  are  in  part  mentioned  by  Paul  himself,  and  in  part  form  the 
famous  group  of  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  to  which  the  Apostle 
John  afterwards  ministered  and  wrote  his  apocalyptic  vision.^    It 

>  Acts  six.  9,  10. 

^  In  connection  with  Paul,  Ephesus  only  is  mentioned  in  the  Acts  (also 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  and  in  1  Tim.  i.  3);  but  he  himself  names 
4* 


46  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHCRCH.  Chap.  II. 

was  from  Ephcsua  also  that  Paul  wrote  the  two  Epistles  to  the 
Corinthians,  which  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  the  questions  of  doc- 
trine and  practice  and  discipline,  that  already  agitated  the  Church. 
Proceeding  westward,  he  wrote  from  Corinth  his  great  doctrinal 
exposition  of  the  relations  of  Judaism  to  Christianity,  and  of  the 
principles  of  law  and  grace,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  That 
epistle  marks  the  close  of  Paul's  great  work  throughout  the  Eastern 
division  of  the  empire  "from  Jerusalem  to  Illyricum,"  and  his 
desire  to  break  new  ground  in  the  West.^ 

§  13.  It  remains, doubtful  whether  that  intention  was  fulfilled^ 
any  further  than  by  the  work  which  Paul  did  at  Rome  during  the 
two  j^ears  of  his  first  imprisonment.  The  termination  of  the  'Acts 
of  the  Apostles'  marks  the  critical  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  formed  by  the  rejection  by  the  Jews  at  Rome  of  the  Apostle 
whom  their  brethren  at  Jerusalem  had  sent  thither  as  a  prisoner. 
Thus  handed  over  perforce  to  the  Gentiles  of  the  capital,  he  made 
converts  even  in  the  Praitorian  camp  and  in  Caesar's  household,  with 
a  success  testified  by  the  Epistles  written  during  his  two  imprison- 

ColosscE  (in  tlie  Epistle  to  the  Colossians)  with  Laodlcea  and  HierapoUs, 
bssides  alluding  to  other  cities  (Col.  .\iv.  13,  15,  16).  This  group  of  cities, 
though  in  Phr^ia,  belonged  politically  to  Asia.  Paul  seems  to  imjjly 
that  he  had  not  visited  them  in  person  (Col.  ii.  1).  To  these  must  be 
added  Alexandria  Troas  in  the  district  of  Jlysia  (Acts  xx.  5-7).  Whether 
there  was  a  church  at  Miletus  is  not  clear  from  the  mention  of  the  place 
in  Acts  XX.  15,  17.  The  Seven  Churches  named  by  John  are  those 
of  Ephesus,  Smj/rna,  Laodicea,  I'ergamus,  Thyatira  (the  native  place  of 
Paul's  convert  Lydia),  Sardis,  and  Philadelphia. 

Besides  the  mother  church  of  Ephesus,  the  only  church  common  to  the 
two  lists  is  that  of  Laodicea. 
>  Rom.  XV.  19,  24,  28. 

*  The  tradition  that,  after  his  first  imprisonment  at  Rome,  Paul  went  to 
Spain,  and  even  as  far  as  Britain,  seems  nothing  more  than  a  fancy  sug- 
gested by  the  mere  intention  expressed  in  Rom.  xv.  24—28.  (See.  AT.  J'. 
Hist.,  chap.  xix.  §  9.)  To  the  passage  of  Clemens  Romanus,  there  quoted 
and  discussed,  may  be  added  the  statement  of  Theodoret  {Comm.  iii  Psalm. 
cxvi.),  that  Paul,  having  arrived  in  Italy,  proceeded  to  Spain,  and  "carried 
salvation  to  the  islands  lying  opposite  in  the  sea  "  ((coJ  rais  «V  t^  ireAci^et 
StuKftfiffais  vrjaots  ttjv  u(j)4\etay  irpoaifveyKe).  But  this  only  proves  that 
the  same  tradition  prevailed  in  the  fifth  century,  which  we  find  magnified 
in  the  sixth  into  the  poetic  exaggeration  of  Venantius  Honorius  Fortunatus 
(v.  493),— 

"  Transit  et  Oceanum  [Paulus],  .-.  .  . 
Quasque  Britannus  habet  terras,  atque  ultima  Thyle." 
The  vagueness  of  the  tradition  is  further  proved  bv  the  other  form  of  it, 
which  ascribes  the  first  Christian  ])reaching  in  Britain,  not  to  Paul  himself, 
but  to  Aristobulus,  one  of  the  Seventy,  ordained  and  sent  by  Paul,  as  well  as 
by  that  which  carries  Peter  also  to  Britain  {Menoloij.  Grcec.,  March  IGth 
and  June  29th),  and  another  which  says  that  the  Apostle  Simon  Zelotes 
preached  in  Britain  and  suffered  martyrdom  there  by  crucifixion  {fbiil.. 
May  10th). 


A.D.  tii.  TIMOTHY  AND  TITUS.  47 

ments.^  Though  he  was  "  an  ambassador  in  bonds,"  yet  "  the  word 
of  God  was  not  bound."  ^ 

The  first  imprisonment  of  Paul  at  Rome  was  no  sign  of  an  im- 
perial persecution  of  the  Christians  ;  it  was  really  his  escape  from  the 
persecution  of  the  Jews  by  an  appeal  to  the  justice  of  Caesar,  which 
did  not  fail  him,  even  though  that  Ciesar  was  Nero.^  Meanwhile, 
the  persecuting  spirit  of  the  Jews  grew  with  their  growing  dano'ers 
and  disorders  ;  and,  in  the  second  year  of  Paul's  imjjrisonment,  the 
High  Priest  Ananias  took  advantage  of  a  vacancy  in  the  procurator- 
ship  to  perpetrate  the  judicial  murder  of  James  the  Just  and  other 
leaders  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem.*  To  prepare  the  i^ersecuted 
Christians  of  Judea  for  the  coming  end  of  the  old  dispensation,  was 
the  main  purpose  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hthrews. 

§  14.  The  interval  between  Paul's  first  and  second  imprisonment 
at  Rome,  obscure  as  are  its  details,  affords  some  light  of  the. 
highest  importance  for  church  history.  The  state  in  which  the 
Apostle  found  the  churches  of  Asia  *  and  of  Crete  occasioned  those 
commissions  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  which  seem  to  mark  a  sort  of  new 
ofKce  (whether  temporary  or  permanent)  in  the  Church.  The  '  Pas- 
toral Epistles '  addressed  to  them  form  our  chief  guide  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  apostolic  churches ;  nor  are  they  less  valuable  for 
the  light  they  throw  on  the  moral  and  spiritual  state  of  those  churches 
about  thirty  years  after  the  ascension  of  Christ,  and  on  the  heresies 
which  already  troubled  them. 

Titus  and  Timothy  had  been  companions  of  Paul  from  the  time 
of  his  first  and  second  missionary  journeys ;  and  both  had  laboured 
in  the  evangelic  work,  to  which  we  know  that  Timothy  was  ordained 
by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbyters  at  Lystra  and  of 
Paul  himselt?     Both  had  been  sent  before  on  special  missions  to 

'  These  were  the  Epistles  to  the  Colossians,  to  Philemon,  to  the  Ephesians, 
to  the  Philippinna,  to  the  Hebrews,  and  (during  the  second  imprisonment) 
the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy. 

*  Ephes.  vi.  20;  Phil.  i.  13-18;  2  Tim.  ii.  9. 

^  For  the  probable  connection  of  affairs  at  Rome  with  the  case  of  the 
Apostle,  see  the  N.  T.  Hist.,  chap,  xviii.  §  19,  pp.  503,  504. 

*  On  the  death  of  James  the  Just,  and  on  the  relation  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  to  that  persecution  and  the  approaching  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  see  the  N.  T.  Hist.,  chap,  xviii.  §  20,  and  chap.  xx.  §  9. 

*  That  his  visitation  and  the  commission  of  Timothy  extended  to  these 
churcl'.es  in  general,  and  not  to  Ephesus  only,  is  plain  fi"om  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  two  Epistles  to  Timothy,  from  the  general  directions  i-espect- 
ing  church  officers  and  discipline,  and  especially  from  the  phrase  "all 
which  are  in  Asia  "(2  Tim.  i.  15).  The  commission  of  Titus  expressly 
includes  the  churches  in  the  several  cities  of  Crete  (Tit.  i.  5). 

^  Acts  xvi.  1-3,  compared  with  1  Tim.  iv.  14,  2  Tim.  i.  6,  iv.  5.  In 
the  last  passage  Timothy  is  exhorted  to  "do  the  work  of  an  Evangelist,' 
lint  it  does  not  follow  that  he  bore  that  official  title. 


48  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II. 

various  churches,  and  the  name  of  Timothy  had  been  joined  with 
tliat  of  Paul  in  most  of  his  epistles.*  They  belonged,  in  short,  like 
Silas,  Luke,  Mark,  Sosthenes,  and  others,  to  a  class  of  ministers, 
distinguished  by  their  close  and  constant  association  in  the  work  of 
the  AiX)stles  from  those  who  were  attached  to  particular  churches  as 
bishops  or  presbyters  or  deacons.^  Their  special  commissions  bear 
witness  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  first  foundation  of  the  apostolic 
churches,  many  things  were  left  "  incomplete,"  to  be  afterwards 
"  set  in  order  "  by  others  imder  the  authority  of  the  Apostles  ;  * 
and  the  directions  "given  for  this  purpose  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles 
must  be  taken  to  apply  in  principle  to  the  wants  of  the  Church  in 
every  age.  The  information  which  these  Epistles  give  respecting 
the  order  and  constitution  of  the  apostolic  churches  will  be  noticed 
in  its  place.* 

§  15.  The  actual  state  in  which  they  exhibit  those  churches  is 
that  of  a  general  decline  in  purity  and  faithfulness,  coupled  with  the 
beginnings  of  distinct  and  dangerous  heresies.  The  false  teachers, 
of  whose  approaching  rise  within  the  Church  Paul  had  earnestly 
warned  the  elders  of  Ephesus,  in  his  parting  interview,^  had  under- 
mined the  attachment  of  his  converts  to  him  so  effectually,  that  at 
last  "  all  they  were  in  Asia  were  turned  away  from  him."®  The 
Asiatic  churches  were  troubled  by  the  new  forms  of  error  which  he 
had  then  predicted,  and  which  we  find  more  fully  developed  when 
John  wrote  to  the  Seven  Churches.  These  heresies  arose  partly 
from  Judaism  and  partly  from  a  mixture  of  Oriental  mysticism  and 
asceticism  with  Alexandrian  philosophy — among  Jews  as  well  as 
Greeks — such  as  is  seen  in  the  Cabbala  and  in  Philo.  The  "  philo- 
sophy and  vain  deceit,  according  to  the  traditions  of  men,  according 
to  the  elements  of  this  world,  and  not  according  to  Christ,"  by 

>  2  Cor.  i.  1 ;  Phil.  i.  1 ;  Col.  i.  1 ;  Philem.  1 ;  1  Thess.  i.  1 ;  2  Thess.  i.  1. 

'  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  subscriptions  are  no  part  of 
the  Pastoral  Epistles,  nor  is  there  any  adequate  authority  for  the  state- 
ments that  Timothy  and  Titus  were  "  ordained  the  first  bishops"  respectively 
"  of  the  churches  of  the  Ephesians  and  of  the  Cretians,"  which,  like  the 
other  apostolic  churches,  had  from  the  first  the  oflicers  called  bishops  and 
elders,  whom  both  Timothy  and  Titus  are  directed  to  ordain  where  they 
were  still  wanting. 

'  See  Titus  i.  5,  Jpa  rk  XdrovTa  iirtSiopBuxrri,  and  compare  1  Cor. 
xi.  34,  TO  8«  Aojird,  ws  av  tXflo),  BittTofo/ioi.  In  the  opening  of  the  First 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  liis  commission  seems  to  have  special  reference  to  the 
heresies  which  had  grown  up  in  Asia ;  but  the  Epistle  embraces  the  whole 
subject  of  church  order,  while  that  to  Titus,  beginning  with  matters  of 
order,  goes  on  afterwards  to  <iui'stions  of  heresy.  *  See  Chap.  ^  II. 

*  Acts  xx.  30.  Observe  here  both  this  description  of  their  teaching 
\a\ovvTts  Siearpanufva  {distorted  views  of  the  truth),  and  also  the  fact 
that  they  would  teach  thus  "  to  draw  away  disciples  after  them,"  that  is, 
to  become  the  founders  of  heretical  sects.  •  2  Tim.  i.  15. 


A.D.  64.  BEGINNINGS  OF  HERESIES.  49 

which  some  had  begun  to  "  si^il"  the  church  of  Colossi,  were  of 
the  same  kind  as  the  "  prol\uic  and  vain  babblings,  and  oppositions 
of  knowledge  lalsely  so  called,"  from  which  Timothy  is  urged  to  turn 
away.^     The  very  word  used  in  this  passage  points  to  the  title 
proudly   adopted  by   the  various   sects   which  called   themselves 
(jNOSTics,  the  men  of  knowledge,  just  as  in  later  times  scimce  has 
been  opposed  to  revelation ;  and  these  sects  were  often  joined  in  an 
alliance  with  the  Judaizers,  seemingly  unnatural,  but  perfectly  in 
accordance  with  human  nature.     "  The  outward  forms  of  supersti- 
tion were  ready  for  the  vulgar  nmltitude ;  the  interpretatioii  was 
confined  to  the  aristocracy  of  knowledge,  the  seU-styled  Gnostics."  ^ 
The  sad  truth  is  that,  as  soon  as  Christianity  was  generally  diffused, 
it  began  to  absorb  corruptions  from  all  the  lands  in  which  it  was 
plant'ed,  and  to  reflect  the  complexion  of  all  their  systems  of  religion 
and  philosophy.     Judaism   had  undergone   the  like  corruptions, 
especially  among  the  Sadducees  and  the  Hellenists.     Side  by  side 
with  the  Pharisaic  spirit  of  self-righteousness,  tlierc  had  grown  up 
a  Jewish  libertinism,  which,  while  adopting  eiTor  and  licence  from 
every  form  of  heathenism,  satisfied  the  conscience  with  the  outward 
forms  of  the   law.      These  corrupted  Jews  were  the  leaders  of 
heresy  in  the   apostolic   church,   men   "claiming   to   be    teachers 
of  the  law,  but  understanding  neither  what  they  talk  nor  what 
they  are  confident  of";  men   whose    "vain    janglings"   (fxarmo- 
Xoyi'a)  consisted  in  "  foolish  questions,  fables,  endless  genealogies, 
contentions,  and   strivings   about   the  law."^      These    fobles    are 
expressly    called    Jewish,    and    the    "many    insubordmate    vam 
talkers  and   deceivers"  are  described   as  being   "specially  those 
of  the  circumcision."  * 

§  16.  Some  of  these  folse  teachers,  who  were  also  personal  oppo- 
nents of  Paul,  are  mentioned  by  name.  Hymenmis  and  Alexander 
are  denounced  as  apostates  and  blasphemers  in  the  First  Epistle 
to  Timothy;''  while,  in  the  second,  the  opix>sition  of  Alexander  has 
become  more  virulent,  and  Hymcmeus  is  associated  with  a  new 
teacher,  Philetus,  in  the  specific  lalse  doctrine  "  tiiat  the  resurrec- 
tion is  passed  already." «  This  seems  to  have  been  a  further  refine- 
ment on  that  simple  denial  of  the  resirrrection  of  the  body,  which 
some  had  taught  in  the  church  of  Corinth.''  The  pretenders  to  a 
higher  spiritual  philosophy  held  that  the  resurrection  wns  already 
accomplished,  no  doubt  in  the  sense  of  the  Gnostic  teaching,  that 

»  Coloss.  ii.  8,  foil. ;  1  Tim.  vi.  20.  The  yv!i<Tii  of  the  latter  passage 
answers  to  the  <pi\o(TO(pia  of  the  former. 

2  Howson's  at.  Paul,  vol.  ii.  p.  548.  .    ,  .    , . 

»  1  Tim.  i.  4,  6,  7  ;  Titus  iii.  9.  ■*  Titus  i.  10,  14. 

s  I  Tim.  i.  20.                     *  2  Tim.  iv.  14,  15  '  1  Cor.  xv. 


50  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II. 

it  was  none  other  than  a  rising  of  the  soul,  from  the  death  of 
ignorance  to  the  light  of  Icnowledge.*  But  these  specific  statements 
are  of  far  less  importance  than  those  general  descrij)tions  which 
show  that  the  rising  heresies  of  the  apostolic  time  contained  the 
germs  of  all  the  errors  that  were  to  infect  the  Church  in  every  age. 
For  this  is  the  teaching  alike  of  Paul  and  Peter,  of  John  and  Jude.'^ 
While  prophesying  of  those  "  perilous  times  "  of  departure  from  the 
truth,  of  the  moral  enormities,  of  the  great  ajwstasy  ^  and  the  coming 
of  Antichrist,  which  should  mark  the  last  days,  they  speak  of  the 
false  prophets  and  t>he  "  many  antichrists  "  of  their  own  age  as  a 
proof  that  the  last  time  had  begun.  It  is  often  overlooked,  that 
the  false  prophet  of  the  old  covenant,  who  affected  to  utter  the 
will  of  God  in  opposition  to  true  teachers,  has  an  exact  counter- 
part in  the  Antichrist,  who  assumes  the  name  of  Christ  in  opjx)- 
sition  to  His  ministers ;  and  this  is  the  very  essence  of  heresy.* 

§  17.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  both  Paul  and  Peter  distinctly  use 
the  words  heresy  for  errors  that  are  to  be  resisted,  condemned,  and 
dealt  with  by  severe  discipline ;  not  (according  to  the  shallow  argu- 
ment from  the  etymology  of  the  word)  as  opinions  to  be  tolerated 
on  the  ground  of  free  inquiry  and  individual  conviction.*  The 
word,  which  the  Greeks  used  for  their  own  philosophic  sects,  was 
naturally  applied  in  a  bad  sense  (like  the  Latin  factio  and  our 
word  party)  by  opposite  sects  to  each  other ;  and  this  bad  sense 
was  now  fixed  upon  it.  Paul  himself  was  described  by  the  hired 
orator  of  the  Jews  as  "  a  ringleader  of  the  heresy  of  the  Nazarenes  ; "  * 
and  he  answered  by  the  confession,  "  After  the  way  which  they 
call  heresy,  so  worship  I  the  God  of  our  fathers."  ^     But  this  wrong 

'  See  N.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  xix.  Note  A,  On  Ifipnenceus  and  hi<  Heresy. 

«  1  Tim.  iv.  1,  f.  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  1,  f. ;  2  Peter  iii.  3  ;   1  John  ii.  18  ;  Jude,  18. 

^  Our  Version  does  not  show  the  perfect  coincidence  of  Paul's  prophecy 
to  the  Thessalonians  of  the  great  fdlting  awmj  (f)  airorrTacria,  2  Thess.  ii. 
.'5),  with  that  to  Timothy,  "some  shall  depart  from  the  faith"  (anoffTti- 
aovrai  rives  ttis  iriffrecios). 

*  In  the  word  Antichrist  the  avri  signifies  not  only  opposition,  but 
liketiess  or  correspondence  (whether  real  or  pretended),  as  in  rinros  and 
avTiTinrov.  Jesus  himself  foretold  the  "  fiilse  prophets,"  as  also  "false 
Christs,"  i^f uSo'xpKTToi :  see  Jlatt.  xxiv.  5,  24).  This  is  evidently  the  pre- 
dicted Antichrist,  whom  John  identities  with  the  "  liars,  deceivers,  and 
false  prophets,"  and  the  "antichrists"  of  his  age,  who  had  gone  out  of  the 
Church  (1  John  ii.  18,  19,  22,  iv.  3  ;  2  John,  7 — the  only  p.assages  in  which 
the  icorJ  antichrist  occurs).  Paul  describes  the  "  Jlan  of  sin"  of  the  great 
apostasy  as  usurping  the  worship  due  to,  and  the  very  name  of,  God  himself. 

*  The  notion  referred  to  is  another  instance  of  the  absurdity  of  explain- 
ing words  by  their  mere  etymology,  especially  in  N.  T.  Greek.  A"pt(Tis 
means  literally  choice,  but  what  kind  of  choice,  relative  to  what  things,  iu 
what  spirit,  with  what  consequences,  and  how  regarded  by  the  judgment 
of  others — all  these  are  questions  quite  l)eyoBd  the  province  of  etymology. 

*  Actsxxiv.  .'>:  irpwroa'TdTriv  rrjs  TuvNa^upaiwv  aipi<rfoes.     ' /6ii/.  ver.  14. 


A.D.  64.  HERESIES  IN  GENERAL.  gl 

application  of  the  word  to  Christianity  itself  did  not  deter  him  from 
branding  with  it  whatever  doctrines  and  practices  within  the 
nominal  church  were  opposed  to  sound  (or  wholesome)  teaching^ 
"  according  to  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed  God  "  entrusted  to 
him.  When  divisions  (schisms)  arose  in  the  church  of  Corinth,  he 
wrote  that  htresies  must  needs  arise  within,  to  test  those  who  would 
stand  fast.^  He  classes  heresies  with  idolatry  and  with  the  most 
flagrant  crimes  against  morality,  the  works  of  the  flesh  which  are 
hostile  to  the  works  of  the  spirit,'  By  his  own  apostolic  authority 
he  rejects  from  tlie  Church  and  "  delivers  to  Satan  "  the  blasphemers 
who  (such  is  the  powerful  figure  by  which  he  describes  unsound 
belief  and  practice)  had  "  put  away  a  good  conscience  and  made 
shipwreck  concerning  the  Mth;"*  and,  in  bidding  Titus  to  "reject 
the  man  who  was  a  heretic  °  after  one  and  a  second  admonition," 
he  adds  a  definition  of  the  very  spirit  of  heresy  as  a  sin  of  ]>er' 
versity.^  Peter  likens  the  '*  false  teachers  "  to  tlie  "  false  prophets 
among  the  people  "  of  old,  as  those  who  will  bring  into  the  Church 
destructive  heresies,  at  the  same  time  bringing  swift  destruction  on 
themselves.''  So  clearly  did  the  Apostles  treat  heresy  as  pernicious 
and  sinful. 

The  passage  last  quoted  seems  to  mark  the  highest  pitch  of 
daring  reached  by  the  heretics  of  the  apostolic  age,  "even  denying 
the  Lord  that  bought  them";  and  John  marks  the  denial  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  as  the  very  "  spirit  of  Antichrist " 
predicted  by  Christ,  and  as  "already  in  the  world  "  in  the  "false 

*  1  Tim.  i.  10  :  ef  n  irepov  ttj  vytatvovari  St5aiTKa\ia  avrlKeirai.  These 
are  the  concluding  words  of  the  commission  to  Timothy  to  oppose  heresy 
in  the  Asiatic  churches,  not  described  indeed  by  that  express  name,  but  by 
a  variation  eqnallv  interesting,  iVa  irapayydKT)^  ti(t\v  jut;  (Tepohi^a- 
(TKaKitv — a  term  which  comes  very  near  to  the  hctcrodoxi/  of  ecclesiastical 
language.  A  complete  view  of  the  apostolic  teaching  on  the -subject  would 
embrace,  besides  the  passages  in  which  the  irord  "lieresy"  occurs,  all  those 
which  speak  of  "false  prophets  "  and  ''false  teachers"  and  other  equi- 
valent terms.  ■  1  Cor.  xi.  18,  19.  '  Gal.  v.  20. 

*  Ibid.  ver.  10.  The  phrase  is  the  same  by  which  the  Corinthian  church 
ai-e  directed  to  cast  out  a  t)rother  guilty  of  heinous  sin. 

*  Titus  iii.  10:  aipiTiKhv  &u6puiTOV. 

'  Ihid.  ver.  11.  elSais  otj  f  ^4(tt pairrai  6  rotovros  (comp.the  KaXovvTes 
SifaTpafifxtva  of  Acts  x.\.  .TO,  and  the  airoffrpf  cfiofj.fvwv  r^v  aK-qOfiav  of  Titus 
1.14).  Kal  afxapTave  I  i>v  avr  OKar  a.Kp  n os.  Perhaps  the  last  word 
signifies  "  taking  on  himself  to  condemn  others "  rather  than  "  self- 
condemned." 

'  2  IVtcr  ii.  1  :  olrivts  irapdaa^ovcriv  aipecreis  airuKfias  ....  ^iro- 
yovres  (avTo7s  raxtv^v  aTrdKeiay.  (,)ur  translators  seem  to  have  been  led 
bv  the  clear  meaning  of  the  word  a7rw\eiav  to  give  the  Hebraistic  genitive 
airwKfias  the  objective  sense,  "  damnable  lieresies."  This  may  be  the 
meaning,  but  that  given  in  the  text  seems  preferable.  Paul  describes  the 
"  JIan  of  sin"  of  the  great  apostasy  .as  6  vlhs  ttjj  airaiKelas  (2  Thoss.  ii.  3). 


52  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II. 

prophets  "  and  "  many  antichrists  "  of  his  age.*  With  those  who  held 
this  error  be  refused  even  the  intercourse  of  social  lil'c.^  But  the  "  false 
teachings,"  "  the  spirit  of  error,  which  made  them  believe  a  lie,"  so 
vehemently  denounced  by  the  Apostles,  involved  false  rules  of  prac- 
tical life,  such  as  the  self-willed  asceticism  which  Paul  condemns,' 
and  a  subversion  of  moral  restraints,  borrowed,  in  the  name  of 
Christian  liberty,  from  the  profligate  Greeks  and  Hellenists,  espe- 
cially in  Asia.  The  denunciations  of  this  evil  throughout  Paul's 
Epistles  are  summed  up  in  his  description  of  the  unbelievers,  whose 
"  very  mind  and  conscience  is  defiled,"  who  profess  that  they  know 
God,  but  in  works  deny  Him,  being  alxmiinable  and  disobedient, 
and  unto  every  good  work  reprobate.*  These  moral  corruptions  are 
marked,  alike  by  Paul  and  Peter,  John  and  Jude,  as  indeed  they 
had  been  by  Christ  himself,  as  the  type  and  foretaste  of  the  un- 
bridled jirofligacy  of  the  last  days,  the  "  perilous  times  "  of  the  great 
"  apostasy  "  and  "  mystery  of  iniquity."  *  And,  as  the  heresies  of 
the  apostolic  age  are  thus  distinctly  described  as  the  beginnings 
and  types  of  all  that  were  ever  to  spring  up,  so  was  it  as  clearly 
taught  that  their  end  was  not  to  be  expected  till  the  final  coming 
of  Christ  to  destroy  all  offences  out  of  his  kingdom."  He  Himself 
taught  this,  with  the  practical  lesson  against  those  attempts  of 
mistaken  zeal  to  weed  out  the  "  tares,"  which,  in  every  age  of  the 
Church,  have  had  for  their  chief  result  the  "pulling  up  of  the 
wheat."  Thus  is  persecution  rebuked,  while  opposition  to  heresy, 
by  discipline  as  well  as  argument,  is  enforced  by  the  teaching  and 
example  of  the  Apostles. 

§  18.  That  persecution  was  permitted  as  a  check  upon  corruption 
in  the  Church,  is  taught  by  Christ  himself  and  the  Apostles ; '  and 
the  time  marked  by  the  corruptions  now  described  is  also  that  of 

»  1  John  iv.  1-3 ;  2  John  7-10. 

2  It  may  be  doubted  whether  this  passage  was  really  illustrated  by,  or 
only  suggested,  the  traditions  respecting  the  Apostle's  conduct  towards  an 
heretical  leader,  either  Cerinthus,  according  to  Eusebius  and  Irenaeus,  or 
Ebion,  according  to  Epiphanius.  The  story  is  that  John  refused  to  be  in 
the  baths  of  Ephesus  with  the  heretic,  lest  the  roof  should  fall  and  crush  them. 

3  1  Tim.  iv.  1. 

■•  Titus  i.  If}.  The  last  epithet  is  aSSKifioi  (i.  c.  those  who  do  not  stand 
the  test),  the  exact  opposite  to  the  S6Ktfx.oi,  whose  stedtastness  is  approved 
amidst  prevailing  heresies  (1  Cor.  xi.  19). 

»  2  Thess.  ii.;  2  Tim.  iii.  1  ;  1  John  ii.  18  ;  Jude,  18;  Rev.  ii.  20,  f. 
Besides  this  allusion  to  "  Jczei)el,"  the  "  doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitans " 
(Rev.  ii.  6,  15)  is  supposed  to  denote  one  of  the  immoral  heresies. 

*  1  Thess.  ii.  8 ;  Matt.  xiii.  28-:t0,  ^^8-^•.i.  There  is  a  strange  self-con- 
demning irony  in  the  choice  of  this  figure  by  medieval  zealots,  to  describe 
the  objects  of  their  persecution,  and  especially  the  English  Lollards. 

'  Sec  several  passages  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the  First  Epistle 
of  Petei',and  the  Epistles  in  Rev.  ii.,iii.,  all  addressed  to  persecuted  churches. 


A.D.  G5.  THE  PERSECUTION  OF  NERO.  53 

the  First  Great  Persecution  by  tlie  civil  power  of  Rome.  Special 
attention  is  due  to  the  causes  which  led  Nero  to  depart  from  that 
steady  Roman  policy  of  religious  toleration,  which  had  been  exem- 
plitied  by  Gallio  at  Corinth,  and  to  which  Paul  had  not  appealed 
in  vain  at  Caesar's  own  tribunal.  That  toleration  was  only  granted 
on  the  condition  of  respect  for  the  national  religion  of  Rome, 
with  which  the  sole  deity  of  Jehovah  and  the  abhorrence  of 
idolatry  were  inconsistent.  The  peculiar  rites  of  the  Jews,  and 
their  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  brought  this  irreconcilable  cha- 
racter of  their  religion  into  prominence.  Their  turbulence,  both  in 
Judea  and  the  great  cities  where  they  were  numerous,  and  their 
frequent  outbreaks,  often  provoked  by  their  Greek  enemies,  caused 
them  to  be  regarded  as  a  constant  source  of  disquiet  to  the  govern- 
ment. The  Christians  suffered  their  full  share  of  this  odium  as  a 
Jewish  sect,  all  the  more  from  the  dislike  with  which  the  Jews 
were  seen  to  regard  them ;  and  they  were  viewed  with  peculiar 
hatred  as  the  adherents  of  a  ringleader  of  Jewish  sedition  and  a 
crucified  malefactor.^  Their  uncompromising  rejection  of  the 
national  gods  was  hateful  to  the  idolatrous  common  people  and  a 
kind  of  treason  in  the  eyes  of  statesmen ;  while  the  jjliilosophic 
unbelievers  in  the  heathen  gods  disliked  still  more  a  spiritual 
religion,  which  taught  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  resurrection 
of  the  body,  and  a  state  of  future  retribution.  These  feelings  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  words  of  Christ  and  his  Apostle  :  "  \'e  sliall  be 
hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake :" — "  We  are  made  as  the  filth 
of  the  earth,  and  are  the  offscouring  of  all  things  unto  this  day."  ^ 

We  have  seen  that  each  fresh  Jewish  outbreak,  in  Judea,  at 
Alexandria,  or  elsewhere,  was  wont  to  be  the  signal  for  new  mea- 
sures against  the  Jews  at  Rome.  Now  it  happened  that  Gessius 
Florus,  the  new  procurator  of  Judea,  began  that  climax  of  oppres- 
sion, which  provoked  the  great  Jewish  rebellion,  at  the  very  time 
when  Rome  was  burnt  down  under  Nero.*  The  popular  voice 
ascribed  the  fire  to  the  emperor's  insane  caprice ;  and,  when  the 
bribery  of  large  donatives  and  the  parade  of  propitiatory  religious 
services  had  failed  to  allay  the  suspicion,  Nero  sought  a  scape-goat 
in  the  most  despised  sect  of  the  hated  Jews.  "  In  order,"  says 
Tacitus,  "  to  put  down  the  rumour,  he  set  up  as  objects  of  accusa- 

'  This  feelintj  is  seen  in  the  notices  of  Tacitus  and  Suetonius. 

"^  1  Cor.  iv.  i.3.  These  words  of  Paul  are  literally  echoed  by  Tacitus  in 
his  account  of  the  origin  of  Christianity,  and  its  s^rowth  at  Rome,  "  quo 
cuneta  undique  atrocia  aut  pudenda  confluunt  celebranturque  "  (.Inn.  sv. 
44).  For  an  expression  of  liis  dislike  ami  contempt  of  tlie  Jews,  whom  he 
calls  "  tetcrrimam  tjentem"  see  his  /fist.  v.  8. 

*  Gessius  Florus  became  Procurator  of  .ludea  about  Midsummer,  G4,  and 
the  great  Hre  of  Rome  was  on  July  19th-24th  of  that  year. 


64  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  U. 

tion  and  punishment  those  whom,  already  hated  for  their  wickedness, 
the  people  called  Christians.  This  name  was  derived  from  one 
Chbistus,  who  was  executed  in  the  reign  of  Tiljerius  by  Pontius 
Pilate,  the  procurator  of  Judea  ;  and  this  accursed  superstition,  re- 
pressed for  the  moment,  broke  out  again,  not  only  through  Judea,  the 
source  of  tlie  mischief,  but  also  through  the  city,  whither  all  things 
outrageous  and  shameful  flow  together  and  find  many  adherents. 
Accordingly  those  were  first  arrested  who  confessed,*  afterwards 
a  vast  number  upon  their  information,  who  were  convicted,  not 
reallj''  on  the  chargQ  of  causing  the  fire,  but  rather  for  their  hatred 
to  the  human  race.^  Mockeries  were  added  to  their  death  :  such  as 
that  they  were  wrapped  in  the  skins  of  wild  beasts  and  torn  to  pieces 
by  dogs, or  crucified,  or  set  on  fire  and  burnt,  when  the  daylight  failed, 
as  torches  to  light  up  the  night,*  Nero  had  lent  his  own  gardens 
for  the  spectacle,  and  he  gave  a  chariot-race,  in  which  he  was  seen 
mounted  on  his  car  or  mingling  with  the  people  in  the  dress  of  a 
charioteer.  As  the  result  of  all,  a  feeling  of  compassion  arose  for 
the  sufferers,  though  guilty  and  deserving  of  condign  punishment, 
yet  as  being  destroyed,  not  for  the  common  good,  but  to  satiate  the 
cruelty  of  one  man."  * 

Ecclesiastical  liistorians  mark  this  as  the  first  of  the  Ten  General 
Persecutions  of  the  Christians  by  Roman  Emperors.^  The  example 
set  by  the  emperor  in  the  capital  would  certainly  be  followed  in  the 
provinces  ;  and  the  Jews,  on  the  eve  of  their  own  great  catastrophe, 
seized  the  opportunity  for  renewing  their  charges  against  and 
assaults  upon  the  Christians,  'fhe  eminent  leaders,  instead  of 
merely  falling  victims  to  the  lawless  rage  of  the  Jews,  like  Stephen 
and  the  two  Apostles  James,  or  finding  refuge  under  the  Roman 
law,  like  Paul,  were  now  sought  out  and  carried  to  Rome  for  execu- 
tion. Such  was  the  fate  of  Paul,  whose  prospect  of  triumphant 
martyrdom  from  the  rage  of  the  imperial  lion  is  drawn  by  his  own 
hand  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  and  of  Pkter,  whose  First 
Epistle  bears  the  marks  of  being  written  to  strengthen  his  Christian 

'  This  clearly  means  their  confession  that  they  were  Christians,  not  that 
they  had  set  fire  to  the  city,  for  that  char£;e  is  immediately  afterwards 
declared  groundless  by  Tacitus  himself — "hand  perinde  in  crimine  in- 
cendii."  We  shall  soon  find  Pliny,  the  philosophic  friend  of  Tacitus, 
treating  the  mere  confession  of  the  ('hristian  name  as  a  sutKcient  ground 
for  a  capital  sentence,  in  the  persecution  under  Trajan. 

-  The  heathen  adversaries  constantly  charged  Christianity  with  being 
anti-social,  and  hostile  to  human  hai)piness. 

'  The  idea  seems  to  be  that  some  were  thus  made  living  torches  to  light 
up  the  agonies  of  the  other  sutl'crers,  when  the  spectacle  was  no  longer 
visible  through  the  fall  of  night. 

*  Tacit.  Ann.  xv.  44,  under  a.d.  65,  near  the  beginning  of  the  year. 

*  See  Notes  and  Illustrations  (A). 


A.D.  70.  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  56 

brethren  of  the  Jewish  Dispersion  under  a  general  persecution. 
Clement  of  liome,  the  earliest  of  the  "  Apostolic  Fathers  "  (those 
writers  who  had  intercourse  with  the  Apostles),  testifying  to  the 
martyrdom  of  Paul  and  I'eter,  adds  that  their  fate  was  shared  by 
"a  great  multitude  of  the  elect,  who,  suffering  many  insults  and 
torments  througli  the  envy  of  their  adversaries,  left  the  most  glorious 
example  among  us."'  The  general  character  of  Nero's  persecution 
is  also  testified  by  Eusebius  and  Lactantius  in  the  fourth  century, 
and  by  Orosius  in  the  fifth ;  and  Sulpicius  iSeverus  (about  the  saiue 
time)  says  that  the  Christian  religion  was  forbidden  by  laws  and 
public  edicts,  adding  the  circumstance,  which  fixes  the  date,  that, 
while  these  things  were  done  at  Konie,  the  Jews  began  their  rebel- 
lion, provoked  by  the  outrages  of  Gessius  Florus.^ 

§  19.  The  unexampled  horrors  of  the  Jewish  War,  and  its  climax 
in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus  (a.d.  70),  were  the  first 
fulfilment  of  Christ's  great  prophecy  of  His  coming  to  put  an  end  to 
the  Jewish  dispensation,  that  IIis  kingdom  on  earth  miglit  be 
entrusted  only  to  the  Christian  Church,  which  was  built  up  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Jewish.  Or  rather,  to  use  a  truer  figure,^  as  the  Christian 
religion  and  Ciiurch  wore  wholly  a  development  of  the  Jewish,  the 
old  dispensation  fell  to  the  ground  and  died,  like  a  seed,  m  order 
that  the  New  might  bring  forth  the  fruit  predicted  by  its  Lord.* 
The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  marks  the  epoch  at  which  Christianity 
emerged  from  its  initiatory  stage,  with  a  church  completely  organised, 
and  numbering  converts  through  the  whole  Roman  Empire,  and 
even  beyond  its  borders  to  the  East,  to  replace  Judaism  as  the 
witness  for  the  one  true  God.  So  clearly  did  the  Christians  of 
Jerusalem  themselves  see  this  significance  of  their  Lord's  prophecy, 
that  they  retired  from  the  Holy  City  before  its  investment  by  Titus, 
and  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  (as  it  was  still  called)  had  its  seat  at 
Pella,  a  village  of  the  Decapolis,  beyond  the  Jordan,'*  till  Hadrian 
permitted  them  to  return  to  what  was  no  longer  the  Jewish  capital, 
but  the  Roman  city  of  Aelia  Capitolina  (a.d.  13G).^  The  spiritual 
Zion  had  replaced  the  material  city  of  Uavid. 

*  Clemens  Romanus,  F.pist.  T.  ad  Corinfhlos,  5. 

'  The  government  of  Gessius  Florus  began  (as  above  stated)  in  A.D.  64-, 
and  the  Jews  broke  out  into  open  rebellion  in  a.d.  66. 
^  John  xii.  '24.  *  Matt.  xxi.  43. 

*  Kuseb.  //.  E.  in.  5  ;  Epiphan.  Jlirr.  xxix.  7  ;  de  Mens,  et  Pond.  15. 
The  latter  writer  savs  that  a  Christian  Church  was  soon  gathered  again 
ami<lst  the  ruins  of 'Jerusalem,  under  Simeon,  a  relative  of  Jesus  Christ; 
and  he  adds  the  marvel,  that  the  little  house  formerly  used  by  the  Church  of 
Jerusalem  was  one  of  the  few  buildings  spared  by  Titus. 

*  The  old  name  of  Jerusalem  was  only  revived  by  Constantine.  During 
the  interval  we  find  mention  of  bishops  of  Pella  ;  but  afterwards  they 
become  again  bishops  of  Jerusalem. 


56  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap.  II. 

§  20.  The  prolonged  life  of  the  Apostle  John,  and  the  writings  of 
his  wliich  we  possess  in  the  New  Testament,*  continue  the  apostolic 
age  for  a  generation  beyond  the  epoch  of  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  The 
disci])le  distinguished  by  liis  Master's  s])ecial  love  was  distinguished 
also  by  surviving  his  Lord's  coming,-  that  he  might  be  a  witness 
to  Christianity  in  the  new  light  thrown  upon  it  by  that  event. 
Accordingly,  in  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  form  and  worship 
of  the  destroyed  temple  are  transferred  to  a  heavenly  sanctuary,  in 
the  midst  of  which  the  slain  and  risen  Clirist  is  enthroned,  to  receive 
the  worship  of  the  t,wenty-four  elders,  the  joint  number  of  the  tribes 
of  Israel  and  "  tlie  Apostles  of  the  Lamb,"  of  the  "sealed"  elect, 
symbolised  in  like  manner  by  the  144,000  of  every  tribe,  and  of  "  a 
great  multitude,  which  no  man  could  number,  of  all  nations,  and 
kindreds,  and  peoples,  and  tongues" — th.e  members  of  the  universal 
church — clothed  with  white  robes,  the  signs  of  their  salvation  by 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  carrying  palms  as  emblems  of  their 
victory  in  the  conflict  with  the  world  and  persecution.  Round  this 
temple  of  the  Christian  Church  are  grouped  a  succession  of  scenes — 
properly  so  called,  for  they  are  displayed  pictorially,  as  was  often 
the  case  in  Hebrew  prophecy — which  unfold  the  future  history  of 
the  Church,  in  a  mystery  only  to  be  understood  as  the  time  of  its 
fulfilment  draws  near.  Finally,  the  temple  and  city  of  God,  the 
new  Jerusalem,  comes  down  from  heaven  in  full  glory,  signifying 
the  revelation  of  the  pure  and  perfect  Church,  and  all  ends  with  the 
consummation  of  judgment  and  the  bliss  of  the  redeemed. 

This  vision  belongs  to  a  time  of  persecution,  by  many  internal 
marks,  as  well  as  by  the  express  statement  of  the  introductory 
Epistle  to  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia :  "  1  John,  who  am  also  your 
brother,  and  companion  in  tribulation  and  in  the  kingdom  and  in 
patience,  in  Jesus  Christ,  was  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for 
the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ."  *  The 
writer  of  these  words  was  clearly  exiled  as  a  confessor  to  this  rocky 
isle  of  the  Icarian  sea,  at  a  season  of  general  persecution  ;  but  not  a 
hint  is  given  by  himself  of  the  time  and  cause,  which  were  well 
known  to  those  whom  he  addressed.  Yet  something  may  be  learnt 
from  internal  evidence.  He  writes  to  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia, 
with  Ephcsns  at  their  head,  as  one  who  well  knew  their  state  from 
having  laboured  among  them  and  having  sliarod  the  very  persecu- 
tion to  which  they  were  still  subject.  Now  the  concurrent  testi- 
mony of  ecclesiastical  writers  connects  John  with  the  Church  of 
Ephesus  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  not  a  trace  of  any  such 

'  Even  if  the  earlier  date  of  the  Apocalypse  were  admitted,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  bring  the  Epistles  and  Gospels  within  the  limit  of  A.n.  70. 
•^  John  xxi.  20-23  :  "  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come."  '  Rev.  i.  9. 


A.D.  96.  DOMITIAN'S  PERSECUTION.  57 

connection  till  after  the  final  removal  of  Paul  by  his  arrest  ami 
martjTclom.'  These  considerations  seem  to  exclude  the  Neroniau 
persecution,  in  which  also  John  would  surely  have  shared  the  fate 
of  I'aul  and  Peter,  not  the  milder  sentence  of  banishment.^  The 
few  late  and  obscure  ancient  testimonies,  which  place  John's  banish- 
ment to  Patmos  under  Nero,  could  never  have  been  followed,  but 
for  the  sake  of  the  theory  which  places  the  Apocalypse  before  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  makes  its  prophecies  refer  to  that 
catastrophe,  to  which  assuredly  they  cannot  be  limited. 

Coming  down  from  such  mere  hypotheses  to  the  firm  ground  of 
testimony,  its  whole  weight  is  in  favour  of  a  new  persecution  under 
Domitian,  who  banished  John  from  his  pastoral  work  at  Ejihesus 
to  forced  labour  in  the  quarries  of  Patmos,  shortly  before  the 
emperor's  own  death  in  a.d.  96.  'j'he  main  facts  are  agi-eed  upon 
by  Irenaius,  Eusebius,  and  Jerome ;  and  the  testimony  of  the  first, 
who  was  the  disciple  of  Polycarp,  the  disciple  of  John,  seems  deci- 
sive. He  says  that  the  Apocalypse  "  was  seen  no  very  long  time  ago, 
but  almost  in  our  own  generation,  at  the  close  of  Domitian's  reign  " ; 
and  no  writer  of  the  first  three  centuries  gives  any  other  date. 

The  great  writer,  who  continues  Poman  history  after  Tacitus,' 
says  that  Domitian  put  to  death  the  consul,  Fabius  Clemens,  and 
banished  his  wife,  Flavia  Domitilla,  to  the  island  of  Pandateria 
(though  both  were  of  his  own  kindred)  on  the  charge  of  atheism — 
that  is,  of  refusing  to  worship  the  gods  of  Rome  :  and  that  many 
others  were  condemned  on  the  same  charge,  because  they  turned 
aside  to  the  customs  of  the  Jews  ;  and  some  were  put  to  death,  and 
others  were  deprived  of  their  property.*  The  Christians  were  still 
regarded  as  a  Jewish  sect ;  and  Eusebius  expressly  reckons  these 

*  It  must  be  remembered  that,  besides  the  statement  of  ecclesiastical 
writers  that  Paul  was  arrested  at  Ephesus,  his  Epistles  to  Timothy  bring 
down  his  onnection  with  the  Asiatic  churches  to  the  very  eve  of  his 
martyrdom  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  account  for  his  silence  about  John 
if  John  had  been  already  among  those  churches.  It  is  also  to  be  observed 
how  perfectly  the  tenor  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches  presents  a 
development  of  their  state  as  described  in  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy. 
(See  the  .V.  T.  Hid.,  p.  528,  note  83.) 

*  Some  such  consideration  seems  to  have  given  rise  to  the  fable  related 
by  Tertullian,  that  Nero  caused  John  to  be  placed  in  a  caldron  of  boiling 
oil,  but  it  had  no  power  to  hurt  him.  Augustine  also  tells  of  his  drinking 
poison  unharmed.  There  was  evidently  an  idea  that  he  bore  a  charmed 
life,  founded  on  that  very  misinterpretation  of  Christ's  words,  against  which 
John  had  himself  ])rotested  (John  kx\.  23). 

'  Dion  Cassius  lived  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  and  the  early  part 
of  the  third  centuries,  and  wrote  a  History  of  Rome  from  the  beginning  to 
the  year  of  his  own  second  consulship,  A.D.  229.  Most  of  it  is  preserved 
only  in  the  Epitome  of  Xiphilinus. 

*  Xiphilin.  Ejiit.  Dion.  Ciiss.  l.xvii.  14. 


58  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  Chap:  II. 

sufferers  as  Christians.^  Others  add  that  Domitian  caused  search 
to  be  made  in  Palestine  for  the  posterity  of  David  (as  his  father 
Vespasian  had  already  done),  and  that,  in  consequence,  the  grand- 
children of  Judas,  the  brother  of  Christ,  were  brougiit  before  the 
emperor."  AVhethcr  these  details  are  wholly  trustworthy  or  not, 
here  is  sufficient  evidence  of  a  persecution  of  Christianity  by  Domi- 
tian, on  the  twofold  ground  of  the  perversion  of  eminent  Romans  to 
the  "  Jewish  superstition,"  and  of  the  suspicious  tyrant's  fear  of 
new  troubles  in  Judea.  Ecclesiastical  uritcrs  reckon  this  as  the 
Second  General  Persecution. 

That  the  vile  informers  who  served  Domitian  had  made  the  charge 
of  Judaizing  a  common  weapon  of  that  tyranny  and  extortion,  which 
.Tacitus  so  vividly  describes,  is  proved  by  the  distinct  record  of 
Nei^va's  abolition  of  such  accusations,  which  is  commemorated  by  a 
coin  of  the  Senate.^  Nerva's  dismissal  of  the  accused,  and  recal  of 
those  exiled  on  the  charge  of  atheism,  agrees  with  the  ecclesiastical 
tradition  of  John's  return  to  Ephesus,  where  he  died  in  extreme  old 
age.*  His  special  advocacy  of  the  truth  respecting  the  person  of 
Christ,  as  the  Woed  of  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  gained  him  the 
title  of  Theologus.  Finally,  his  Gospel,  written  to  supplement  the 
other  three,  completed  the  body  of  apostolic  and  inspired  Christian 
literature ;  and  his  own  attestation  puts  him  in  tlie  very  first 
place  among  those  who  hav.e  handed  down  to  us  their  testimony 
as  eye-witnesses  to  the  facts  of  Christianity  : — "  This  is  the  disciple 
which  testifieth  of  these  things,  and  wrote  these  things,  and  we 
know  that  his  testimony  is  true."  ^ 

'  Euseb.  Chron.  s.  01.  218  ;  //.  E.  iii.  18,  §  2 ;  Hieron.  Epist.  86  (or  27) 
ad  Eustochium.  -  Hegesipp.  ap.  Euseb.  JI.  E.  iii.  12,  20. 

3  "Fisci  Judaici  caUnnnia  sublata."  Eckhel,  vol.  vi.  p.  405.  Xiphilin. 
Epit.  Dion.  Cass.  Ixviii.  1. 

*  The  dates  assigned  to  his  death  ran^e  from  A.n.  89  to  a.d.  120. 

'^  John  xxi.  24,  comp.  xix.  3");  and  1  John  i.  1-3.  For  what  is  known 
of  the  labours  of  the  remaining  Apostles  and  Evangelists,  and  the  extent  of 
ground  over  which  Christianity  had  spread  in  the  Apostolic  age,  see  Notes 
and  Illustrations  (B). 

NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


(A.)     THE  TKX  GKNERAL    PERSE- 
CUTIONS. 

The  following  are  the  Ten  Great  Perse- 
cutions of  the  Christians  by  tlie  lieathen 
Koinan  Emperors,  as  reckoned  by  ecclesi- 
astical historians.  How  far  they  are  pro- 
perly called  general  *  is  considered  as  we 
come  to  each. 

•  The  word  rmmd,  in  this  connection,  is  eqnlvn- 
Icnt  to  t!»«-'  (Wiiso  in  which  certain  Councilfl  are 
spoken  of  «^  tjryimtt  or  ircummical,  from  the  iiao  of 
the  word  oi<cou)X€'n)  to  signify  the  Bomatt  Em- 
pire, aa  in  Luke  ii.  1. 


I.  By  yero;  beginning  A.n.  64. 
II.  By  Domitian ;  ;i.n.  95-96. 

III.  By  Trajan;  a.d.  lOti-HT. 

IV.  liy  Marcus  Aureli us;  a.d.  166-177. 
V.  By  Severus ;  A.v.  202,  and  onwards. 

VI.  KyJUaximin;  a.d.  235. 

VII.  By  Vecius;  a.d.  250-251 ;  continued 

under  Gallus ;  a.d.  251-253. 
VIII.  By  VaUrian;  a.d.  258-260. 
I.X.  By  Aurelian  ;  a.d.  275. 
X.  By  Diochtian  &uA  Muximian  ;  a.d. 
303-305;  continued  by  Galerius 
and  Maximin  to  a.d.  311. 


Chap.  II. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


B.  THE  RECORDS  OF  THE  APOS- 
TOLIC CHURCH  OUTSIDE  OF  THE 
NEW  TESTAMENT. 

I.  Firft,  to  sum  up  the  records  of  the 
New  Testament  itself,  there  is  specific 
mention  of  the  following  churches,  hesides 
indirect  allusions  to  others  in  the  several 
provinces  named. 

1.  In  Palestine,  at  Jerusalem,  Lydda, 
Sharon,  Joi>i)a,  Ca-sarea,  and  (as  it  clearly 
implied),  at  Samaria,  besides  probably 
others  included  in  the  general  term  "the 
churches  of  Judea." 

2.  In  I'hrenicia,  at  Tj're  and  Ptolemais 
(the  ancient  Acco  and  the  St.  Jean  d'Acre 
of  medie\al  and  modern  history). 

3.  In  Syria,  at  Antiwh  and  Damascus ; 
and  from  the  latter  city  Paul  went  and 
preached  among  the  Arabian  subjects  of 
King  .Aretas. 

4.  Cilicia,  which  was  more  closely  con- 
nected with  Syria  than  with  Asia  Minor 
within  the  Taurus,  was  one  of  the  earliest 
scenes  of  Paul's  labours  (Gal.  i.  21),  and 
"the  churches  of  Cilicia"  are  expressly 
mentioned  in  Acts  xv. 

5.  In  Cyprus,  Paul  and  Barnabas  doubt- 
less founded  churches  at  the  two  cities  of 
Salamis  and  Paphos ;  and  the  last  mention 
of  Barnabas  shows  him  renewing  his 
work  in  the  island,  after  his  separation 
from  Paul. 

6.  In  Asia  Minor  (within  Taurus)  four 
groups  of  churches  are  to  be  noticed  :— 
(1)  Those  planted  by  Paul  and  Barnabas 
in  the  wild  regions  of  I'isidia  and  J.y- 
cannia,  at  Antioch,  Iconiuni,  Derbe,  and 
Lystra.  (2)  The  churches  of  Calatia, 
founded  by  Paul  in  his  second  tour.  (3) 
The  famous  churches  of  Asia,  the  fruit 
chiefly  of  Paul's  labours  at  Ephesus  during 
his  third  circuit,  namely,  those  at  Ephe- 
sus, Smyriip.  Pergamus,  Thyatira,  Sardis, 
Philadelphia,  Alexandria  Troas,  with  those 
of  I'hrygia,  reckoned  as  belonging  to 
Asia,  at  Colossa;  and  Laodicea.  (4)  To 
these  must  be  added  the  churches  of  "  the 
Dispersion"  in  the  other  provinces  of 
Asia  Jlinor,  to  whom  Peter  addresses  his 
first  Epistle,  namely  (besides  Galatia  and 
Asia),  Pontus,  Cappadocia,  and  Bithynia. 

The  fact  that  churches  were  planted 
over  the  whole  of  .Asia  Jlinor  (I.ycia  and 
Caria  being  the  only  provinces  in  which 
no  churches  are  named),  alike  among  the 
Hellenistic  Jews  of   the   dispersion,  the 


Hellenized  natives  of  all  Eastern  races, 
and  the  Celtic  Galatians,  is  verj'  significant. 
The  soil  where  the  greatest  mUture  of 
races  was  gathered  in  a  narrow  compass 
received  most  readily  the  seed  of  the  faith 
designed  for  all  kindreds  of  mankind,  in- 
termixed, however,  with  Oriental  ideas; 
and  the  free  spirit  of  Hellenic  civilization 
proved  more  congenial  to  the  Gospel  than 
the  exclusive  ness  either  of  the  Jewish  reli- 
gion or  of  the  proud  Roman  supremacy. 
And  the  civic  constitution,  which  the 
Greek  cities  retained  in  their  internal 
affairs,  made  them  the  fit  seats  of  religious 
communities  which  were  independent  of 
the  political  society  amid.st  which  they 
lived.  Besides,  the  strong  Jewish  element 
in  these  cities  (in  spite  of  the  unbelief  of 
the  niiijority)  furnished  everywhere  a  nu- 
cleus of  the  Christian  Church.  In  iastem 
Kurope  there  was  the  same  Hellenism 
infused  with  a  .Jewish  leaven. 

7.  In  ilacedonia,  Paul  founded  churches 
at  the  colony  of  Philippi,  at  the  port  of 
Thessalonica,  and  at  Beroea.  The  exist- 
ence of  other  churches  may  be  inferred 
with  probability  from  the  allusions  to  the 
churches  of  Macedonia.  (2  Cor.  viii.  1,  ix. 
2  ;  Rom.  XV.  26.) 

8.  In  Greece  (the  province  of  Achaia), 
besides  the  famous  church  at  Corinth  and 
that  at  Athens,  the  existence  of  others  is 
attested  by  the  Epistle  addressed  to  them. 
(2  Cor.  i.  ],  viii.  ],  ix.  2  ;  Rom.  xv.  26  ) 

9.  In  Crete,  the  existence  of  several 
churches  is  testified  by  the  Epistle  to 
Titus.  The  Epistle  also  alludes  to  the 
labours  of  ApoUos  in  Crete  (Til.  lii.  13). 
In  the  Post-ApostoUc  age,  the  principal 
church  in  Crete  was  at  Go  tyna. 

10.  On  his  third  circuit,  Paul  went  on 
from  Macedonia  to  the  shores  of  the  Adri- 
atic, and  he  distinctly  marks  his  labours 
in  niyricum  as  completiny  the  extension 
of  the  Gospel  through  the  eastern  part  of 
the  empire  to  its  western  limit.  (Rom.  xv. 
19;  conip.  "those  parts"  in  Acts  xxi.  2.) 
I'he  existence  of  churches  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood is  implied  in  his  mention  of 
Titus's  visit  to  Dalmatia.    (2  Tim.  iv.  10.)  ' 

11.  Rome  closes  the  list,  as  the  only 
church  known  as  yet  in  the  western  part 
of  the  Empire. 

12.  That  Peter,  in  the  discharge  of  his 
special  mission  to  open  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  passed  bej-ond  the  limits  of  Cajsar's 
rule  into  the  rival  empire  of  Parthia 
(perhaps  as  a  refuge  from  persecution)  is 
quite  clear  if  we  accept  in  its  literal  sense 
the  name  of   the'  place  from   which  he 


60 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Chap.  II. 


wrote  his  First  Epistle,  Babylon,  where  the 
Jews  of  the  Eastern  Dispersion  were  nu- 
merous and  wealthy,  and  maintained  inter- 
course with  those  both  of  Asia  Minor  and 
Judea.    (See  iV.  T.  Hist.,  ch.  xix.  $  16.) 

Among  the  "  devout  Jews,  out  of  every 
nation  under  heaven,"  who  were  at  Jeru- 
salem and  heard  the  preaching  of  Peter 
on  the  great  day  of  Pentecost,  those 
of  fifteen  nations  and  provinces  are  men- 
tioned by  name.  Eight  of  the  fifteen  are 
afterwards  conspicuous  in  tlie  apostolic 
history ;  namely,  besides  Rome  and  Judcea 
itself,  and  Ci-ete  and  Arabia,  there  are 
three  of  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor 
which  were  special  seats  of  Paul's  work, 
Asia,  Phrygia,  and  Pamphylia,  and  two 
which  are  named  in  Peter's  Epistle,  Cap- 
padocia  and  Pontus.  In  connection  with 
these,  and  at  the  head  of  the  whole  list, 
stand  the  Parthians,  and  Medes,  and 
Elamites,  and  dwellers  in  Mesopotamia, 
that  is,  the  whole  region  of  the  Tigris 
and  Euphrates  and  the  bordering  lands 
to  the  east,  which  formed  the  chief  part 
of  the  Parthian  Empire.  These  lands, 
so  famous  in  Jewish  history,  were  the 
abodes  of  whatever  remnants  were  left  of 
the  great  captivities  of  Israel ;  and  thus 
it  would  seem  that  the  first  preaching  of 
Christianity  embraced  all  sections  of  the 
race. 

13.  The  remaining  coimtries  in  the  list 
are  Kgypt  and  the  parts  of  Libya  about 
Cyrene.  These  regions  of  Africa,  now 
included  in  the  Roman  Empire,  had  re- 
ceived a  strong  infusion  of  .Jewish  settlers, 
beginning  from  the  time  of  the  Babylonian 
captivity,  and  increased  during  the  period 
of  the  Hellenistic  nile. 

14.  Proceeding  to  the  southernmost  parts 
of  Africa,  as  then  known,  the  E;unuch  con- 
verted by  Philip  carried  the  Gospel  to 
Ethiopia,  that  is,  the  kingdom  of  Meroe.^ 

II.  Passing  from  the  Sacred  History 
to  the  traditions  of  the  Church,  we  are  at 
once  warned  of  the  doubtful  and  often 
plainly  treacherous  ground,  by  such  stories 
as  that  the  Apostles  cast  lots  to  decide 
the  countries  to  whicli  they  should  sever- 
ally go  from  Jerusalem ;  that,  before  they 
separated,  they  joined  in  drawing  up  the 
symbol  of  faith  called  the  Apostles'  Creed  ; 
and  that  they  were  all  unmarried ;  not  to 
recur  to  the  other  special  fables  about 
Peter.  But  there  are  some  traditions  about 
their  labours  in  the  diffusion  of  the  Church 
which  deserve  more  respect  from  their 
antiquity. 


Within  the  limits  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, the  Apostle  Philip  is  said  to  have 
spent  his  last  years  at  Hierapolis  in 
Phrygia;*  and  the  foundation  of  the 
important  Church  of  AUxandria,  in 
Egypt,  is  ascribed  to  Jons  Mark,  the 
Evangelist  and  the  companion  of  Barna- 
bas, Paul,  and  Peter.f  In  the  East, 
beyond  the  Empire,  Thomas  is  said  to 
have  preached  the  Gospel  in  Partkia,  and 
to  have  been  buried  at  P^dessa.J  It  is  not 
till  the  fourth  century  that  we  find  the 
tradition  of  this  Apostle's  preaching  in 
India,^  which  others  assign  to  Baktholo- 
MEw;||  while  the  more  usual  account 
makes  Armenia  the  scene  of  the  latter 
Apostle's  labours,  and  of  his  cruel  mar- 
tyrdom by  flaying  alive  and  crucifixion.^[ 
The  nations  beyond  the  eastern  border  of 
the  Empire  are  also  assigned  by  some  to 
Matthkw,** whom  the  prevailing  triidition 
sends  to  ..Ethiopia. if  The  confused  way  in 
which  the  several  traditions  assign  various 
countries  to  each  Apostle,  proves  how 
little  was  known  of  their  personal  history, 
or  of  the  steps  by  which  the  Church  was 
first  extended  to  the  remoter  regions.  It 
became  a  matter  of  national  pride  to  claim 
an  Apostolic  founder,  or  a  contemporary  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles,  for  the  Church  of 
every  country ;  and  some  of  the  most 
extravagant  of  these  claims  have  been 
perpetuated ;  as  in  the  honour  paid  in 
Spain  to  James,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  as 
Santiago  di  ComposteXla;  in  France,  to 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  as  Saint  Denys, 
whose  claim,  however,  is  disputed  on  be- 
half of  Lazarus,  Jlartha,  Mary  I\Iagdalene, 
and  others;  and  in  Russia,  to  St.  Andrew. 
The  conversion  of  Germany  was  ascribed 
to  Maternus,  Eucherius,  and  Valerius,  as 
legates  of  St.  Peter;  but  there  is  no 
evidence  that  Christianity  had  yet  reached 
the  "  barbarian  "  nations  of  Europe.JJ 


*  Polycrates  (alxint  a.d.  190)  np.  Enseb.  B.  E. 
iii.  31,  V.  24).  The  apocryphal  Ads  of  Philip 
are  full  of  the  wihlest  Icgemis. 

t  Euseh.  U.  F.  ii.  16.  t  Euseb.  iii.  1. 

§  Ucspeotinp  this,  and  the  '*  Syrian  Christians  of 
St.  Thoraas,"  un  the  Malal)ar  coast,  see  N.  T.  Hist., 
ch.  IX.  §  16.  Some  think  the  tradition  to  1)€  of 
Manicluean  origin,  aa  the  apocryphal  We/*  of 
Tho^nns  are  decidedly  Maiiiohreau.  See  Vliilo, 
Arlii  Tfinma  Atynnloli,  Lips.  1823. 

II  Euseb.  n.  E.  V.  10  :  lintinns.  F.  E.  x.  9.  The 
country  meant,  wtiirh  the  latter  writer  calls  Oiilfr 
liulin,  appears  from  his  description  to  be  the  part  of 
Arabia  nuw  called  Yfmni. 

t'  Assemann,  Hill.  Or.  iii.  2,  20. 

"*  Amhros.  in  Psalm,  xlv. 

tt  Socrates,  II.  E.  i.  19  ;  Knfin.  JI.  F.  %.  9. 

it  On  tlie  supposed  rase  of  the  British  lady 
named  Claudia,  see  the  Studml't  N.  T.  Jlitt.  p.  tj'iO, 
note. 


Koman  Catacombs.    Gallery  with  "  Loculi." 
noma  Sotterranea.) 


(From  Northcote's 


CHAPTER  III. 


AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS. 

FROM   NERVA   TO   COMMODUS,   CORRESPONDING   TO    THE    SECOND    CENTURY 
(A.D.    96-192.) 

§  1.  Character  of  the  Post-Apostolic  Church — The  Second  and  Third  Cen- 
turies the  age  of  Apologies  and  Fersecutions.  §  2.  Jewish  and  Heathen 
Hostility — Calumnies  against  the  Christians.  §  3.  Quiet  Rule  of  Nerva 
(A.D.  96-98)— Policy  of  Trajan  (a.d.  98-117) — His  Edict  against  Hlegal 
Societies — Pliny's  Account  of  Christianity  in  his  Correspondence  with 
Trajan — Its  resemblance  to  the  New  Testament  model — Trajan's  Rescript 
on  the  mode  of  dealing  with  the  Christians — The  Third  Persecution. 
§  4.  The  Protomartyr  Symeon,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem — Ignatius,  Bishop 
of  Antioch,  brought  before  Trajan  and  condemned  to  be  thrown  to  the 
lions  at  Rome — His  Journey  through  Asia  Minor,  and  his  Letters  to  the 
Churches — His  Martyrdom  at  the  Saturnalia.  §  5.  Popular  Rage 
against  the  Christians — Reign  of  Hadrian  (a.d.  117-138) — The  earliest 
Apologies,  by  Quadratus  and  Aristides  —  Hadrian's  mild  Rescript. 
§  6.  The  last  great  Revolt  of  the  Jews,  under  Akiba  and  Bar-cochab — 
Final  Desecration  of  Jerusalem  and  Severance  of  the  Jews  and  Christians. 
§  7.  Schism  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem — Sects  of  the  Kazareans,  the 
Ebionites,  and  the  Elcesaites — Rise  of  the  Ebionite  Gnosticism — The 
Fseudo-Clementines.   §  8.  Tolerant  Policy  of  Antoninus  Pius  (a.d.  138- 


62         AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.     Chax-  111. 

161)  ;  but  continued  popular  enmity — Conversion  and  Life  of  Justin 
Martyr — His  First  Apology,  addressed  to  Antoninus  Pius.  §  9.  Marcus 
AURELIUS  Antoninus  (a.D.  161-180) — His  Hatred  of  Christianity  as  a 
Philosopher  and  a  Ruler — The  Fourth  Persecution — Records  of  the  Cata- 
combs.    §  10.  The  Second  Ajyology  and  Martyrdom  of  Justin  Martyr 

Martyrdom   of  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis — Persecution    at    Smyrna, 

and  Martyrdom  of  Polycarp.  §11.  Persecution  in  Gaul — Origin  of 
the  Gallic  Church — Pothinus,  Bishop  of  Lyon — Letter  of  the  Churches 
of  Lyon  and  Vienne  relating  the  Martyrdoms  there.  §  12.  Legend  of  the 
"Thundering  Legion."  §  1.3.  Reign  of  Commodus  (a.d.  180-192) — 
Martyrdom  of  AppUonius.  §  14.  Extension  of  the  Church  throughout 
the  Empire  during  the  Second  Century — Evidence  of  a  British  Church 

Churches  in  the  East  beyond  the  Empire.     §  15.  Canon  of  the  New 

Testament  formed  in  the  Second  Century 

§  1.  With  the  close  of  tlic  New  Testament  records,  and  the 
death  of  the  last  surviving  Apostle,  the  History  of  the  Church 
passes  from  its  sacred  to  its  purely  human  phase.  The  miraculous 
gifts  which  attested  the  divine  mission  of  the  Aix)stles  cease ;  not 
indeed  by  any  formal  record  of  their  withdrawal,  but  by  the  clear 
evidence  that  they  were  possessed  no  longer.  But  those  iierraanent 
gifts  which  mark  the  true  spirit  of  Christ,  and  which  Paul  valued 
above  tongues  and  prophetic  powers,  remain  with  the  Church.  It 
preserves,  during  the  second  and  third  centuries,  a  prevailing 
character  of  purity,  zeal  in  the  defence  and  propagation  of  the 
truth,  and  freedom  from  a  worldly  si)irit.  A  constant  conflict  is 
maintained,  by  arguments  based  on  Scripture  and  reason,  both  with 
Jewish  and  heathen  adversaries,  and  with  the  corruptions  and  heresies 
tliat  sprang  up  within  the  Church ;  and  the  eflbrts  of  heathen  rulers 
to  root  out  the  new  faith  are  met  by  constancy  under  persecution. 

These  two  centuries  are  eminently  the  age  of  Apologies  and  Per- 
secutions ;  the  age  in  which  the  truths  of  Christianity  were  defended 
by  its  teachers,  and  attested  by  its  martyrs  ;  for  it  had  become  as 
needful  to  refute  calumny  as  to  bear  suffering  and  death, 

§  2.  After  the  severance  made  between  Jews  and  Christians  by 
the  vast  increase  of  Gentile  converts  and  by  the  fall  of  Jerusalem, 
the  Christians  were  still  in  the  peculiar  position  of  being  obnoxious 
both  to  Jews  and  heathens,  alike  for  their  separation  from  Judaism 
and  for  their  connection  with  it.  They  were  still  commonly  regarded 
by  the  heathen  as  a  Jewish  sect ;  but  peculiar  hostility  was  excited  by 
a  religion,  which  was  seen  not  to  be  national,  but  to  claim  universal 
allegiance.  In  the  eyes  of  the  rulers,  the  Christian  churches  were  a 
new°form  of  the  dangerous  "illegal  associations"  ;  while  both  rulers 
and  people  were  moved  to  hatred  by  calumnies  which  arose  from 
misunderstanding  of  the  Christian  doctrine  and  worship.  The  secresy 


A.D.  96.  JEWISH  AND  HEATHEN  HOSTlLlXy.  63 

which  persecution  imposed  upon  their  meetings  was  at  once  a  source 
of  suspicion  and  an  opjx)rtunity  for  the  misrepresentations  of  in- 
formers ;  and  in  spreading  such  calumnies  the  Jews  found  a  grati- 
fication of  their  malignant  envy  of  the  Christians.^  The  fragments 
of  information  obtained  by  the  curiosity  of  heathen  masters  from 
their  Christian  slaves  must  have  been  a  fruitful  source  of  mistake. 
What  they  heard  of  "  eating  the  body  of  Christ,"  in  the  Lord's  Supper, 
may  have  been  the  ground  of  the  charge  of  "Thyestean  banquets";^ 
the  familiar  fellowship  of  the  " love-feasts,"  in  which  men  and 
women  joined,  may  have  been  distorted  into  riotous  banquets  and 
promiscuous  intercourse  f  and  the  prominence  assigned  to  spiritual 
influence  may  have  been  the  foundation  for  the  charge  of  magic — a 
power  which  was  claimed,  in  that  age,  by  most  teachers  of  new 
religions.*  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  some  colour  was  given  to  these 
accusations  by  the  doctrines  and  practices  with  which  some  of  tlie 
heretical  sects  had  already  corrupted  Christianity .° 

To  all  this  was  added  the  interested  opposition  which  sprang  from 
the  same  motive  as  that  of  Demetrius  at  Ephesus.  The  priests, 
and  ail  those  whose  livelihood  depended  either  on  the  heathen 
worship  or  on  the  spectacles  and  amusements  which  the  Christians 
abhorred, — and  for  abhorring  which  they  were  held  up  to  the  people 
as  enemies  of  human  happiness,'' — all  these  could  at  any  time  raise 
IX)i)ular  tumults,  in  which  the  Christians  were  first  assailed  and 
then  made  responsible  for  the  disturbance ;  or  they  could  invoke 
the  law  against  illegal  superstitions,''  if  not  some  special  laws  still 
in  force  against  the  Christians. 

§  3.  Such  laws  slumbered  while  Nerva,  to  use  the  words  of 
Tacitus,   "  united   what    had    long    been    irreconcilable — supreme 

'  Justin  Martyr,  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  17  ;  Orig.  c.  Cchuni,  \\.  27.  Most  of 
our  information  about  these  calumnies  is  naturally  derived  from  the 
replies  to  them  by  the  Christian  j\poIogists.  They  are  doubtless  referred 
to  in  Tacitus's  character  of  the  Christians  as  "  per  flagitux  invisos." 

-  Justin  JMartyr,  Apol.  i.  2G ;  Ircnaeus ;  and  other  authorities,  cited  by 
Canon  Robertson,  Hist,  of  the  Christian  Church,  vol.  i.  p.  10. 

'  Possibly  the  rite  of  baptism  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  this 
charge. 

*  The  hymns,  which  formed  so  conspicuous  a  part  of  Christian  worship, 
may  have  been  regarded  as  incantations  of  sorcery. 

*  "Clement  of  Alexandria  (Strom,  iii.  2,  p.  514)  cliargcs  the  Carpocra- 
tians  with  the  abominations  which  were  falsely  imputed  to  the  Church." 
Robertson,  /.  c.  »  "  Odio  humani  generis  convicti  "  (Tacitus). 

'  Besides  this  general  law,  special  laws  had  been  made  against  the 
Christians  by  Nero  and  Domitian  ;  and,  though  some  hold  them  to  have 
been  repealed,  Tertullian  expressly  states  that  those  of  Nero  were  left 
standing  when  his  other  acts  were  abrogated.  The  existence  of  such  laws 
would  explain  Pliny's  sending  Christians  to  execution  on  their  mere  con- 
fession of  the  name. 


64         AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.      Chap.  III. 

power  and  liberty "  (a.d.  96-98).^  But  the  system  by  which 
Trajan  (a.d.  98-117)  "  daily  increased  the  happiness  of  the 
JCmpire  "  involved  the  severe  repression  of  every  source  of  danger  to 
the  public  security.  In  this  spirit,  early  in  his  reign,  he  issued  an 
edict  against  the  guilds  or  clubs  (hetcerice);  and  the  Christian 
churches  were  special  objects  of  the  inquisition  made  for  such,  on 
account  of  the  mystery  in  which  their  worship  and  usages  were 
involved.^ 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  younger  Pliny  to  enforce  this  edict 
as  Proconsul  of  Bithynia  and  Pontus,  where  we  have  seen  that 
Christianity  was  already  deeply  rooted,  especially  among  the  Jews.^ 
Within  half  a  century  of  Peter's  martyrdom,  Pliny  found  the 
heathen  temples  almost  deserted  ;  and  the  want  of  a  market  for 
the  sacrificial  animals  threatened  the  prosperity  of  his  province. 
Among  the  accused  were  persons  of  every  rank,  of  both  sexes,  and 
of  all  ages;  nor  had  "the  contagion  of  this  superstition"  infected 
the  cities  only,  the  usual  centres  of  new  opinions,  but  even  the 
villages  and  the  countrj'^  districts.* 

Such  is  the  account  which  Pliny  writes  to  Trajan,  while  asking 
how  he  is  to  deal  with  this  large  class  of  persons,  who  were  accused 
of  no  crime  but  their  religion.  He  had  doubted  whether  he  ought 
to  punish  "  the  name  itself,  if  free  from  crimes,  or  the  crimes 
cohering  with  the  name  " ;  and  the  discovery  that  there  were  no 
such  crimes  seems  to  have  surprised  the  philosopher,  who  had  shared 
the  prejudices  of  his  friend  Tacitus.  At  first  he  had  deemed  it 
enough  to  ask  the  accused  whether  they  were  Christians,  and,  on 
their  repeated  confession,  he  had  jfut  some  of  them  to  death, 
reserving  those  who  were  citizens  to  be  sent  to  Eome.  "  I  had  no 
doubt,"  writes  the  philosopher,  "that,  whatever  it  was  that  they 

»  See  Tac.  Ag7'ic.  3. 

'  That  this  edict  was  the  mainsprincj  of  the  ensuing  persecution,  is  seen 
in  the  words  of  Pliny,  writing  to  Trajan: — "Secundum  mandata  tua, 
hetoDrias  esse  vetueram."     (^Ej/ist.  x.  9G,  §  7  ;  comp.  Epist.  s.  3G.) 

'  See  1  Peter  i.  1.  The  Jews  had  jirobably  gone  into  these  provinces  as 
commercial  speculators  in  the  track  of  the  Koman  armies.  The  jirevalence 
of  Christianity  there,  in  the  second  century,  is  confirmed  by  Lucian  (^Akx- 
andcr,  c.  45).  The  date  of  Pliny's  government  is  unfortunately  doubtful ; 
whether  A.D.  103-105  or  111-113.  Clinton  places  the  correspondence  in 
A.n.  104;  Pagi  and  Merivale  in  A.D.  112;  and  Pagi  conjectures  that  the 
occasion  arose  out  of  the  refusal  of  the  Christians  to  join  in  the  sacrifices 
at  Trajan's  Quindcccnnalia — the  fifteenth  anniversary  of  his  adoption  as 
heir  of  the  empire. 

■*  This  is  an  early  sign  of  the  distinction  which  is  still  testified  by  the 
word  "  pagan."  The  patjani  were  .simply  people  of  the  country  districts 
(pnf/i),  as  o])posed  to  those  of  the  cities,  urbani ;  and  the  former  class 
adhered,  in  great  part,  to  the  old  religion,  even  after  the  imperial  establish- 
ment of  Christianity. 


A.D.  104  ?  PLINY'S  TESTIMONY.  65 

confessed,  their  wilfulness  and  inflexible  obstinacy  deserved  punish- 
ment." But  in  this  first  record  of  a  systematic  persecution,  we  find 
that  the  courage  of  some  gave  way,  and  they  became  Avhat  the 
Church  afterwards  called  "  the  lapsed."  Many,  who  were  accused 
on  anonymous  information,'  were  allowed  to  clear  themselves  by 
offering  incense  to  the  gotis  of  Rome  and  to  the  emperor's  statue, 
and  by  cursing  the  name  of  Christ.  There  were  some  who  at  first 
confessed  and  then  retracted,  declaring  that  they  had  reneunced 
Christianity  as  much  as  three  or  even  twenty  years  before.^  From 
these  the  i)roconsul  hoped  to  get  light  on  the  vile  practices  which 
rumour  ascribed  to  the  Christians ;  and  the  result  of  his  enquiries 
gives  such  a  picture  of  the  worship  and  life  of  the  early  Church, 
that  his  letter  has  been  called  the  First  Apolwjy  fur  Chrintianity.^ 

In  riiny's  own  words,  "They  affirmed  tliis  to  have  been  the 
sum  of  their  fault  or  rather  error,  that  they  used  to  assemhle  on  a 
fixed  day  before  it  was  light*  and  to  siny  respmisivdy  a  hymn  to 
Christ  as  to  a  yod;^  and  they  bound  themselves  by  a  sacramental 
oath,^  not    to    some  crime'' — as   the   proconsul   had   expected   to 

'  Observe  this  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  Christians  were  exposed  to 
the  private  enmity,  and  other  base  motives,  of  anonymous  informers,  who 
appear  to  have  been  generally  Jews.    Compare  Trajan's  answer,  below. 

-  'I"he  conjecture  of  Pagi  that  the  period  of  twenty  years  refers  back  to 
Domitian's  persecution,  cannot  be  accejited  as  evidence  for  the  date.  It 
might  just  as  well  be  argued  that  the  three  years  ])oint  back  to  Trajan's 
edict  against  the  hetcrriu'.  Robertson  observes  that  "the  equivocal  be- 
haviour of  these  persons  leaves  it  in  doubt  whether  they  really  apostatized 
or  whether  they  used  the  licence  which  was  sanctioned  by  some  heretical 
sects,  and  disavowed  their  belief  in  order  to  escape  danger." 

^  The  following  is  the  text  of  this  invaluable  testimony  to  i)rimitive 
Christianity.  Pliny  is  speaking  of  those  who  had  recanted: — "Adfirma- 
bant  autem  banc  fuisse  summam  vel  culpji;  suas  veJ  erroris,  quod  essent 
soliti  stato  die  ante  lucem  con  venire,  carmonque  Christo  quasi  deo  dicere 
secum  invicem,  seque  Sacramento  non  in  scelus  uliquod  obstringere,  sed  ne 
furta,  ne  latrocinia,  ne  adulteria  committerent,  ne  tidem  tiillerent,  ne  de- 
positum  appellati  abnegarent  ;  (juibus  peractis  morem  sibi  disccdendi  fuisse 
rursus(juo  ail  capiendum  cibum,  promiscuura  tamen  et  innoxium." 

■*  That  this  ccrtnin  daij  was  the  Lord's-ddj/,  or  first  day  of  the  week,  may 
be  inferred  from  the  practice  of  the  Aj)ostolic  Churches  (.\cts  xx.  7  ;  1  Cor. 
-\vi.  2).  The  hour,  before  .daylight — the  very  time  of  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion—was also  that  which  even  slaves  could  call  their  own.  The  natural 
inference  is  that  the  primitive  Christians  observed  the  Lord's-day  for 
worship,  but  made  no  attempt  to  deprive  their  masters  of  their  labour 
on  that  day. 

^  "  Carmen dicere  sccuin  i7ivicem "  seems   to   imply  the  anti- 

phoiud  sin<iinij  which  was  characteristic  of  Jewish  psalmody.  For  the 
hymnology  of  the  Apostolic  Church  compare  Acts  iv.  24-2(5  ;  Eph.  v.  10; 
Col.  iii.  l(j  ;  James  v.  lo. 

*  The  sacnimcntum  is  taken  by  some  for  the  baptismal  vow.  It  was  not 
the  Lord's  Supi>er,  tbr  this  was  celebrated  in  the  eveninor. 


63         AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.      Chap.  HI. 

discover,  like  the  conspiracies  which  were  cemented  by  unhallowed 
rites — "  but  that  they  would  commit  no  thefts,  nor  robberies,  nor 
adulteries,  nor  break  their  word,  nor  deny  a  deposit  when  called 
upon:  having  done  which,  their  usage  was  to  depart,  and  to 
assemble  again  to  take  food,  which,  however,  was  common  and 
guiltless."  ^ 

This  account,  given  by  recreants,  and  preserved  in  the  words  of 
an  impartial  enemy  of  the  faith,  reflects  at  every  point  the  indica- 
tions of  the  New  Testament  concerning  the  primitive  Church : 
their  meeting  for  "worship  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  before 
daylight,  and  again,  when  the  day's  work  was  done,  to  eat  the 
Lord's  Supper  in  connection  with  their  own  Feast  of  Love ;  the 
prominence  given  in  their  worship  to  hymns  of  praise,  in  which 
divine  honour  was  paid  to  Christ  -^  and  the  strict  bond  of  holiness 
and  honesty  on  which  their  fellowship  was  based.  Pliny  tested 
their  confession  by  the  evidence  of  two  female  servants,  evidently 
deaconesses  ^  of  the  Church,  whom  he  put  to  the  torture,  but  he 
still  extracted  proof  of  nothing  but  "  immoderate  addiction  to  a 
perverse  superstition." 

Such  was  the  case  which  Pliny  submitted  to  Trajan,  asking  how 
he  should  deal  with  the  Christians  :  whether  he  should  be  satisfied 
with  a  recantation,  and  whether  any  favour  should  be  shown  to 
the  young  and  weak.  He  adds  that  his  measures  had  brought 
back  many  worshipi^rs  to  the  temples,  and  advises  a  moderate 
policy  as  the  best  means  of  recovering  many  more.  Trajan's  answer 
is  deeply  interesting,  as  showing  the  policy  deliberately  adopted 
towards  Christianity  by  him  whom  all   historians,  from  Tacitus 

'  These  words  clearly  refer  to  the  charge  of  "  Thyestean  banquets," 
which  appears  to  have  usually  taken  the  form  of  their  alleged  eating  the 
flesh  of  children;  a  charge  which  was  very  frequently  made  against  the 
Jews,  in  ancient  as  well  as  medieval  times.  The  "  cibum  promiscuum"  ap- 
pears to  mean  ordinary  food,  as  distinguished  from  the  revolting  banquets 
{ohnoxium,  the  opposite  to  innoxium)  charged  against  them.  The  meal 
itself  was  doubtless  the  dydmj  or  love-feast,  which  was  eaten  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Lord's  Supper. 

^  Even  if  the  words  "  quasi  dec"  were  Pliny's  own  gloss,  of  which  there 
is  no  proof,  the  fact  remains,  that  hymns  of  worship  were  addressed  to 
Christ.  The  recre.ints,  who  had  just  cleared  themselves  by  invoking  the 
gods  of  Rome,  must  surely  have  meant  the  same  kind  of  divine  worship 
when  they  said  that  they  had  hitherto  invoked  the  name  of  Christ,  as  if 
he  ucre  a  ijod  (quasi  dco).  And  it  is  to  be  observed,  in  the  whole  history 
of  Roman  persecutions,  that  Christ  is  made  correlative  with  the  gods,  not 
regarded  as  the  mere  leader  of  a  sect.  The  Christians  are  required  to 
abjure  Ifis  name,  and  to  invoke  the  names  of  the  gods,  as  a  point  of  religion, 
and  the  name  of  the  em])eror,  as  a  point  of  loyalty. 

'  "  Ancillis,  qu.e  ministnt  dicebantur."  Comj).  Rom.  xvi.  1:  *oi0r)»' 
ol(Tav  SidKOVof  TJjs  (KKArifflai  t^s  fv  K€7XP*«'S. 


A.D.  106,  f.  THIRD  GENERAL  PERSECUTION.  67 

downwards,  hold  up  to  admiration  as  the  most  just  and  statesman- 
like among  the  emperors.^  He  approves  of  the  proconsul's  measures 
tlius  far,  and  prefers  leaving  him  a  large  discretion  to  laying  down 
a  rigid  rule,  lie  directs  that  the  informers  should  be  discouraged, 
and  that  no  inquisition  should  be  made  lor  the  Christians;  but 
thuse  who  are  convicted  are  to  be  punished.  Those,  however,  who 
deny  that  they  are  Christians,  however  much  suspected  in  the  past, 
may  obtain  pardon  by  supplicating  the  gods  of  Rome.  The  policy 
thus  announced  was  to  connive  at  the  existence  of  the  new  religion, 
so  lung  as  it  was  nut  furced  on  the  notice  of  the  government  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  require  the  execution  of  the  laws  ;  but  none  the  less 
was  Christianity  branded  as  a  legal  crime  by  the  rescript  of  one  of 
the  noblest  enipen)rs.''^  tSuch  was  the  result  of  viewing  it  in  ,the 
light  of  mere  ix^licy,  without  inquiring  into  its  truth. 

The  sufferings  of  the  Christians  imder  Trajan  are  reckoned  as  the 
Third  General  Ferscciition. 

§  4.  It  was  probably  before  and  independently  of  the  emperor's 
rescript,  that  the  protvraartyr  of  the  Post-Apostolic  Clnu-ch  fell  a 
victim  to  the  hatred  uf  the  Jews.  This  was  (Symeon,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  a  kinsman  of  our  Lord,  being  the  son,  of  Cleoplias,  and 
a  brother  of  James  the  Just,  on  whose  death  he  was  chosen  Bishop 
of  Jerusalem.  Eusebius  relates  the  tradition,  that  Symeon  was 
denounced  by  some  Jewish  heretics  as  one  of  the  progeny  of  David, 
and,  after  enduring  cruel  tortures  with  a  constancy  that  amazed  the 
lookers-on,  he  was  crucified  at  the  age  of  a  hundred-and-twenty. 

But  the  most  striking  event  of  this  persecution  was  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  Ignatius,  the  venerable  Bishop  of  Antioch,  after  a  trial 
by  the  emperor  in  person.  Ignatius  is  said  to  have  been  a  disciple 
of  St.  John,^  and  to  have  succeeded  Kuodius  at  Antioch  about  the 
year  70.  It  was  prubably  during  Trajan's  stay  at  Antioch  on  his 
march  to  Parthia,  and  when  the  capital  of  the  East  was  laid  in 
ruin  by  an  carthiiuake,  in  which  the  emperor  nearly  lost  his  life, 
that  this  alarm  (like  the  fire  under  Nero)  caused  new  inquisition  to 
be  made  for  thdse  obnoxious  to  the  gods.'*     Whether  selected  as 

•  This  estimate  of  Trajan  has  not  been  confined  to  heathens.  Of  Gregory 
the  Great  "it  is  said  that  he  was  so  impressed  with  the  thoughts  of  the 
justice  and  goodness  of  this  heathen  sovereign,  that  he  earnestly  pra)-ed  in 
St.  Peter's  Church,  that  God  would  even  now  give  him  grace  to  know  the 
name  of  Christ  and  to  be  converted."  (Dean  Stanley,  Atemorials  of  Canter- 
bun,,  p.  23.)  _ 

-  We  mav  do  justice  to  Trajan's  decision  from  his  own  point  of  view, 
without  do'nving  the  force  of  Tertullian's  indignant  comment:  "  O  scn- 
tentiam  necessitate  confusam  !  Negat  inijuirendos,  ut  innocentes  ;  et  man- 
dat  puniendos,  ut  nocentes  "  {Apd.  2). 

^  Hieron.  dc  Vir.  Tllust.  c.  16. 

*  It  is  not  certain  to  which  of  Trajan's  visits  to  Antioch  the  sentence  of 


68  AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.  Chap.  HI. 

a  chief  victim,  or  coming  forward  of  his  own  free  will,'  Ignatius 
gladly  embraced  the  opportunity  of  pleading  the  cause  of  Christ, 
and  explaining  his  faith  before  the  emperor;  but  his  "good  con- 
fession" was  early  transformed  into  an.  exchange  of  rhetorical 
speeches  between  him  and  Trajan.  In  the  end,  he  was  condemned 
to  be  thrown  to  the  lions  at  liome,  whose  populace  would  be 
gratified  with  the  spectacle,  by  which  Trajan  may  have  feared  to 
provoke  the  Christians  of  the  always  restless  Eastern  city.  It 
seems,  too,  that  Trajan  counted  on  the  deep  impression  that  would 
be  made  through  the  empire,  whetlier  this  leader  of  the  new  reliirioa 
were  induced  to  apostatize  through  the  long  delay  and  hardships 
of  his  journey,  or  by  his  public  execution  in  the  capital,  after  being 
led  jn  chains  through  those  parts  of  the  empire  where  Christianity 
most  prevailed.  But  the  real  effect  was  to  enable  Ignatius  to 
confirm  those  churches  by  his  presence  or  his  letters,  and  his  only 
fear  through  the  long  journey  was  lest  the  intercession  of  his  friends 
should  rob  him  of  his  crown  of  martyrdom. 

He  was  carried,  in  charge  of  ten  brutal  soldiers,  from  Seleucia  by 
sea  to  Smyrna,  where  he  met  his  fellow-disciple  and  follower  in 
martyrdom,  Polycarp,  and  the  Bishops  of  Ephesus,  Magnesia,  and 
Tralles,  by  whom  he  sent  letters  to  their  churches,  and  he  also 
wrote  to  his  brethren  at  Rome.  From  Troas  he  sent  back  letters  to 
Polycarp  and  the  Church  of  Smyrna,  and  one  to  the  Church  of 
Philadelphia,  whose  bishop  had  come  to  meet  him.^  Thence  he 
sailed  to  Ncapolis  in  Macedonia,  and,  having  crossed  by  land  to 
pjpidamnus,  was  carried  round  by  sea  to  Portus  (the  harbour  of 
Pome)  near  Ostia.  He  was  hurried  to  Rome,  not  to  disappoint  the 
people  of  such  an  addition  to  the  wild  mirth  of  the  Saturnalia 
as  the  sight  of  a  venerable  leader  of  the  Christians  brought  from 
the  extreme  East  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by  the  lions  in  the  Colosseum, 
where  he  suffered  on  the  20th  of  December.^  He  is  said  to  have  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  nothing  of  his  mortal  body  might  remain  unde- 
voured ;  and  only  the  larger  and  harder  bones  were  left  to  be  gathered 

Ignatius  should  be  referred  ;  but  the  weight  of  opinion  is  in  favour  of  that 
referreil  to  above,  according  to  which  Clinton  fixes  the  martyrdom  at 
A.I),   llo. 

'  The  statement,  that  Ignatius  "was  voluntarily  led  "  before  the  em- 
peror, admits  of  either  interpretation.  It  must  be  added,  however,  that 
the  Acts  of  the  Martyrdom  of  /tjniiiu!<,  in  which  these  words  occur, 
and  which  give  the  conversation  between  the  bishoj)and  the  emperor,  are  of 
doulitful  genuineness,  and  the  latter  ])art,  at  least,  is  usually  given  up  as 
sjjurious.     (See  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  10.) 

^  Respecting  the  E|>istles  ascribed  to  Ignatius,  see  Chap.  IV.  §  4. 

'  His  martyrdom  was  on  the  last  day  of  the  Sigillarici,  a  feast  attached 
to  the  Satunutlia. 


A.D.  125.  THE  FIRST  APOLOGISTS.  69 

up  by  his  brethren,  and  carried  back  to  Antioch,  amidst  marks  of 
grief  and  honour  from  all  the  churches  on  the  road.  Jt  was  left  for 
a  later  age  to  make  the  relics  of  martyrs  an  object  of  worship. 

§5.  The  exposure  of  Ignatius  in  the  Colosseum  gave  an  impulse, 
as  Trajan  had  probably  intended,  to  the  popular  prejudice  whicli 
was  ready  to  visit  every  public  calamity  on  those  who  refused  alike 
to  worship  the  national  gods  and  to  indulge  the  national  vices  ;  and 
every  plague  or  lamine  or  earthquake  or  defeat  was  a  signal  for 
the  mob  assembled  in  the  amphitheatres  of  every  city  to  raise  the 
cry,"  Christianos  ad  hones'."  The  demand  for  their  destruction, 
made  on  the  occasion  of  Hadrian's^  second  visit  to  Athens,  called 
forth  the  earliest  of  those  Apologies,^  which  a  succession  of  Cliristian 
writers  addressed  to  the  emperors,  in  explanation  and  vindication  of 
the  Christian  faith  and  character,  during  the  second  and  third  cen- 
turies. The  first  of  these  "  Apologists  "  were  Qdadratus,  a  disciple 
of  the  A[X)stles,  and  Bishop  of  Athens,  and  Aristides,  a  converted 
philosopher  of  the  same  city.  Their  writings,  addressed  to  Hadrian 
about  the  year  125,  are  no  longer  extant,  but  we  may  judge  of  their 
contents  by  the  arguments  of  their  successors.  One  chief  object 
was  to  refute  the  charges  brought  against  the  Christians  by  their 
Jewish  adversaries,  and  to  dissipate  the  prejudice  which  confounded 
them  with  the  Jews.  Hadrian,  who  made  it  his  business  to  study 
philosophic  questions  at  all  the  great  seats  of  learning,  was  the 
more  open  to  conviction,  as  the  renewal  of  Jewish  revolt  was  one  of 
the  chief  troubles  of  his  reign.  An  appeal  came  to  him,  about  the 
same  time,  from  the  Proconsul  of  Asia,  against  the  cruelties 
inflicted  on  the  Christians  at  the  bidding  of  popular  clamour.  A 
rescript  to  the  provincial  governors  forbad  the  punishment  of  the 
Christians,  except  in  due  form  of  law  and  for  crimes  distinctly 
proved,  and  ordered  false  informations  against  them  to  be  severely 
punished.  But  this  fell  far  short  of  toleration,  for  the  existing  laws 
were  left  to  be  enforced  as  the  local  magistrates  might  think  fit. 

§  6.  The  Jewish  disturbances  just  referred  to  were  the  means  of 
completing  the  severance  Ix'tween  Judaism  and  Christianity.  The 
terrible  Jewish  War  of  Titus  had  been  followed  by  strict  measures 
to  keep  down  the  indomitable  spirit  of  the  race  throughout  the 
empire,  which  needed  not  to  be  inflamed   by  the  fabulous  cruelties 

'  Ha.irian  succeeded  Trajan  on  August  8th,  117,  and  reigned  till  July 
10th.  138. 

-'  The  readers  for  whom  this  work  is  meant  will  hardly  need  a  warning 
not  to  confound 'A7roAo7/a  with  our  colloquial  "apology,"  like  the  king 
who  remarked  on  Bishoji  Watson's  famous  Apolopi  /<»'  If"'  Bil'ln — "  1 
never  knew  that  the  liible  noedeil  an  Apology!"  It  should  be  observed, 
however,  that  an  apolcxjii  is  not  merely  an  argument  on  the  evidences 
of  Christianity,  but  specifically  an  ansicer  to  charges  against  it. 
5*  • 


70  AGK  OF  THE  Al'OSTOLIC  FATHERS.  Chap.  HI. 

which  the  Rabbinical  writers  ascribe  to  Trajan.  On  the  opportunity 
given  by  the  withdrawal  of  his  legions  for  the  Parthian  War,  a 
revolt  broke  out  first  in  Cyprus,  the  refuge  of  many  fugitives  from 
Palestine,  and  next  in  Egypt  and  tlie  province  of  Cyrene,  and  was 
marked  everywhere  by  cruel  massacres  and  murderous  retaliation. 
Tlie  rebellion  was  -put  down  with  a  severity  which  the  emperor, 
victorious  in  the  East,  extended  to  the  Jews  of  Mesopotamia,  who 
had  enjoyed  toleration  under  the  Parthian  kings. 

Hadrian,  who  as  Trajan's  lieutenant  had  crushed  tbe  revolt  in 
Cyprus,  kept  down  the  embers  of  rebellion  by  the  force  which  he 
withdrew  from  Parthia.  Meanwhile,  however,  the  revived  national 
spirit  was  fostered  in  Palestine  by  the  mystic  teaching  of  the 
schools  of  Tiberias,  which  produced  a  new  head  in  the  Rabbi 
Akiba,  and  a  new  hand  in  a  man  of  superhuman  size  and  strength, 
who  assumed  the  name  of  Bar-cochab,  that  is,  Son  of  the  Star.* 
The  final  jn'ovocation  is  said^  to  have  been  given  by  the  settlement 
of  a  colony  of  veterans  at  Jerusalem,  which  Hadrian  had  resolved 
to  make  a  Roman  city  (a.d.  131).  The  revolt  was  at  first  successful, 
and  it  lasted  for  three  years  before  it  was  suppressed,  with  the 
slaugliter  of  580,000  Jews  in  Palestine  (a.d.  132-135).  The  site  of 
the  Holy  City  was  occupied  and  desecrated  by  a  Roman  colony,  on 
which  Hadrian,  in  celebrating  his  Vicennah'a,  bestowed  the  name  of 
^Jlia  Capitolina,  combining  with  his  own  family  name  tlie  title 
of  the  Capitoline  Jove,  whose  temple  was  now  reared  on  Mount 
Zion.  All  Jews  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  new  city  on  pain  of 
death;  but  an  exception  was  made  in  favour  of  those  Christians 
who  declared  their  severance  from  Judaism  by  abandoning  the  dis- 
tinctive Jewish  practices.  The  majority  of  the  Church  in  Judca 
accepted  the  condition,  chose  a  bishop  of  Gentile  race,  and  adopted 
Gentile  usages.  Thus,  as  is  the  natural  course  of  great  organic 
changes,  the  bond  which  had  lost  all  vital  force  was  finally  severed 
by  an  impulse  from  without. 

§  7.  But  the  change  caused  a  new  schism  in  the  Church  itself, 
which  some  trace  back  to  the  time  of  Symeon's  death.'  Those  who 
adhered  to  the  Mosaic  law  formed  a  separate  community  at  the  old 
refuge  of  the  Church  in  Pella,  and  other  places  beyond  the  Jordan. 
They  divided  again  into  two  .sects.     The  Nazareans  adhered  to  the 

'  In  allusion  to  the  "  Star  of  .Taooli"  predicted  by  Balaam  (Numb.  xxiv. 
17).  For  further  details  of  this  last  Jewish  War,  sue  the  Introduction  to 
the  Student's  K  T.  Hist.,  chap.  v.  §  12. 

*  Dio  Ca.ss.  Ixix.  12. 

'  Hegesippus,  ap.  Euseb.  IT.  E.  iii.  32.  Elsewhere  (iv.  22)  the  same 
writer  calls  the  Judaizing  corrui)ter  of  the  Church  Thehuthis;  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  this  is  the  name  of  a  person,  or  a  collective  term,  de- 
noting an  "opposition,"  which  is  cast  off  as  refuse.  (See  Gieseler,  vol.  i. 
pp.  98,  99,  notes). 


A.D.  135,  f.  THE  NAZAREANS  AND  EBIONITES.  71 

whole  Christian  faith  without  renouncing  the  character  and  cus- 
toms of  Jews,  which,  however,  they  did  not  iraix)se  on  Gentile 
converts;  in  a  word,  they  clung  to  the  position  of  the  earliest 
Jewish  Christians.  The  other  party,  who  were  afterwards 
called  Ehionites,^  were  the  true  successors  of  the  Judaizing 
opponents  of  Paul.  They  held  the  law  of  Moses  to  be  stiil 
binding  in  every  detail,  and  necessary  for  salvation,  and  they 
regarded  Jesus  as  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary.  Both  sects  are 
often  confounded  by  early  writers  under  the  latter  name,  but  those 
who  distinguish  them  regard  the  Ebionites  ouly  as  heretical. 

A  third  branch  of  these  Judaizing  sects  was  formed  by  the  blend- 
ing of  the  Ebionites  with  the  Jewish  Esscnes,^  who  also  were  strong 
beyond  the  Jordan,  and  by  a  further  intermixture  with  elements 
from  heathen  philosophy  and  magic,  forming  a  compound  of  w^hat 
would  now  be  called  asceticism,  ritualism,  rationalism,  and  pseudo- 
spiritualism,  a  mixture  less  strange  in  practice  than  in  theory. 
They  were  called  the  Elcesaites^  or  Sampsceans ;  and  Iheir  final 
development  is  seen  in  the  p]bionite  branch  of  the  great  Gnostic 
heresy,  the  tenets  of  which  were  propounded  in  the  Clementines,  or 
forged  writings  ascribed  to  Clemens  Komanus,  which  belong  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  second  century.     (See  Chapter  IV.  §  14.) 

§  8.  The  policy  of  Hadrian  towards  the  Church  was  continued  by 
the  just  and  gentle  Antoninus  Pius.*  In  reply  to  the  request  of  the 
governors  for  directions  in  dealing  with  the  popular  cry  for  vengeance 
on  the  Christians,  he  ordered  a  strict  adherence  to  Hadrian's  edict 
in  their  favour.^  But  they  were  still  troubled  by  popular  dis- 
turbances;" and  their  adversaries,  Jews,  heretics,  and  heathen, 
demanded  their  punishment,  on  the  ground  of  the  old  calumnies, 

'  Tertullian  is  the  earliest  writer  who  mentions  an  heresiarch  named 
Ebion,  a  curious  example  of  how  soon  a  personal  cponipnus  is  invented 
from  a  collective  name.  The  true  derivation  is  from  jVliN,  (cbhn,  "poor"), 
a  name  which  was  either  assumed  in  the  secondary  sense  of  "  pious  "  (comp. 
Matt  v  3),  or,  as  uome  sav,  api)lied  by  the  .Tews  in  derision  to  the  whole 
body  "of  Christians,  and  afterwards  transferred  by  the  latter  to  these  de- 
.  spised  heretics.  . 

'  On  the  character  and  tenets  of  the  Essencs,  see  the  Introduction  to 
the  .V.  T.  Hist.,  Appendix,  Sect.  IV.  §  13. 

'  This  name  is  derived  by  the  ecclesiastical  writers  from  a  leader  n.imed 
Eikesui,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Tr.ajan ;  but  the  sectaries  themselves 
exjdained  it  as  'D3  T'^Pl,  i.e.  Swa/xn  KtKa\v^i^l(yv,  "  hidden  power." 

••  He  reio-ned  from  Julv  10th,  133,  to  March  7th,  K.l. 

»  MelittC";).  Euseb.  //.  K  iv.  26.  There  is  an  "  Edictum  .id  Commune 
Asiic,"  in  which  .Vntoninus  instructs  the  Council  of  Asia  to  punish  with 
death  all  who  should  molest  the  Christians;  but  this  is  s^encrally  regarded 
as  spurious.     (See  Gieseler,  vol.  i.  p.  130  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  22.) 

«  One  example  is  a  persecution  at  Athens,  in  which  Bishop  Publius 
suffered.     (Dionys.  Corinth.  <7/>.  Euseb.  //.  E.  iv.  23.) 


72  AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.     Chap.  HI. 

among  which  that  of  atheism  was  insisted  on,  because  the  Christians 
had  neither  temples  nor  altars,  images  nor  sacrifices. 

It  was  in  reply  to  these  charges  that  the  philosopher  Justin, 
who  earned  the  surname  of  Maktyr  in  the  next  reign,  addressed  to 
the  emperor  the  earliest  extant  Apology.  Anotlier  of  his  aix)logetic 
works  (the  Dialogue  with  the  Jew  Trypho)  exhibits  the  first  complete 
portrait  of  a  Christian  of  the  age  after  the  Apostles. 

Flavius  JusTiNns,  whom  TertuUian  surnames  "  Philosopher  and 
Martyr,"  was  a  native  of  Palestine,  but  of  (ireek  race,  born  at  the 
city  of  Flavia  Neapolis  (now  Nahlus),  on  the  site  of  the  famous 
Sychem  in  Samaria,  about  the  end  of  the  first  century  or  the 
beginning  of  the  second.  In  his  search  for  truth  he  had  studied  the 
various  forms  of  Greek  philosophy,  and  had  at  last  adopted  Plato- 
nism.  One  day  he  was  walking  by  the  sea-shore  in  deep  medita- 
tion,* when  he  was  met  by  an  old  man  of  mild  and  reverend 
appearance,  who  directed  him  to  turn  from  Lis  vain  studies  to  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  to  pray  "  that  the 
gates  of  light  might  be  opened  "  to  him.  The  truth  of  what  he  read 
was  confirmed  by  what  he  saw  of  the  constancy  of  the  Christians 
unHer  persecution ;  and  he  devoted  his  life  to  the  support  of  his  new 
faith  as  an  itinerant  evangelist,  with  no  office  in  the  Church.  His 
calling  is  expressed  in  his  own  words,  "  Every  one  who  can  preacli 
the  truth,  and  does  not  preach  it,  incurs  the  judgment  of  God." 
The  philosopher's  cloak,*  which  he  retained,  helped  to  secure  him  a 
hearing  in  various  cities  of  the  East,  as  well  as  at  Eome,  where  he 
opened  a  regular  school  of  Christian  philosophy,  and  addressed  his 
First  Apology  to  Antoninus  Pius. 

In  this  work,  and  in  Justin's  other  writings,^  we  have  a  vindica- 
tion both  of  the  character  of  the  Christians  and  the  truth  of  their 
religion.  Pie  denounces  the  injustice  of  withholding  toleration  from 
them  alone.  He  repels  the  charges  of  atheism,  immorality,  .and 
disloyalty.  He  deduces  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity  from  the 
twofold  argument,  which  has  ever  since  been  urged,  of  prophecy 
and  miracles ;  and  confirms  it  by  the  pure  morality  taught  by 
Christ  and  practised  by  His  disciples  down  to  his  own  time ;  by" 
their  finnness  in  confessing  their  faith,  even  to  death;  and  by  the 

•  Some  understand  the  scene  to  be  at  Ephesus,  and  others  at  Ca;sarea. 

'  The  rpl$iDV  or  pallium. 

'  The  most  famous  of  these  is  Justin's  Dialogue  trith  the  Jew  Trypho 
(whom  he  had  attempted  to  convert  .at  Ephesus),  in  replv  to  the  .Jewish 
ol)jections  against  Christianity.  Several  other  works  ascribed  to  him  are 
partly  doubtful  and  ])artly  si)urious.  There  were  some  genuine  polemical 
works,  which  are  lost,  namely,  that  Aqainst  all  Heresies,  mentioned  by 
Justin  himself,  and  that  Ai/dinst  Marcion,  fragments  of  which  are  j)re- 
served  by  Irenajns,  which  may  have  been  a  part  of  the  more  general 
work. 


A.D.  161,  f.  MARCUS  AURELIUS  ANTONINUS.  73 

progress  which  the  Gospel  liad  already  made,  though  opposed  by 
every  human  jxiwcr.  He  vindicates  the  miracles  of  Christ,  and 
explains  the  chief  doctrines  of  Christianity,  dwelling  especially  on 
the  resurrection  of  the  body.'  He  exposes  the  absurdities  of  Greek 
and  Koman  heathenism,  both  in  its  popular  form,  as  set  forth  by 
the  poets,  and  in  the  refined  interpretations  of  philosophers ;  and  in  a 
terrible  picture  of  heathen  morals  he  retorts  the  charges  made  upon 
Christianity.* 

We  have  no  evidence  of  any  effect  which  such  arguments  might 
have  upon  Antoninus,  who  dealt  with  Christianity  in  the  spirit  of 
his  own  calm  temper  and  statesmanship,  but  on  his  philosophic 
successor  they  produced  only  irritation  and  resentment. 

§  U.  In  Maucus  Aurkmus  Antoninus  (161-180),  whom  Justin 
liimself  addressed  as  "  Verissimus  the  Philosopher,"^  the  Christians 
found  an  oppressor  more  severe  than  Nero  or  Uomitian,  as  he  was  a 
deliberate  defender  of  the  heathen  system.  The  proud  Stoic  philo- 
soi)hy  of  Aureliiis  was  utterly  opposed  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
and  to  its  peculiar  character  as  a  popular  religion.  He  resented 
its  growing  success,  and  felt  it  his  duty  as  tmperor  to  be  the 
champion  of  the  national  gods ;  and  though,  as  a  philosopher,  he 
did  not  believe  in  them  himself,  he  regarded  the  refusal  to  join  in 
the  worship  which  he  paid  them,  as  an  insult  to  his  own  majesty. 
The  constancy  with  which  the  Christians  suflered  and  died  for 
their  opinions  offended  the  Stoic  as  a  sort  of  theatrical  enthusiasm, 
the  direct  opposite  to  the  rational  calmness  of  his  sect.''  The 
infectious  character  of  this  enthusiasm  alarmed  the  emperor  at  the 
progress  of  "  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world  ;"  and  many  Christians 
liad  begun  to  speak  of  their  coming  triumph  in  terms  at  least 
suggestive  of  disloyalty.'' 

Nor  was  the  philosopher  Marcus  entirely  free  from  the  vulgar 
prejudices  against  Christianity,  which  were  exasperated  by  a  new 
succession  of  calamities.  His  reign  was  a  constant  conflict  with  the 
increasing  pressure  of  the  barbarians  on  the  frontier,  and  it  was 
marked  by  terrible  outbreaks  of  j)estilcnce  and  famine.  It  is  very 
striking  how  each  of  these  calamities  coincided  with  a  fresh  storm 
of  that  persecution  which  Avent  on  more  or  less  through  the  whole 

'  Justin  wrote  a  special  treatise  on  the  Resurrection,  of  which  frag- 
ments only  remain. 

-  The  date  of  Justin's  First  Apologi/  is  usually  j)laced  at  from  130  to 
140;  but  by  some  as  late  as  150  or  151,  chiefly  on  the  ground  of  his 
mention  of  thi  heretic  Jlarcion. 

•*  This  play  upon  his  family  name  Vents  had  been  made  by  Hadrian,  when 
Marcus  was  a  bov,  as  a  tribute  to  his  truthfulness. 

♦  M.  Aurel.  SicdiM.  xi.  3. 

*  See  Justin.  Apol.  i.  11.  This  is  seen  especially  in  the  forged  Christian 
Sibylline  Verses,  which  were  circulated  early  in  the  second  century. 


74  AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.  Chap.  HI. 

reign  of  Aurelius.  The  governors  of  provinces  were  now  foremost 
in  putting  the  old  laws  in  force,  instead  of  restraining  the  out- 
bursts of  jwpular  fury,  and  in  seeking  out  victims,  contrary  to 
the  policy  of  Trajan.  The  informers  were  again  encouraged,  and 
the  evidence  of  slaves  was  illegally  received  against  their  masters, 
and  extracted  by  torture.^  This  Fourth  Persecution  was  the 
fiercest  yet,  and  it  was  general  throughout  the  empire.'^  Torture, 
death,  indignities,  and  confiscations,  were  inflicted  on  the  Christians, 
without  respect  for  sex  or  age,  upon  tlie  infonnation  of  their  Jewish, 
heretic,  and  heathen  enemies. 

The  severity  of  the  persecution  at  Rome  is  still  attested  by  the 
affecting  records  of  the  catacombs,  in  whose  dark  recesses  the 
Christians  found  a  refuge  for  their  secret  worship,  and  a  resting- 
place  for  their  martyred  bodies.  Here,  for  example,  is  an  epitaph 
which  expressly  records  the  persecution  of  Aurelius : — "  In  Christ. 
Alexander  is  not  dead,  but  lives  beyond  the  stars,  and  his  body 
rests  in  this  tomb.  He  lived  under  the  Emperor  Antoninus,  who, 
foreseeing  that  great  benefit  would  result  from  his  services,  returned 
evil  for  f^ood.  For,  while  on  his  knees  and  about  to  sacrifice  to  the 
true  God,  he  was  led  away  to  execution.  Oh  sad  times,  in  which 
sacred  rites  and  prayers,  even  in  caverns,  afford  no  protection  to 
us !  What  can  be  more  wretched  than  such  a  life,  and  what  than 
such  a  death  ?  He  has  scarcely  lived,  who  has  lived  in  Christian 
times."'  The  keen  natural  sense  of  suffering,  which  finds  vent  in 
such  a  record,  enhances  the  value  of  the  constancy  with  which 
the  Christian  martyrs  bore  witness  to  their  faith. 

§  10.  The  persecution  of  Marcus  Aurelius  called  forth  a  number 
of  Apologies,  of  which  we  only  possess  the  Second  Apolofjy  of 
Justin  Martyr,  written  on  the  occasion  of  the  martyrdom  of  some 
Christians  at  Rome.  The  writer  anticipates  his  own  martyrdom 
through  the  arts  of  his  enemies,  especially  a  Cynic  philosopher, 
Crescens ;  and  his  expectation  was  fulfilled  in  the  first  of  the  two 
chief  outbursts  of  persecution  which  mark  this  reign.  It  was 
])robably  during  the  great  pestilence,  which  the  Syrian  army 
brought  back  from  the  East  in  166,  that  Justin  was  denounced 

*  The  antiquity  of  the  law,  "  De  Servo  in  Dominum  qua?ri  non  licere  ' 
{Di(j.  hb.  xlviii.  tit.  18)  is  attested  by  Cicero  {I'ro  liege  Bciot.  1)  and 
Tacitus  (Attn.  ii.  30). 

*  It  appears  from  the  collections  of  Roman  laws,  that  Marcus  Aurelius 
issued  a  new  edict  against  the  introduction  of  new  rolis^jions,  and  especially 
against  "terrifying  weak-minded  men  bv  superstitious  reverence  for  a 
deity  "  (superstitione  muninis).  The  penalty  was  banishment  to  an  island 
for  those  of  the  higher  ranks  (hoiu'stuircs),  and  death  for  any  of  the  common 
people  (hiimiliores).  (Modestinus,  7>i</.  lil).  xlviii.  tit.  19,  I.  §  30;  Julius 
Paulus,  Se7itent.  Jiecept.  lib.  v.  tit.  21,  §  2). 

*  See  Maitland's  Church  m  the  Catacombs. 


A.D.  166.       MARTYRDOM  OF  POLYCARP.  75 

and  beheaded  at  Rome,  after  maintaining  on  his  trial  a  fineness 
■worthy  of  his  life-long  defence  of  the  laith.' 

To  the  Bamo  time,  or  a  little  later,  belong  the  martyrdoms  of 
Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,^  and  of  the  venerable  Polycarp, 
Bishop  of  Smyrna,  one  of  the  last  survivors  of  the  Apostolic  age, 
Polycarp  was  a  disciple  of  John,  and  he  may  liave  been  "  the 
angel  of  the  Church  at  Smyrna,"  addressed  in  the  Apocalypse.'  He 
had  visited  Bome  under  Antoninus  Pius,  chiefly  to  confer  with  the 
bishop,  Anicetus,^  on  the  time  of  the  Paschal  Feast  (Easter),  which 
was  already  in  question  between  the  East  and  West.  Here  he 
recovered  several  persons  who  had  been  perverted  by  the  Gnostic 
leaders,  and  he  is  said  to  have  encountered  tlie  heresiarch  Marcion, 
to  whose  claim  for  reco.gnition  (perhaps  as  a  former  accpiaintance  in 
Asia)  Polycarp  replied,  "I  know  thee  for  the  firstborn  of  Satan."** 
This  incident  is  related  by  Ircuanis,  the  disciple  of  Polycarp,  who  has 
preserved  many  other  reminiscences  of  the  "  blessed  and  apostolic 
presbyter" — his  personal  appearance  and  his  mode  of  life,  his  dis- 
courses to  the  people,  and  his  witness  to  the  teachings  and  miracles 
of  the  Lord,  as  he  had  received  them  from  the  mouth  of  John  and 
other  eye-witnesses,  "  his  testimony  being  in  agreement  with  the 
Scriptures." 

When  the  popular  voice  demanded  victims  to  atone  for  the  great 
plague  which  ravaged  the  East,  the  city  of  Smyrna  became  the 
seat  of  a  fierce  persecution,"  and  after  many  Christians  had  suffered 
with  great  constancy,  the  cry  Avas  raised,  "  Seek  out  PolycarjD !"  It 
was  a  question  often  debated  in  the  early  Church  whether  mar- 
tyrdom should  be  sought  or  shunned  ;  and  the  recent  relapse  of  one 
who  had  offered  himself  as  a  victim  at  Smyrna  had  caused  the 
Church  to  discourage  such  forwardness.     Polycarp  was  induced  lo 

'  Acta  Miirfijrii  Jtistini  Philos.  in  Gallandi,  BihUoth.  Vett.  Patrum, 
torn.  i.  p.  707,  seq. ;  Semisch,  Justin  dcr  Mnrt\ii;  Breslau,  1840,  translated  by 
.1.  E.  liylanil,  Edinb.  1844;  Otto,  Zur  Cluirahteristih  dcs  hciliiicn  Justinns, 
Wiun,  i852,  and  his  Corpus  Apologctarum  Christi.morum  Smculi  Secundi, 
Jena',  1847,  sc/q. 

*  On  the  severity  of  the  persecution  in  Asia,  and  the  encouragement 
given  to  the  vilest  informers,  see  the  quotation  from  the  Apology  of  Melito 
in  Eusebius  (//.  E.  iv.  26). 

'  Rev.  ii.  8-11.  Ircnccus  represents  him  as  ordained  by  John  himself  to 
the  bishopric  of  Smyrna. 

*  Anicetus  occupies  the  seventh  place  in  the  somewhat  doubt/ul  list  oJ 
the  Bishops  of  Rome.    Respecting  the  controversy  on  Easter,  see  Chap.  VIII. 

*  Iron,  llwrcs.  I.  sxv.  G. 

"  The  Letter  from  the  Church  of  Smi/rna,  relatins^  this  persecution  and 
the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  records  of  the 
early  Chiirch.  It  is  preserved  by  Eusebius  (//.  E.  iv.l5),  and  in  a  separate 
and  somewhat  binger  form,  first  j)ublished  by  Archbishop  Ussher,  1647, 
and  in  the  Collections  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers  by  Cotelerius  and  Ruinart. 


76  AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.  Chap.  III. 

withdraw  first  to  one  village,  and  then  to  another,  where,  when  he 
was  discovered,  he  said,  "  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done  !" 

As  he  was  led  into  the  arena,  he  thought  he  heard  a  voice  from 
heaven,  saying,  "  Be  strong,  Polycarp,  play  the  man  !"  His  pre- 
sence excited  the  people  to  frenzy;  but  the  proconsul  urged  the 
old  man  to  save  his  life  b\'  the  customary  form  of  reviling  Christ. 
"  Fourscore  and  six  years,"'  answered  Polycarp,  "have  I  served  Him, 
and  He  never  did  me  wrong  ;  how  then  can  I  revile  my  King  and 
Saviour?"  Equally  vain  were  the  proconsul's  threats  of  the  wild 
beasts  and  fire,  till,jn  compliance  with  the  continued  cries  of  the 
multitude,  Polycarp  v/as  sentenced  to  be  burnt ;  and  the  Jews,  "  as 
was  their  custom,"  were  especially  zealous  in  heaping  fuel  round  the 
stake.  Natural  incidents  may  easily  have  been  magnified  by  the 
Christian  bystanders  into  the  marvellous  story,  that  the  flames 
refused  to  touch  him,  and  swept  round  him  "  like  the  sail  of  a  ship 
filled  with  wind,"  in  the  midst  of  which  his  body  was  seen  "  like 
gold  and  silver  glowing  in  a  furnace  ;"  and,  when  at  last  one  of  the 
executioners  stabbed  him  with  a  sword,  his  blood  quenched  the 
flames.^  The  heathens  and  Jews  burnt  the  body,  for  fear  (as  they 
said)  lest  the  Christians  should  worship  Polycarp  instead  of  "  the 
Crucified ;"  and  the  bones  only  were  left  for  the  martyr's  flock  to 
bury  with  due  honour.  The  probable  date  of  Polycarp's  martyrdom 
is  166  or  167. 

§  11.  The  second  great  outbreak  of  persecution  under  Marcus  Aure- 
lius  took  place  about  ten  years  later,  when  the  empire  was  threatened 
with  a  new  Gorman  war  (a.d.  177).  The  chief  seat  of  this  perse- 
cution, as  of  the  danger,  was  in  the  West.  We  now  find  Christianity 
established  in  Gaul,  especially  in  the  old  l\oman  province  on  the 
Rhone.  It  is  said  to  have  been  introduced  from  the  East  by 
PoTHiNUS,  who  was  now,  at  the  age  of  90  years,  Bishop  of  Lugdunum 
{Lyon)  ;  and  thus  much  is  clear,  that  the  two  chief  Gallic  churches 

'  It  seems  more  natural  to  take  this  for  the  time  since  Polycarp's  con- 
version than  for  his  full  age,  which  is  represented  as  on  the  extreme  limits 
of  longevity.  His  birth  as  late  as  a.d.  80  is  scarcely  consistent  with  his 
ordination  to  the  bishopric  of  Smyrna  by  John,  unless  we  believe  in  the 
Apostle's  almost  fabulous  old  age.  In  any  case,  it  is  very  interesting  to 
see  that  a  living  connection  with  Christ,  through  only  two  generations, 
could  be  prolonged  till  late  in  the  second  century. 

*  The  further  marvel,  that  a  dove  (lew  out  from  the  wound,  is  wanting 
in  some  MSS.  of  the  martyrdom,  and  in  Eusebius.  Attempts  have  been 
made"  to  explain  it  as  a  confusion  between  irf pnxTtpd  and  err'  apiartpd 
("  on  the  left "  breast  or  side).  But  the  .system  of  adorning  facts  with 
marvels  began  early  enough  to  make  rationalizing  glosses  as  superfluous  as 
they  are  generally  unsatisfactory.  The  excitement  of  such  a  scene  is  the 
true  key  to  the  marvellous  details,  which  do  not  affect  the  substantial 
truth  of  the  narrative  as  the  testimony  of  eve-witnesses.  ^ 


A.D.  177.  THE  MARTYRS  OF  LYON  AND  VIENNE.  77 

at  Lyon  and  Vienna  (Vienne)  kept  up  a  closer  intercourse  with 
the  churches  of  Asia  than  with  those  of  Italy.  A  letter  from 
the  churches  of  these  two  cities  to  the  churches  of  Asia  and 
Phrygia'  forms  a  second  contemporary  picture  of  the  sufl'ering  of 
the  Christians  under  Aurelius.  Here,  as  at  Smyrna,  the  attack 
began  with  the  insults  and  outrages  of  the  multitude,  which  the 
magistrates  hastened  to  encourage.  Strict  search  was  made  for  the 
Christians;  and  torture,  contrary  to  law,  extracted  from  their  slaves, 
evidence  of  their  lustful  orgies  and  Thyestean  banquets.  The 
accused  were  put  to  the  torture,  whicli  was  applied  even  to  Ttoman 
citizens,  and  many  died  in  loathsome  dungeons.  Of  those  sentenced 
to  death,  the  slaves  were  crucified,  the  provincials  were  thrown  to 
wild  beasts,  and  the  Roman  citizens  were  beheaded,  by  the  direction 
of  the  emperor.-  The  bodies  of  the  victims  were  cast  to  the  dogs  ; 
and  the  fragments  which  they  left  were  burnt,  and  the  ashes  flung 
into  the  Rhone,  in  mockery  of  the  hope  of  resurrection. 

Among  the  chief  suti'erers  was  the  aged  bishop,  Pothinus.  AVhen 
asked  by  the  proconsul,  "Who  is  the  God  of  the  Christians?"  he 
answered,  "If  thou  art  worthy,  tliou  shalt  know."  After  the 
torture  ot  a  military  scourging,  he  was  beaten  almost  to  death  by 
the  crowd  on  his  way  to  prison,  where  he  died  in  two  days.  The 
most  signal  example  of  constancy  was  shown  by  a  slave  named 
Blandina,  who  was  put  to  all  the  tortures  that  jiractised  ingenuity 
could  devise^  to  extract  evidence  against  her  Christian  mistress  ;  but 
she  cniy  kept  repeating,  "  I  am  a  Christian,  and  no  wickedness  is 
done  amongst  us."  The  bearer  of  the  letter  from  the  Gallic  churches 
to  Asia  was  a  Presbyter  named  Irknjeus,  a  native  of  Smyrna  and 
disciple  of  Polycarp,  who  returned  to  Lyon  as  successor  to  Pothinus, 
and  who  fills  an  eminent  place  in  the  history  of  the  next  century. 

§  12.  'i'he  date  of  tins  Gallic  persecution  is  alone  sufticient  to 
refute  the  fable,  that  Aurelius  was  at  length  turned  from  his  cruel 
policy  towards  the  Christians  by  a  miraculous  deliverance  which  he 
experienced  in  his  decisive  campaign  against  the  Quadi.  The  story* 
is,  that  the  Roman  army,  hemmed  in  by  the  barbarians,  were 
exhausted  with  fixtigue  and  thirst,  when  a  legion  consisting  wholly 
of  Christians   knelt  down  and   prayed,  and  the  sky  was  quickly 

'  Euseb.  //.  E.  V.  1-3. 

*  Here  is  an  incidental  confirmation  of  the  form  in  which  Paul,  as  a 
Roman  citizen,  surt'ered  martyrdom. 

'  One  example  of  the  infernal  invention,  which  only  inquisitors  callini; 
themselves  Christians  have  equalled,  is  the  case  of  an  Asiatic  citizen  of 
Rome  named  Attalus,  who  was  phiced  in  a  heated  iron  cliair,  and,  at  the 
smell  of  his  burnt  flesh,  he  calmly  charged  his  executioners  with  the  can- 
nibalism of  which  they  accused  the  Christians. 
:     ••  Eu#b.  //.  L\  V.  5. 


78  AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.  Chap.  HI. 

overcast  with  clouds,  which  poured  down  in  torrents  of  rain  to 
refresh  the  Romans  and  discomfit  the  barbarians.  The  emperor 
confessed  the  miracle,  and  j^erpetuatcd  its  memory  by  the  name  of 
the  "  Thundering  Legion  "  (Legio  Fulminatrix).^  But,  in  iact,  the 
title  is  as  old  as  the  time  of  Augustus  ;  the  idea  of  a  legion  of  Chris- 
tian soldiers  at  this  time  is  an  absurdity ;  and  the  deliverance, 
though  attested  by  contemporary  heathen  records,^  is  ascribed  by 
them  to  the  gods  of  Fiome,  to  the  arts  of  an  Egyptian  sorcerer,  or  to 
the  prayers  of  the  emperor  himself.' 

§  13.  CoMMODUS,  the  degenerate  and  infi^mous  son  of  Marcus 
Antoninus  (a.d.  180-192),  is  said  to  have  been  influenced  by  his 
mistress,  Marcia,  to  favour  the  Christians.*  But  their  continued 
exposure  to  the  laws  against  them  is  proved  by  the  martyrdom  of  a 
Eoman  senator,  named  Apollonius.  Accused  by  an  informer,  he 
read  a  defence  of  his  faith  before  the  Senate,  who  condemned  him 
to  be  beheaded.^  The  murder  of  Commodus,  which  put  an  end  to 
the  line  of  the  Antonines,  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  192,  forms 
an  epoch  in  Roman  History  which  nearly  coincides  with  the  close 
of  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  Church. 

§  14.  At  this  epoch,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  faith 
of  C  n-ist  had  been  received  in  every  province  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
from  the  Tigris  to  the  Rhine,  and  even  in  Britain,  and  from  the 
])anube  and  the  Euxine  to  Ethiopia  and  the  Libyan  Desert ;  that  it 
had  spread  over  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Parthian  Empire  and 
the  remoter  regions  of  the  East ;  and  that  it  had  been  carried  beyond 
the  Roman  frontiers  to  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Europe.  The  state- 
ments of  contemporary  writers  are  not  free  from  rhetorical  vagueness  ; 

'  Claudius  Apollinaris,  ap.  Euseb.  H.  E.  v.  5  ;  TertuUian,  ad  Scapul.  4, 
and  more  fully  in  his  Apologij  (c.  5),  where  he  appeals  to  the  letter  of  JI. 
Aurelius  himself,  which  ascribed  the  deliverance  to  the  prayers  of  the 
Christian  soldiers,  and  adds  that,  though  the  emperor  did  not  openly  remove 
the  penalty  to  which  Christians  were  subject,  yet  he  annulled  it  in  another 
way,  by  subjecting  their  accusers  to  a  severer  sentence,  namely  (according 
to  the  letter  appended  to  Justin's  Apologi/),  to  death  by  tire.  But  this 
document  seems  as  spurious  as  the  Edictum  ad  Commune  Asia;  ascribed  to 
Antoninus  Pius. 

*  By  the  emperor's  own  coins  and  the  Antonine  column,  as  well  as  by 
historians  (Xiphil.  Epit.  Dion.  Cass.  Ixxi.  8 ;  Jul.  Capitolin.  Vita  M.  Aurel. 
24;  Themist.  Oral.  xv.  p.  191  ;  Suidas,  s.  v.  'lov\iai'6s). 

^  On  the  emperor's  coin,  Jupiter  is  represented  as  hurling  his  thunder- 
bolts on  the  prostrate  barbarians.     (Eckhel,  Doct?:  Aw/n.  vol.  iii.  p.  61.) 

*  Dio  Cass.  Ixxii.  4;  Origen,  Philosophiimcna  ix.  p.  454. 

*  Euseb.  //.  E.Y.Il;  Hieron.  de  Vir.  Illnst.  42.  The  statement  that  the 
informer,  Severus,  was  punished  with  death,  is  involved  in  mu(;h  doubt; 
and,  if  true,  it  would  rather  seem  that  he  was  punished  as  a  slave  for  be- 
traying his  master,  than  as  an  informer  for  denouncing  a  Christian.  (See 
Giescler,  vol.  i.  p.  132,  note.) 


A.D.  192.        CHRISTIANIiy  AMONG  THE  BARBARIANS.  7^ 

but  their  general  purport  is  confirmed  by  other  evidence.  The  Apolo- 
gists appeal  to  the  wide  extension  of  the  faith  as  a  proof  of  the  divine 
powers  working  with  it.  Thus  Justin  Martyr  says,  "  There  exists 
not  a  people,  whether  Greek  or  barbarian,  or  any  other  race  of  men, 
by  whatever  appellation  or  manners  they  may  be  distinguished, 
however  ignorant  of  arts  or  of  agriculture,  whether  they  dwell 
under  tents  or  wander  about  in  covered  waggons,  among  whom 
prayers  and  thanksgivings  are  not  offered  up  in  the  name  of  a 
cnicified  Jesus  to  the  Father  and  Creator  of  all  things."^  Irenjeus 
names,  besides  the  churches  of  the  Celts  (a  phrase  which  probably 
includes  more  than  those  which  suffered  in  the  persecution  of 
Aurelius),  others  in  Spain  and  Germany.^  TertuUian,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  third  century,  gives  a  list  of  the  nations  among 
which  the  Gospel  had  been  preached  before  his  time,  including, 
besides  the  Spaniards  and  Gauls,  a  number  of  barbarian  tribes : — the 
Moors  and  Gajtulians  of  Africa;  the  Germans,  Dacians,  and  Sar- 
matians,  of  Eastern  Europe  (to  whom  access  had  been  opened  by 
Trajan's  victories  beyond  the  Danube);  the  Scythians  of  Asia; 
and,  in  the  Western  Ocean,  "  Britons  beyond  the  Koman  pale."  ■'' 

The  last  statement,  which  seems  to  imply  the  reception  of  Chris- 
tianity in  lioman  Britain  as  a  matter  of  course,  is  specially  interesting 
because  of  the  favourite  native  tradition  that  a  British  king,  Lucius, 
wrote  to  Pope  Eleutherus,  praying  for  instruction  in  Christianity,  and 
that  the  Britons  were  converted  by  the  two  missionaries  sent  by  the 
Pope.*     Though  the  story  cannot  be  accepted  as  it  stands,  it  may 

»  Dial.  c.  Tn/phon.  117.  We  give  the  passage  in  Gibbon's  free  transla- 
tion. It  is  evidently  not  meant  to  describe  the  geographical  extension  of 
Christianity.  It  was  enough  for  the  writer's  purpose  that  there  were  con- 
verts among  some  nations  in  the  stage  of  civilization  which  he  describes. 

«  Iren.  adc.  IIcbv.  I.  x.  5.  The  last  word,  which  is  in  the  plural 
(Teptiaviais),  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  the  writer  meant  more  than  the 
two  German  provinces  of  Gaul,  on  the  U'ft  bank  of  the  Rhine,  within  the 
empire.  Tertullian,  indeed,  speaks  of  Germans  among  the  barbarian 
Christians— meaning, apparently,  those  on  the  Danube  chieHy,  while  Iren»us 
refers  to  those  on  the  Rhine';  but  it  is  not  likely  that  there  were  more  than 
a  few  scattered  converts  among  their  tribes.  Their  constant  wars  with 
Rome  must  ahnost  have  forbidden  the  entrance  of  Christian  missionaries  ; 
and  the  mass  of  the  Germans  are  found  in  a  heathen  state  down  to  the 
end  of  the  seventh  century.  It  was  probably  among  those  who  served  m 
the  Roman  armies  that  converts  wore  gained. 

^  Tertull.  adv.  Judccos,  c.  vii.  With  regard  to  the  Dacians  and  Sarma- 
tians,  it  should  be  remembered  how  thorough  were  Trajan's  conquests  be- 
yond the  Danube.  Four  Roman  colonies  were  founded  in  the  new  province 
of  Dacia,  the  people  of  which  have  ever  since  boasted  the  name  of  Romans 
(lioumaiii)  and  have  been  lately  re-united  as  the  state  of  Roumania. 

*  The  story  is  told  by  Bede  (//.  E.  i.  4,  and  C/iron.)  with  a  confusion 
of  time  which  can  be  explained  ;  the  date  meant  seems  to  be  during  the 


80  AGE  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.    Chap.  HI, 

be  based  on  some  correspoDdence  between  one  of  the  fjetty  native 
princes  of  Roman  Britain  and  the  Wshop  of  Rome.  It  is  certain  that 
Cliristianity  had  spread  to  Britain  by  the  third  century,  and 
probably  much  earlier.  Origen,  writing  a  little  later  than  'J'er- 
tuUian,  speaks  of  the  Britons  as,  "although  divided  from  our 
world,"  yet  united  with  the  Mauritanians  in  the  worship  of  the  same 
one  God.^  Origen  also  speaks  of  "  myriads  of  barbarians,"  and  even 
of  the  greatest  part  of  the  barbarian  world,  as  "  already  subject  to 
Christ.''^ 

In  the  East,  the -Church  of  Edessa,  the  alleged  Apostolic  founda- 
tion of  which  has  claimed  our  notice,  was  certainly  in  existence  before 
the  latter  part  of  the  second  century,  when  it  was  troubled  by  the 
Gnostic  heresy  of  Bardesanes  ;  and  on  his  testimony  we  learn 
that  the  Gospel  had  been  preached  in  Parthia,  Media,  Persia,  and 
Bactria. 

§  15.  The  internal  state  and  constitution  of  the  Church,  and  the 
lieresies  which  troubled  it,  will  be  best  reviewed  for  the  whole 
period  to  the  end  of  the  third  century.  But  special  mention  is 
due  to  that  great  work  of  the  second  century,  which  fixed  the 
foundations  of  Christian  doctrine  by  the  settlement  of  the  Canon  of 
the  New  Testament.  This  was  not,  indeed,  done  formally  till  the 
Canon  was  ratified  by  the  Council  of  Carthage  in  a.d.  397 ;  but  far 
better  than  any  such  decision  by  authority  is  the  spontaneous  agree- 
ment which  we  find  in  the  writings  of  the  Christian  teachers  of  this 
and  the  following  century :  first,  in  the  principle  that  true  Christian 
doctrine  must  be  decided  by  an  appeal  to  tlie  Book  ;  and,  secondly, 
as  to  the  divine  authority  of  nearly  all  the  books  whi.ch  form  our 
New  Testament,  though  a  few  were  still  disputed. 

joint  reign  of  M.  Aurelins  and  Commodus  (a.p.  177-180;  Eleuthorus  was 
Bishop  of  Rome  from  171  to  192).  Before  Bede,  however,  the  Historia 
Britonum,  ascribed  to  Nennius,  mentions  the  baptism  of  "  Lucius,  Britan- 
nicus  rex,  cum  universis  regulis  totius  Britannia-,"  in  the  year  1G4-,  but 
under  Pope  Evaristus  (a.d.  100-109);  so  that  there  is  a  confusion  either 
in  the  date  or  in  the  name  of  the  Pope.  It  is  added  that  Lucius  was 
named  '■^  Levermaur,  id  est  matini  sploulorls,  propter  fidem  qua?  in  ejus 
tempore  venit."  This  is  usually  umierstood  to  be  the  king's  native  Celtic 
name,  Leu-er  Afaur,  the  "  great  light."  Fuller  accounts  are  given  by 
the  monastic  chroniclers,  especiallv  in  the  Chronicle  of  Abingdon. 

'   Ifom.  in  Luc.  6,  vol.  iii.  p.  9;i9. 

*  Contra  Cclsum,  i.  27  ;  ii.  14. 


Cave-Church  of  the  Apocalypse  in  Patmos.     (From  Calmet.) 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THE  SECOND 
CENTURY. 

I.  The  Patristic  Literature  in  General. — §  1.  The  "Fathers  of 
the  Church" — Significance  and  Extent  of  the  .Title — Conditions  of  its 
application — Why  denied  to  some  most  eminent  Writers.  §  2.  General 
Character  of  the  Patristic  Literature — Compared  with  the  Classical 
Literature — Its  Best  Writers,  and  their  distinguishing  excellences — 
Classification  of  the  Fathers  and  thoir  Writings.  II.  The  Apostolic 
Fathers. — §  3.  Clement  of  Home — His  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians — 
Spurious  Works.  §  4.  Ignatius  of  Antioch  and  the  Ljuatian  Epistles, 
and  the  Controversy  respecting  them.  §  5.  Polycarp's  Epistle  to  the 
Fhilippims.  §  6.  Minor  Works  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers — The  .so-called 
Epistle  of  Barnabas.  §  7.  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas.  §  8.  Papias  of 
Hierapolis.  §  9.  The  Epistle  to  Diognetus — Its  interesting  Picture  of 
Primitive  Christianity.  III.  T«E  Christian  ApOLOtnsTS.— §  10.  Their 
General  Character — Apologists  before  and  contemporary  with  Ju.STiN — 
QuADRATUs  and  Aristides — Arlston  OF  Pella,  Claudius  Apollin- 
ARIS  and  Miltiades.  §  11.  Apologists  later  in  this  Century — Melito 
OF  Sardis — Tatian,  his  Diatessaron — Athenagoras — Theopiiilus — 
Hermias  —  Hegesippus  —  DioNYSius  of  Corinth.  IV.  Polemic 
Writers  against  Heresies. — §  12.  Iren.eus,  Bishop  of  Lyon — His 
work  against  the  Gnostic  Heresies — His  Martyrdom.  V.  The  Pseudo- 
Clementine  Works. — §  13.  Various  kinds  of  Forged  Christian  Writ- 
ings. §  14.  The  Clementine  liccognitiotis  and  Homilies — Theology  of 
the  Clementines — Their  Ecclesiastical  Principles.  §  15.  The  Apostolical 
Constitutions  and  Canons — The  Liturgy  and  Decretals  of  St.  Clement. 


4 


82        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.    Chap.  IV. 


I.  The  Patristic  Literature  ix  General. 

§  1.  As  a  religion  based  upon  historical  facts,  and  upon  a  divine 
revelation  which  gives  guidance  and  support  for  the  present  life 
and  the  promise  and  conditions  of  life  eternal,  Christianity  produced 
of  necessity  a  new  literature,  historical,  didactic,  and  prophetic. 
The  first  stage  of  this  literature  is  fomied  by  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
the  Old  Testament  (or  rather  Covenant),  adopted  as  the  revelation 
preparatory  to  Christianity,  and  the  New  Testament  (or  Cove- 
nant), embodying  the  essential  facts  and  teaching  and  promises,  of 
Christ's  Gospel,  as  recorded  and  inculcated  by  inspired  men,  the 
Apostles  and  their  associated  Evangelists. 

The  absence  of  inspiration,  and  of  personal  communication  with 
and  commission  from  Christ  himself,  makes  a  distinct  line  of 
severance  between  the  Apostles  and  all  later  teachers  and  writers. 
But  a  certain  class  of  those  who  occupy  the  second  stage  of  Church 
literature  are  distinguished  by  the  venerable  title  of  Fathers  of 
the  Church,  or  Church  Fathers,  or  simply  Fathers  (UiWepis, 
Patres,  Patrcs  Ecclesiastic!),  a  term  applied  from  of  old,  and 
in  many  nations,  to  teachers,  and  especially  to  such  as  were 
among  or  near  to  the  founders  of  a  doctrine,  and  indeed  of  any 
system  or  art.' 

In  the  use  now  under  consideration  the  title  has  a  literary  sense, 
denoting  not  simply  the  most  eminent  early  teachers  of  the  Church, 
but  ivriters  whose  works  are  extant  or  known  to  have  existed.  It 
involves  two  other  ideas — antiquity,  and  a  certain  authority,  recog- 
nized, in  whatever  various  degrees,  by  all  sections  of  the  Christian 
Church.  Hence  the  title  is  more  properly  limited  to  the  writers  of 
the  first  five  or  six  centuries,  before  the  severance  of  the  Eastern 
and  "Western  Churches ;  the  period  during  which  the  "  Catholic " 
theology  and  rules  of  the  Church  were  formed,  and  recognized  by 
Oecumenical  Councils.  The  extension  by  the  Romish  Church  of  the 
line  of  the  Patrcs  and  Doctores  Ecclesice  far  into  the  Middle  Ages, 
so  as  to  include  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  and 
even  the  divines  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  is  a  part  of  her  assump- 
tion of  exclusive  catholicity.  Her  use  of  the  title  excludes,  on  the 
other  hand,  some  of  the  earliest  and  most  eminent  of  the  Christian 
writers,  whose  opinions,  as  was  natural  in  the  age  when  dogmatic 
theology  was  only  forming,  deviated  from  the  standard  that  ulti- 
mately prevailed.  As  Professor  Schalf  well  puts  this  ix)int: — 
"  Besides  antiquity,  or  direct  connection  with  the  formative  age  of 
the  whole  Church,  learning,  holiness,  orthodoxy,  and  the  apjiroba- 

'  See  Oon.  iv.  20,  21,  22,  xlv.  8  ;  2  Chron.  ii.  13;  of  a  pi-oi)liet.  2  Kings 
ii.  12,  vi.  21,  xiii.  14;  anil  in  ,1  sense  above  that  of  an  ordin.nry  "instruc- 
tor," 1  Cor.  iv.  l.S. 


Chap.  IV.       CHARACTER  OF  PATRISTIC  LITERATURE.  83 

tion  of  the  Church,  or  general  recognition,  arc  the  qualifications  for 
a  Church  Father.  These  qualifications,  however,  are  only  relative. 
At  least  we  cannot  ai)ply  the  scale  of  fully-developed  orthodox}', 
whether  Greek,  Roman,  or  Evangelical,  to  the  ante-Nicene  Fathers. 
Their  dogmatic  conceptions  were  often  very  indefinite  and  uncertain. 
]n  fact  the  l^omish  Church  excludes  a  Tertullian  for  his  Mon- 
tanism,  an  Okigen  for  his  I'latonic  and  idealistic  views,  a  Fusebius 
for  his  semi-Ariauism,  from  the  list  of  proper  Patrts,  and  designates 
them  merely  Scriptores  Ecchsiastici.  In  strictness,  not  a  single 
one  of  the  ante-iS'icene  Fathers  fairly  agrees  with  the  Eoman 
standard  of  doctrine  in  all  points.  Even  Iren^us  and  Cyi'RIan 
diflered  from  the  Eoman  bishop ;  the  former  in  reference  to  Chiliasni 
and  Moutanism,  the  latter  on  the  validity  of  heretical  bai)tism. 
We  must  resort  here  to  a  liberal  conception  of  orthodoxy,  and  duly 
consider  the  necessary  stages  of  progress  in  the  development  of 
Christian  doctrine  in  the  Church." 

§  2.  The  general  cliaractcf  of  the  patristic  literature  is  excellently 
described  by  the  same  writer : — "  The  ecclesiastical  literature  of 
the  first  six  centuries  was  cast  almost  entirely  in  the  mould  of  the 
Graico-Roman  culture.  The  earliest  Church  Fathers,  even  Clement 
of  Rome,  Hernias,  and  Hippolytus,  who  lived  and  laboured  in  and 
about  Rome,  used  the  Greek  language,  alter  the  example  of  the 
Apostles,  with  such  modifications  as  the  Christian  ideas  required. 
Not  till  tlie  end  of  the  second  century,  and  then  not  in  Italy,  but 
in  North  Africa,  did  the  Latin  language  become,  through  Ter- 
tullian, a  medium  of  Christian  science  and  literature.  The 
Latin  Church,  however,  continued  for  a  long  time  dependent  on  the 
learning  of  the  Greek.  The  Greek  Church  was  more  excitable, 
siHJCulative,  and  dialectic;  the  Latin  more  steady,  practical,  and 
devoted  to  outward  organization ;  though  we  have  on  both  sides 
striking  exceptions  to  this  rule,  in  the  Greek  Chrysostom,  who  was 
the  greatest  practical  divine,  and  the  Latin  Augustine,  who  was  the 
profoundest  speculative  theologian,  among  the  Fathers. 

"  The  patristic  literature  in  general  falls  considerably  below  the 
classical  in  elegance  of  form,  but  far  surpasses  it  in  the  sterling  ^ 
quality  of  its  matter.  It  wears  the  servant  form  of  its  Master 
during  the  days  of  His  flesh,  not  the  splendid  princely  garb  of  this 
world.  Confidence  in  the  jwwer  of  the  Christian  truth  made  men 
less  careful  of  the  form  in  which  they  presented  it.  Besides,  many 
of  the  oldest  Christian  writers  lacked  early  education,  and  had  a 
certain  aversion  to  art,  from  its  manifold  jierversion  in  those 
days  to  the  service  of  idolatry  and  immorality.  But  some  of  them, 
even  in  the  second  and  third  centuries,  jiarticnlarly  Clement  and 
Origen,  stotxl  a  the  head  of  their  age  in  learning  and  philosophical 
culture ;  and,  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  contiuics,  1  lie  literary  productions 


84        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.     Chap.  IV. 

of  an  Athanasius,  a  Gregory,  a  Chrysostom,  an  Augustine,  and 
a  Jerome,  excelled  the  contemporaneous  heathen  literature  in  every 
respect.  Many  Fathers,  like  the  two  Clements,  Justin  Martyr, 
Athenagoras,  Theophilus,  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  and,  among 
the  later  ones,  even  Augustine,  embraced  Christianity  after  attaining 
adult  years ;  and  it  is  interesting  to  notice  with  what  enthusiasm, 
energy,  and  thankfulness,  they  lay  hold  upon  it. 

"In  general  the  excellences  of  the  Church  Fathers  arc  very 
various.  Polycarp  is  distinguished,  not  for  genius  or  learning,  but 
for  p'atriarchal  simplicity  and  dignity ;  Clement  of  Rome,  for  the 
gift  of  administration;  Ignatius,  for  impetuous  enthusiasm  for 
episcopacy,  unity,  and  Christian  martyrdon\;  Justin,  for  apologetic 
zeal  and  extensive  reading;  Iren^us,  for  sound  doctrine  and 
moderation ;  Clement  of  Alexandria,  for  stimulating  fertihty  of 
thought;  Origen,  for  brilliant  learning  and  bold  investigation; 
Tertullian,  for  freshness  and  vigour  of  intellect,  and  sturdiness  of 
character;  Cyprian,  for  energetic  churchliness ;  Eusebius,  for 
industry  in  compilation ;  Lactantius,  for  elegance  of  style.  Each 
also  had  his  weakness.  Not  one  compares  in  depth  and  spiritual 
fulness  with  St.  Paul  or  St.  John ;  and  the  whole  patristic  litera- 
ture, with  all  its  incalculable  value,  must  ever  remain  very  far 
below  the  New  Testament. 

"The  Church  Fathers  before  the  Council  of  Nice  may  be  divided 
into  five  or  six  classes : — 

(1.)  The  Ajoostolic  Fathers,  or  personal  disciples  of  the  Apostles. 
Of  these  Polycarp,  Clement,  and  Ignatius,  are  the  most  eminent. 

(2.)  The  Apologists  for  Christianity  against  Judaism  and 
heathenism;  Justin  Martyr,  and  his  successors  to  the  end  of  the 
second  century. 

(3.)  The  Controversialists  against  Heresies  within  the  Church; 
Iren-eus  and  Hippolytus,  at  the  close  of  the  second  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  third. 

(4.)  The  Alexandrian  School  of  .philosophical  theology  :  Clement 
and  Origen,  in  the  first  half  of  the  third  century. 

(5.)  The  contemporary  but  more  practical  North  African  School 
of  Tertullian  and  Cyprian. 

(6.)  There  were  also  the  germs  of  the  Antiochean  School,  and  some 
less  prominent  writers,  who  can  be  assigned  to  no  particular  class." 

Only  the  first  two  of  these  classes  belong  to  the  second  century.' 

•  The  following  are  the  chief  collections  of  the  Church  Writers  of  the 
first  three  centuries:  Grabe,  Spicilcgium  Patruin  ut  ct  Ifwrciicornm  Swculi 
1,  2,  et  3,  vel  Integra  Monumenta  vel  Fragmenta,  edit.  iii.  Oxon.  1714, 
3  vol*. ;  Rouxn,  ReliquicB  Sacra:,  s.  Auctorum  fere  jam  pcrditorum  Hi. 
Illiijiie  SwcuU  qua;  siipersunt.  Ace.  Synodi  et  Epistola;  Canonica:  Xicwno 
Concilxo  antiquiores,  Oxon.   1814  (edit.   ii.  1848),  5  vols.;    HoRNEMANN, 


A.D.  91-100.  CLEMENT  OF  ROME.  85 

II.  The  Writings  of  the  Apostolic  Fathehs.' 

Of  those  who  bear  this  title,  as  the  reputed  disciples  of  the 
Apostles,  there  are  three  of  special  cmineuce,  who  have  left  at  least 
some  genuine  works. 

§^.  Clement  of  Rome  (Clemens  Romanus),  who  is  said  to 
have  been  the  fourth  Bishop  of  Rome  (91-100),-  and  is  usually 
regarded  as  the  Clement  named  by  I'anl  (Philipp.  iv.  3),  was  the 
author  of  tiie  only  genuine  extant  work  of  the  first  century  which 
has  not  been  received  into  the  Canon,  namely,  his  First  EpiMc  to 
the  Corinthians,  in  Greek.  It  Avas  written,  probably  after  the 
persecution  of  Uomitian,  to  recommend  j^eacc  and  humility  to  the 
Church,  which  was  disturbed  by  dissensions.  A  Second  Epistle  to 
the  Corinth ia7is,  and  two  letters  2o  Virgins,  which  exist  only  in 
Syriac,  are  rejected  by  the  best  critics.  The  undoubted  forgeries 
put  forth  by  the  Gnostics  under  the  name  of  Clement  will  be  spoken 
of  separately. 

§  4.  The  famous  name  of  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  is 
ascribed,  as  we  have  seen,  to  several  ei)istles,  which  purport  to  have 
been  written  to  various  churches  (and  one  of  them  to  Polycarp) 
during  his  journey  to  Rome  for  his  martyi-dom.  They  are  full  of 
energetic  warnings  against  Judaizing  and  Gnostic  heresies,  of 
emphatic  acknowledgments  of  the  deity  of  Christ,  and  of  earnest 
exhortations  to  magnify  the  episcopal  otlice  and  obey  the  bishop  as 
the  representative  of  Christ.  This  last  feature  of  their  teaching  has 
added  polemical  heat  to  a  controversy  which  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  difficult  in  the  whole  range  of  criticism. 

Down  to  the  middle  of  the  17th  century  there  was  a  hmgor 

Ocnnina  Scripta  Grwca  Patrum  AjMstolicorum,  corumrpie  qui  ab  hontm 
(Stale  rccentes  fuerunt,  Harf.  1828-30,  3  vols. ;  GiiUSUOUF,  Bibliothcca 
Patrum  Latinoriim  sdccta,  Lips.  1838,  et  scq<]. 

'  The  works  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers  are  collected  by  Cotelerius, 
Patrinn  qui  tcmponhus  Apostolorum  jiomcrunt  Opera,  Par.  1672 ;  re-edited 
by  Jo.  Clkriccs,  Anist.  1724,  2  vols.  fol. ;  Iri'io,  BiMiotheca  J'atnim 
Apostolicorum,  Lips.  16iV,t  ;  Kussell,  Lond.  1746  ;  Jacohsox,  Oxon.  1838, 
3rd  edit.  1848,  2  vols. ;  Hefelk,  1839,  4th  edit.  Tubingen,  18o5  ;  Muralt, 
Zurich,  1847  ;  Dkessel,  Lips.  1857.  Ofa  new  edition  by  Gebhardt,  Harnack, 
and  Zahn,  in  '.i  parts,  Part  I.  has  appeared  (1875).  There  is  a  good  English 
translation  by  Prof,  ("ukvaujer,  i.f  Durham,  Camb.  187.5. 

-  The  common  Hst  of  liishops  of  Uome,  to  the  end  of  the  second  contnry, 
runs  thus:  1.  Peter  (a.d.  42-6ii).  2.  Linus  (6(3).  3.  Cletus  or  Ana- 
cletus  (78).  4.  Clement  I.  (91).  5.  Anacletus  I.  (100-109).  6.  Evaristus 
(100-109  ;  there  is  a  confusion  ;us  to  the  dates  of  these  two).  7.  Alex- 
ander I.  (lo9).  8.  Sixtus  L  (119).  9.  Telesphorus  (128).  10.  Ilvginiis 
(139).  11.  Pius  L  (142).  12.  Anicetus  (157).  .13.  Soter  (1G8).  14."  Eleu- 
therus  (177).  15.  X'ictor  I.  (192-202).  The  earlier  names,  however,  are 
very  doubtful,  and  the  dates  are  given  very  variously.  (The  above  dates 
are  those  of  Sir  Harris  Nicolas,  Chronolvijn  of  Jlistori/.  pp.  208-211.) 

6 


86       CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.     Chap.  IV. 

recension  of  twelve  Ignatian  Epistles  in  Greek  (besides  three  in  a 
Latin  version  only) ;  but  scholars  agreed  that  these  were  in  great 
part  forged  or  interpolated.  Archbishop  Ussher's  ingenious  restora- 
tion of  the  genuine  epistles  by  the  help  of  two  Latin  MSS.  (1G44), 
was  in  great  measure  confirmed  by  Isaac  Vossius's  discovery  of  a 
MS.  at  Florence,  containing  only  seven  epistles,  in  Greek,  namely, 
those  to  Ephcsus,  Magnesia,  Tralles,  Rome,  Philadelphia,  Smyrna, 
and  to  Polycarp  (1646).  The  discovery  of  this  Shorttr  Itecension 
left  no  reasonable  doubt  of  the  spuriousness  of  the  remaining  eight 
epistles  (the  five  in  Greek  and  the  three  in  Latin),  which  had  been 
already  condemned  for  their  glaring  oflenccs  against  history  and 
chronology,  and  on  other  grounds. 

The  genuineness  of  the  Shorter  Recension  was  ably  defended  by 
Bishop  Pearson  against  the  olijectious  drawn  from  their  strong  epis- 
copal teaching  (^Vindicim  Epistolarum Ignatii,  Cantab.  1672,  repub- 
lished Oxon.  1852).  The  seven  epistles  were  generally  accepted, 
though  writers  of  such  eminence  as  Beausobre  and  Lardner  held 
that  they  were  interpolated,  till  the  controversy  was  rekindled  by 
the  discovery  of  a  part,  at  least,  of  the  lost  Syriac  version,  which  had 
long  been  known  of  and  sought  for.  In  1839  and  1843  the  Rev. 
Henry  Tattam  found  in  the  monastery  of  Nitria,  in  Egypt,'  two 
MSS.,  one  containing  the  Epistle  to  Polycarp,  the  other  the  Epistles 
to  the  Romans  and  Ephesians ;  and  this  Syriac  recension,  of  only 
three  epistles,  was  published  by  the  Rev.  William  (afterwards  Canon) 
Curetott  (1845),  and  more  fully,  with  the  aid  of  a  third  ^IS.,in  a  com- 
plete collection  of  the  Ignatian  Epistles  (Cor/>j<s  Jgnatianum,  1849). 

Thus  to  the  Long  and  Short  Recensions  in  Greek  there  was  added 
a  third  in  Syriac,  shorter  still  not  only  in  the  number  of  the 
epistles,  but  in  the  form  of  the  three  that  are  left ;  for  large  and  im- 
portant passages  of  the  Greek  version  are  absent  from  the  Syriac. 
Two  distinct  questions  arose,  which  must  not  be  confounded : 
(1)  Whether  the  Syriac  version  contains  all  the  authentic  Epistles 
of  Ignatius ;  and  (2)  Whether  it  cont.'^ins  them  in  their  most 
genuine  form.  The  first  conclusions  of  Cureton,  Bunscn,  and 
others,  in  favour  of  both  these  propositions  are  now  generally 
admitted  to  have  been  hasty,  especially  as  to  the  first  point. 

(1)  A&  ioi\\c  Namhcr.  The  subscription  of  the  Syriac  MS.,  "Here 
end  the  Three  Epistles  of  the  Bishop  and  Martyr  Ignatius,"  is  quite 
indecisive,  even  if  added  by  the  translator,  much  more  if  added  only 
by  a  transcriber.  Seven  epistles  were  known  and  used  by  Eusebius ; 
and  Cureton's  collection  contains  fragments  of  a  Syriac  version  of 
the  whole  seven,  which  was  circulated  in  the  East  before  the  date 

.    '  These,  with  3G5  other  Syrinc  MSS.   from  Nitria,  nve  in  the  British 
Museum. 


A.D.  115?  THE  IGNATIAN  EPISTLES.  87 

of  the  Nitrian  MSS.,  which  belong  at  earliest  to  the  sixth  or  seventh 
century.  Tiie  recent  discovery  of  the  Syriac  version  of  the  three 
epistles  would  raise  an  expectation  of  discovering  the  rest,  rather 
than  prove  their  non-existence ;  and  it  is  curious  that  one  of  the  three 
(that  to  Polycarp)  had  been  fixed  on  by  Mosheim  and  Neander  as  the 
most  suspicious  on  internal  grounds. 

(2)  As  to  the  Contents. — The  absence  of  any  passage  in  one  recen- 
sion, which  is  present  in  another,  raises  of  course  a  certain  jiresumption 
of  its  interpolation.  But  this  test  is  not  at  all  decisive,  iiud  least  of 
all  when  the  shorter  recension  lias  the  appearance  of  being  an  abridg- 
ment ;  and  a  careful  comparist)n  of  the  two  has  established  the  proba- 
bility that  the  Syriac  version  is  a  fragmentary  extract  from  the  Greek 
text.'  The  comiviratively  late  date  of  the  Syriac  version  is  a  very 
important  consideration  under  this  head.  Nor  must  avc  overlook 
the  plain  principle  of  criticism,  that  the  pure  text  of  Ignatius  can- 
not be  got  at  by  the  mere  process  of  elimination,  first  from  the 
Ix)nger  IJecension  to  the  Shorter,  and  then  from  the  Shorter  to  the 
Syriac.  The  existence  of  so  many  ditlerent  versions  is  a  strong 
argument  (against  Baur  and  others,  who  impugn  the  genuineness  of 
fdl)  for  the  existence  of  some  genuine  basis  of  epistles  written  by 
Ignatius,^  but  it  is  equally  strong  against  the  supposition  that 
that  basis  is  to  be  found  in  any  one  of  the  existing  texts.  The 
shortest  form  may  be  itself  corrupted,  especially  if  it  is  an  abridg- 
ment of  a  corrupted  copy. 

(3)  The  Present  State  of  the  Controversy  is  summed  up  by  Pro- 
fessor Schaff,  wlio  is  free  from  any  ^Ktlemical  bias,  in  fiivour  of  the' 
Shorter  Greek  Recension,  as  a  whole,  though  not  as  the  pure  unin- 
terpolated  form  of  the  epistles.  IJis  judgment  is  the  more  valu- 
able fur  its  incidental  description  of  some  points  which  characterize 
the  writings  of  the  age  after  the  Apostles.  "We  certainly  grant," 
he  says,  "  that  the  integrity  of  these  epistles,  even  in  the  shorter 
copy,  is  not  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.  As  the  MSS.  of  them 
contain,  at  the  same  time,  decidedly  spurious  epistles,  the  suspicion 
arises,  that  the  seven  genuine  may  not  have  wholly  escajied  the  hand 
of  the  forger.  Yet  there  are,  in  any  case,  very  strong  arguments  for 
their  genuineness  and  substantial  integrity,  viz. :  (a)  The  testimony 
of  the  Fathers,  esi^ecially  of  Eusebius.  (6)  The  raciness  and  fresh- 
ness of  their  contents,   which   a   forger  could  not   well   imitate. 

'  See  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  471. 

'  For  the  fact  that  Ignatius  wrote  such  epistles,  we  have,  long  before 
even  the  early  testimonies  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Oris^cn,  Eusebius, 
and  Jerome,  the  decisive  witness  of  his  friend  Polj-carp,  who,  in  writing 
to  the  Philippians,  promises  to  send  them  the  Epistles  of  T/jnatins.  This 
is  also  an  intirestini;  [ironf  of  the  circulation  of  copies  of  Christian  writings 
in  the  early  Church,  like  that  furnished  hv  Colossians  iv.  16. 


88  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.  Chap.  IV. 

(c)  The  small  number  of  citations  from  the  New  Testament, 
indicating  the  period  of  the  immediate  disciples  of  the  Apostles. 
{d)  Their  w^yy  of  combating  the  Judaists  and  Docetists  (probably 
judaizing  Gnostics  of  the  school  of  Cerinthus),  showing  us  Gnosti- 
cism as  yet  in  the  first  stage  of  its  developement.  (e)  Their  dog- 
matic indcfiniteness,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  Trinity  and 
Christology,  notwithstanding  very  strong  expressions  in  regard  to 
the  divinity  of  Christ.  (/)  Their  urgent  recommendation  of  epis- 
copacy, as  an  institution  still  new  and  fresh.  ((/)  Their  entire  silence 
respecting  a  Roman  primacy,  even  in  the  Episth  to  the  Bomansr ' 

§  5.  No  such  difficulties  attend  the  one  extant  work  of  Igna- 
tius's  friend,  Polycarp.  His  Einstle  to  the  Fhilippiana  is  men- 
tioned by  his  own  disciple,  Irenajus ;  it  is  cited  by  Eusebius,  and 
was  used  in  the  churches  of  Asia  down  to  the  time  of  Jerome  ;  and 
its  contents  agree  with  the  known  life  and  character  of  Polycarp.^ 
The  Epistle  was  written  in  the  name  of  Polycarp  and  the  presbyters 
of  Smyrna,  soon  after  the  death  of  Ignatius.  It  ptaises  the  Phi- 
lippians  for  their  love  shown  to  Ignatius  and  his  companions  in 
bonds,  and  for  their  firm  faith ;  exhorts  them  to  maintain  the 
Christian  virtues  ;  gives  directions  for  the  order  of  the  Church ;  and 
warns  against  Gnostic  heresies.  Its  citations  from  the  Gospels  and 
from  the  Epistles  of  Paul  and  John  furnish  important  evidence  for 
the  New  Testament  Canon.  Polycarp  bears  emphatic  testimony  to 
the  work  and  dignity  of  Christ;  and  he  draws  a  clear  line  of  demar- 
cation between  the  inspired  Apostles  and  teachers  like  himself,  even 
apologizing  for  writing  an  epistle  to  a  church  which  had  been 
taught  by  "  the  wisdom  of  the  blessed  and  glorious  Paul." 

§  6.  To  the  writings  of  these  three  great  teachers  must  be  added 
others  of  less  certain  date  and  of  inferior  authority. 

Such  is  a  Qcneral  Epistle.  (eiria-Tokri  Ka6oXiK7])  against  Jews 
and  Judaizing  Christians,  ascribed  to  Baunabas,  Avhich,  if  genuine, 
sliould  have  been  included  in  the  Canon  of  the  New  Testament, 
for  Barnabas  is  recogni'/Sed  as  an  Apostle.  It  is  cited  as  his  work 
(not  as  that  of  another  and  later  Barnabas)  by  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria and  Origen.  Barnabas  is  not  named,  however,  as  the  author 
in  the  epistle  itself,  but  only  in  its  title.  The  work  is  thoroughly 
suspicious  from  its  disparagement  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  its  alle- 
gorical interpretations  of  Scripture  in  the  spirit  of  the  Alexandrian 
school,  to  the  teaching  of  which,  indeed,  it  maj'  be  regarded  as  a  step. 

'  The  argument  is  also  summed  up  by  Professor  Chevallier,  in  his 
Translation  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers,  and  in  the  Quarterly  'Revieio  for 
Decem))er  1850, 

«  Ircft.  adc.  liar.  III.  iii.  4;  Euseb.  11.  E.  iv.  14,  15,  iii.  36,  v.  20; 
Hicrou.    Vir.  TUuM.  c.  17. 


A.D.  loO?  THE  'SHEPHERD'  OF  HERMAS,  89 

Neander  considers  it  to  be  the  work  of  a  converted  Alexandrian  Jew, 
written  in  a  tone  "  more  consonant  with  the  spirit  of  Philo  than  that 
of  St.  Paul,  or  even  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews."  This  jndgment 
is  the  more  imix)rtant,  as  the  alleged  resemblance  of  style  and 
reasoning  has  been  made  an  argnmcnt  for  the  hypothesis  that  Bar- 
nabas wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The  work  must,  however, 
be  placed  early  in  the  second  century,^  which  makes  its  testimony  to 
the  Christian  Sabbath  specially  important. 

§  7.  The  earlier  part  of  the  second  century  is  also  the  pro- 
bable date  of  the  work  entitled  Tlw,  Shepherd  (Ilot/txj/i/,  Pastor)  of 
a  certain  Hermas.  Its  early  date,  and  the  respect  in  which  it 
■was  held,  are  proved  by  Trenajus's  citation  of  a  passage  from  the 
work,  as  if  from  Scripture."  It  is  likewise  quoted  by  Clement  of 
Alexandria  and  by  Tertullian  ;  but  the  latter  treats  it  with  contempt, 
and  expressly  calls  it  apocryphal.  Origen,  who  even  regards  the 
work  as  inspired,^  first  suggested,  but  only  as  an  opinion  of  his 
own,  that  the  author  was  the  Hermes  {'Epfirjs)  to  whom  Paul  sent 
greeting  (Piom.  xvi.  4).*  But  an  old  fragment  on  the  Canon  (about 
A.D.  170)  "  makes  him  a  brother  of  Pius  I.,  Bishop  of  Rome  (about 
A.D.  150),  and  this  became  the  general  opinion  in  the  Latin  Church. 
The  author  himself  professes  to  be  a  contemporary  of  Clement  of 
Rome;  and  he  seems  to  have  been  a  married  layman,  whom  the  loss 
of  his  wealth  had  brought  to  repentance  and  faith  in  the  Gospel,  to 
the  teaching  of  which  he  had  devoted  himself.  It  is  clear  that  he 
was  a  Roman ;  and  the  Greek  copy  which  we  possess,  full  of 
Latinisms,  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  a  late  version  of  a  Latin 
original.  The  originality  of  the  Greek  text,  however,  is  confirmed 
by  Tischendorfs  discovery  of  a  portion  of  it  in  a  Sinaitic  MS.  of  the 
Bible,  belonging  to  the  fourth  century,  as  well  by  M.  d'Abbadie's 
comparison  of  the  Greek  with  an  andent  Ethiopic  version." 

The  work  is  remarkably  distinguished  from  the  writings  of  the 
known  Apostolic  Fathers,  both  by  its  literary  form  and  the  spirit  of 
its  teaching.  Instead  of  an  Epistle  to  a  Church,  or  an  Apology  to  an 
Emperor,  it  is  a  sort  of  Apocalyjitic  Book ;  and  there  is  no  better 
test  of  the  wide  difference  between  Apostolic  and  post-Apostolic 
writings  than  the  measure  of  its  falling  off  from  the  grand  simplicity 
of  "  John  the  Divine."  As  Schaff  observes,  "  It  often  reminds  one  of 
such  Jewish  apocalyptic  writings  as  the  Book  of  Enoch,  the  Fourth 

'  Hefele  puts  it  between  107  and  120. 

-  E?Tr€i/  ^  ypa<t>-fi.  Iran.  adv.  Ilcer.  iv.  20,  2  ;  Tertnll.  de  Pudicit.  10,  20  ; 
Euseb.  H.  E.  iii.  3  ;  Hieron.  T7/-.  Ithcst.  10. 
'  "  Valde  utilis  et  divinitus  inspirata." 

*  Oi-ia;.  Comm.  in  Epist.  ad  Rom.  x.  31. 

*  JIuratori.  in  Gallandi,  Biblioth.  ii.  208. 

*  Kurz,  Lchrbuch  dcr  Kirchengeschichte,  §  39,  note  1. 


90        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.     Cuap.  IV. 

Book  of  Ezra,  and  the  lost  Book  of  Eldad  and  Medad,  expressly 
cited  by  Hernias.  Its  doctrine  of  angels,  particularly,  flowed  from 
such  apocalyptic  sources.  As  to  its  matter,  the  Pastor  Ikrrnoi 
is  a  sort  of  system  of  Christian  morality,  and  a  call  to  repentance 
and  to  a  renovation  of  the  already  somewhat  slumbering  and 
secularised  Church.  It  falls  into  three  books :  (1)  Visiones ;  four 
visions  and  revelations,  which  were  given  to  the  author  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Rome,  and  in  which  the  Church  appears  to  him, 
first  in  the  form  of  a  venerable  matron,  then  as  a  tower,  and 
lastly  as  a  virgin.  ,(2)  Mandata,  or  twelve  commandments,  pre- 
scribed by  an  Angel  in  the  garb  of  a  Shepherd  (whence  tlie 
title  of  the  book).  (3)  Simililudines,  or  ten  parables,  like  the 
visions,  in  which  the  Church  again  appears  in  the  form  of  a 
building,  and  the  different  virtues  are  represented  imder  the  figures 
of  stones  and  trees." 

The  theology  of  the  Pastor  diverges  greatly  from  that  of  the 
Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians,  and  bears  witness  to  the 
growth  of  that  legal  Jewish  spirit  in  the  Church  of  Kome,  against 
which  Paul  contended  in  his  Epistle.  Like  him,  Hermas  insists  on 
"  the  law  of  Christ,"  but  the  "  Shepherd"  says  nothing  of  justifying 
faith.  He  enjoins  fasting  and  voluntary  poverty,  and  teaches  even 
the  supererogatory  merit  of  good  works,  und  the  sin-atoning  virtue 
of  martyrdom.  He  regards  baptism  as  indispensable  to  salvation, 
insists  on  penance,  much  in  the  later  Romish  sense,  and  rests  on  the 
view  of  an  exclusive  Church,  in  which  alone  salvation  is  to  be 
found.  He  ascribes  supererogatory  merit  to  abstinence,  but  allows 
second  marriage  and  second  repentance,  at  least  till  the  return  of 
the  Lord,  which  is  supposed  to  be  near  at  hand.  Hence  the  disfavour 
with  which  the  work  was  nsgarded  by  the  Montanist  TertuUian, 
who  calls  Hermas  "ille  apocryphus  Pastor  tnoecliorum."  ^ 

§  8.  Papias,  the  friend  of  Polycarp,  and  Bishop  of  Hierapolis 
in  Phrygia  up  to  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  made  a  col- 
lection of  oval  traditions  of  the  works  nnd  ^vords  of  Jesus,  derived 
professedly  from  the  Apostles,  under  the  title  of  Explanations  of 
the  Lord's  Discourses  (Aoyicov  KvpiaKau  e^fjy^aeiy).  The  work 
is  said  to  have  been  still  extant  in  the  thirteenth  century ;  but  we 
now  possess  only  fragments  of  it  in  Irenaius  and  Eusebius.  It  is 
chiefly  remarkable  as  showing  the  grossly  materialistic  views  about 
the  Millennium  which  already  existed  in  the  Church. 

§  9.  To  these  works,  which  bear  the  names  of  Apostolic 
Fathers,  may  be  added  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus,^  the  anonymous 
author  of  which  calls  himself  " a  disciple  of  the  Apostles"   {ano- 

•  De  Pudidt.  20,  §  8. 

*  Some  ascribe  it  to  Justin,  but  this  is  evidently  a  mistake. 


A.D.  130?  THE  EPISTLli  TO  DIOGNETUS.  91 

o-roXo)!/  yevofievos  fiadrjTrjs);  but  this  is  in  the  eleventh  chapter,  which, 
Avith  the  twelfth  and  hist,  is  suspected  to  be  an  addition  by  a  later 
hand.  The  woik  is  a  vindication  of  Christianity,  in  reply  to 
a  distinguished  heathen ;  and  if  this  was  the  Diognetus  who  was 
preceptoi  to  Marcus  Aurelius,  its  date  would  be  brought  down  to 
the  middle  of  the  second  century.  But  it  is  with  more  probability 
assi"-ned  to  tlic  time  of  Trajan  or  Hadrian.  Professor  Schaff  regards 
it,  in  spirit,  as  well  as  in  time,  as  a  transition  from  the  Apostolic 
Fathers  to  the  Apologists,  uniting  the  simple  practical  faith  of  the 
former  with  the  reflective  theology  of  tho  latter  :  "  It  evinces  fine 
taste  and  classical  culture,  is  remarkable  for  its  fresh  enthusiasm  of 
faith,  richness  of  thought,  and  elegance  of  style,  and  is  altogether 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  memorials  of  Christian  antiquity."' 

The  author's  description  of  the  Christians  in  their  relations  to  the 
world  will  furnish  at  once  a  good  specimen  of  the  style  of  the  early 
Christian  literature,  and  a  vivid  contemporary  picture  of  the  state 
of  the  persecuted  Church  in  the  second  century:' — "  The  Christians 
are  not  distinguished  from  other  men  by  country,  by  language,  nor 
by  civil  institutions.  For  tliey  neither  dwell  in  cities  by  themselves, 
nor  use  a  peculiar  tongue,  nor  lead  a  singular  mode  of  life.  They 
dwell  in  the  Grecian-  or  barbarian  cities,  as  the  case  may  be ;  they 
follow  the  usage  of  the  country  in  dress,  food,  and  the  other  affairs 
of  life.  Yet  they  present  a  wonderful  and  confessedly  paradoxical 
conduct.  They  dwell  in  their  own  native  lands,  but  as  strangers. 
They  take  part  in  all  things,  as  citizens,  and  they  suffer  all  things, 
as  foreigners.  Every  foreign  country  is  a  fatherland  to  them,  and 
every  native  land  is  foreign.  They  marry,  like  all  others ;  they 
have  children,  but  they  do  not  cast  away  their  offspring.  They 
have  the  table  in  common,  but  not  wives.  They  live  upon  the 
earth,  but  are  citizens  of  heaven.  They  obey  the  existing  laws,  and 
excel  the  laws  by  their  lives.  They  love  all,  and  are  persecuted  by 
all.  They  are  unknown,  and  yet  they  are  condemned.  They  are 
killed,  and  are  made  alive.  They  are  poor,  and  make  many  rich. 
They  lack  all  things,  and  in  all  things  abound.  They  are  reproached, 
and  glory  in  their  reproaches  ;  they  are  calumniated  and  are  justified ; 
they  are  cursed,  and  they  bless  ;  they  receive  scorn,  and  they  give 
honour.  They  do  good,  and  are  punished  as  evil-doers;  when 
punished  they  rejoice,  as  being  made  alive.  By  the  Jews  they  are 
attacked  as  aliens,  and  by  the  Greeks  persecuted ;  and  the  cause  of 
the  enmity  their  enemies  cannot  tell.     In  short,  what  the  soul  is  in 

»  Epistola  ad  Biognetum,  cc.  5,  6  (p.  69,  scq.  ed.  Otto,  Lips.  1852),  as 
translated  in  Schati's  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  vol.  i.  p.  146. 

■•*  Here  probably  equivalent  to  civilised ;  but  still  a  siijn  that  'Jhristianity 
as  yet  prevailed  more  in  the  Hellenic  than  the  Latin  world. 


92        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.    Chap.  IV. 

the  body,  tlie  Cliristians  are  in  the  world.  The  soul  is  diffused 
through  all  the  naembers  of  the  body,  and  the  Christians  are  spread 
through  tiic  cities  of  the  world.  The  soul  dwells  in  the  body,  but 
is  not  of  the  body;  so  the  Christians  dwell  in  the  world,  but  are  not 
of  the  world.  The  soul,  invisible,  keeps  watch  in  the  visible  body  ; 
so  also  the  Christians  are  seen  to  live  in  the  world,  but  their  piety 
is  invisible.  The  flesh  hates  and  wars  against  the  soul,  suffering  no 
wrong  from  it,  but  because  it  resists  fleshly  pleasures;  and  the 
world  hates  the  Christians  with  no  reason,  but  that  they  resist  its 
plcasin-es.  The  soul  loves  the  flesh  and  members,  by  which  it  is 
hated ;  so  the  Christians  love  their  haters.  The  soul  is  enclosed  in 
the  body,  but  holds  the  body  together ;  so  the  Christians  are 
detained  in  the  world  as  in  a  prison ;  but  they  contain  the  world. 
Immortal,  the  soul  dwells  in  the  mortal  body ;  so  the  Christians 
dwell  in  the  corruptible,  but  look  for  incorruption  in  heaven.  The 
soul  is  the  better  for  restriction  in  food  and  drink  ;  and  the  Christians 
increase,  though  daily  punished.  This  lot  God  has  assigned  to  the 
Christians  in  the  world,  and  it  cannot  be  taken  from  them." 

III.  The  Apologists  for  Christianity. 

§  10.  These  writers  are  placed  in  a  class  by  themselves,  on 
account  of  the  importance  of  their  chief  literary  works,  though  they 
have  left  otiier  writings.  Though  the  earliest  of  them  were  con- 
temporary with  the  Ajjostolic  Fathers,  they  do  not  bear  that  title, 
as  they  were  not  actual  disciples  of  the  Apostles.  They  were,  for 
the  most  part,  philosophers  and  rhetoricians,  who  liad  embraced 
Christianity  in  mature  age,  after  thoughtful  investigation,  as  the 
source  of  that  religious  satisfaction  and  hope  which  they  could  not 
find  in  the  heathen  systems  of  philosophy.  Hence  they  exhibit  a 
culture  and  learning  wliich  is  another  mark  of  distinction  from  the 
Apostolic  Fathers,  and  their  writings  are  the  first  link  between 
ecclesiastical  and  classical  literature. 

Of  Justin,  the  chief  writer  of  this  class  in  the  second  century,  a 
sufficient  account  has  been  given  above  ;  and  we  have  mentioned  the 
earlier  Apologies  of  Quadratus  and  Aristides,  which  were  addressed 
to  the  Emjicror  Hadrian.  Another  early  Ajwlogy  by  Aristo,  of 
Pella,  was  addressed  especially  to  the  Jews.  Claudius  Apol- 
linaris.  Bishop  of  Ilierapolis,  and  the  rhetorician  Militiades, 
addressed  Apologies  to  Marcus  Aurelius  ;  but  their  works  are  only 
known  by  a  few  references. 

§  11,  We  possess  several  extant  works  by  Apologists  who  wrote 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  second  century  : — 

Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  who  suffered  martyrdom  about   the 


A.D.  170,  f.  THE  CHRISTIAN  APOLOGISTS.  93 

same  time  as  Polycarp.  His  Apology,  addressed  to  M.  Aurelius  about 
A.D.  170,  was  only  known  by  references,  till  it  was  lately  discovered 
in  a  Syriac  translation,  among  the  tSyriac  MSS.  acquired  by  the 
British  Museum,  but  it  has  not  yet  been  published.'  Melito  was 
one  of  the  chief  writers  of  the  second  century,  eighteen  works  of  his 
being  mentioned  by  Eusebius.  We  possess  a  fragment  from  him  on 
the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  forms  an  important  link 
in  the  history  of  the  sacred  text. 

Tatiax,  of  Assyria,  was  at  first  an  itinerant  philosopher  like 
Justin,  whom  he  met  at  Eome  and  became  his  disciple.  His 
Discourse  to  the  Greeks  (Ao'yo?  Trpoy  "EXkrjvai)  exposes  the  ab- 
surdities and  immoralities  of  the  Greek  mythology,  and  vindicates 
Ciiristianity  as  the  "  philosopliy  of  the  barbarians."  Tatian  after- 
wards fell  away  to  Gnosticism,  and  founded  the  ascetic  sect  of  the 
Encratites.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  attempt  the  task  of  weaving 
the  four  Gospels  into  one  narrative  ;  but  his  Diutessarvn  (Ata 
Teaadpwv,  literally,  "  according  to  the  Four  "),  or,  as  it  would  now 
be  calleil,  "  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,"  is  no  longer  extant. 

Athenagoras,  an  Athenian  philosopher,  is  said  to  have  been 
converted  by  his  study  of  Ciiristianity  in  order  to  write  a  confuta- 
tion of  the  new  religion.  His  UpfajBda  nepl  Xpia-riavoiv  (which  we 
may  venture  to  translate,  "  IJeport  upon  the  Christians  "),  addressed 
to  M.  Aurelius  and  Commodus,  about  177,  is  a  calm  and  eloquent 
refutation  of  the  charges  of  atheism,  incest,  and  Thyestean  feasts. 
He  has  also  left  a  work  On  the  Resurrection  of  the  Head,  for 
which  he  argues  from  the  natural  destiny  of  man,  as  well  as  from 
the  wisdom,  power,  and  justice  of  God. 

TuEOPiiiLUS,  who  died  bishop  of  Antioch  in  181,  addressed  a 
defence  of  Christianity  to  a  heathen  friend,  named  Autolycus  (rrpo? 
AvToXvKov  TTtpl  TTis  Tcov  XpiaTiovcov  iria-Teas).  In  this  work,  the 
old  Greek  word  Trias  (Tpias)  is  first  applied  to  the  Holy  Trinity. 

We  have  under  the  name  of  Hermias,  a  philosopher  otherwise 
unknown,  a  small  satirical  work,  entitled  Mockery  of  the  Heathen 
Philosophers  {biaavpfios  twv  e^ca  (fjiXoaocfxav),  from  whoso  con- 
tradictions he  illustrates  the  saying  of  Paul,  that  the  wisdom  of  this 
world  is  foolishness  with  God.  It  is  doubtful  whether  this  work 
belongs  to  so  early  a  period  as  the  second  century .- 

AVith  the  Apologists  may  be  classed,  in  point  of  time,  and 
partly  also  for  the  apologetic  object  of  the  work,   the  Memorials 

'  The  Discourse  to  Antoninus  Cirsar,  published  in  Spicilegium  Syriacum 
(1855),  appears  to  be  a  dirteront  work. 

-  The  collected  works  of  these  early  Apologists  have  been  published  b\- 
Prud.  Maranus  (Par.  1742,  and  Venet.  1747),  and,  recentlj-,  in  Otto's 
Corpus  Apologetarum  Christ ianorum  Sccculi  Sccundi.     Jena.',  1847,  st'7'/. 


94        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.     Chap.  IV. 

(inofj.vT]fiaTa)  of  the  Aiiostolic  and  Post-Apostolic  age,  and  particu- 
larly of  the  churches  of  Palestine,  which  were  collected,  in  the 
course  of  his  travels,  by  Hegesippus,  an  orthodox  Jewish  Christian, 
who  died  about  a.d.  180.  The  work,  of  which  fragments  of  con- 
siderable value  are  preserved  by  Eusebius,  is  most  interesting  as  a 
first,  though  very  imperfect,  contribution  to  the  literature  of  Church 
History.  "  His  reports,"  says  Professor  Schaff,  "  on  the  character 
and  martyrdom  of  James  the  Just  and  Simeon  of  Jerusalem,  the 
risQ  of  heresies,  the  episcopal  succession,  and  the  preservation  of  the 
ortliodox  doctrine  1n  Corinth  and  Home,  as  embodied  in  the  History 
of  Eusebius,  claim  attention  for  their  antiquity  ;  but,  as  they  show 
that  his  object  was  apologetic  and  polemical  rather  than  historical, 
and  as  they  bear  a  somewhat  Judaizing  (tliough  by  no  means  Ebion- 
istic)  colouring,  they  must  be  received  with  critical  caution." ' 

Another  writer,  contemporary  Avith  the  Aix)logists,  but  more 
akin  by  his  works  to  the  A^wstolic  Fathers,  was  Dionysius,  Bishop 
of  Corinth  (about  170),  who  wrote  eight  epistles  to  the  Lacedaj- 
monians  (whose  church  is  thus  first  heard  of),  the  Athenians,  the 
Romans,  and  others.  Eusebius  makes  some  valuable  extracts  from 
these  last  works. 

IV.  Polemic  Writers  against  Heresies. — Iren^us. 

§  12.  While  the  Apologists  were  defending  Christianity  against 
Jewish  and  heathen  adversaries  without  the  Church,  the  growth  of 
heresy  within  called  forth  the  earliest  writings  of  the  class  styled 
polemical  (from  ir6\(fj.os,  unr) — that  is,  the  earliest  after  the  Apostles, 
for  the  Epistles  of  Paul  and  John  contain,  as  we  have  seen,  a  strong 
polemic  element,  directed  against  the  beginnings  of  heresy  in  the 
churches.  The  attentive  reader  of  the  Epistles  plainly  sees  that  the 
Ajwstles  do  not  set  to  work  to  draw  up  a  regular  body  of  Christian 
doctrine.  They  make  emphatic  statements  of  the  truths  proper  to 
correct  the  errors  and  false  teaching  that  arose  in  each  church ;  and 
Paul  especially  supports  the  true  doctrines  by  powerful  arguments. 
And  so,  in  the  ensuing  history  of  the  Church,  it  was  from  the  necessity 
of  oi)posing  what  was  regarded  as  false  teaching,  that  Christian 
doctrine  was  cast  into  a  dogmatic  forni.^     'J'he  special  literature  of 

'  The  fragments  of  Hegesippus  are  printed  in  Routh's  EeliquicE  Sacra:. 

'  Here  again,  as  in  the  case  of  the  word  apolor/i/,  a  term  is  \ised  in  its 
proper  sense,  which  has  acquired  a  difierent  meaning  in  vulgar  usage.  In 
this  scientific  sense,  the  Greek  doqma  {S6y/xa,  from  Sok€7v,  '•  to  seem,"  "  to 
V)e  held  as  true,")  is  the  more  exact  equivalent  of  the  Latin  doctrine  {doc- 
trina,  a  "teaching"),  and  the  term  dix/matics  or  dogmatic  t/icologi/ 
expresses  the  whole  statement  and  discussion  of  Christian  truth  as  reduced 
to  definite  jnopositions.  Thus  we  speak  of  the  dogma  of  the  Trinity,  or  of 
justification  by  faith. 


A.D.  178.  LIFE  OF  IREN.EUS.  95 

writers  against  heresy  begins  in  the  second  century  with  Iren^ds 
and  his  pupil  Hippolytus,  who  were  both  of  Greek  education,  but 
had  the  West  for  the  scene  of  their  ecclesiastical  labours  and  rela- 
tions. But,  though  Hipix)lytus  lived  partly  in  the  second  century, 
his  activity  as  a  writer  belongs  to  the  beginning  of  the  third.' 

IREN.EUS  (VJprjualos)'^  was  born  in  Asia  Minor,  between  the 
years  120  and  140,  and  was  taught  in  his  youth  by  Polycarp  of 
Smyrna.^  "  What  I  heard  from  him,"  says  he,  "  that  I  wrote  not 
on  paper,  but  in  my  heart ;  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  constantly 
bring  it  afresh  to  mind  :"  words  which  help  to  explain  tlic  paucity 
of  early  Christian  literature.  A  new  doctrine,  which  comes  from  a 
teacher's  lips  to  his  disciples'  hearts,  lives  there  almost  too  freshly  to 
need  committing  to  the  medium  of  letters,  except  as  special  neces- 
sities arise  for  its  communication  to  others.  As  the  disciple  of 
Polycarp,  Iren;eus  stands  next  to  the  Apostolic  Fathers,  and  is  linked, 
througli  him,  to  the  age  and  teaching  of  St.  John. 

It  is  conjectured  that  he  accompanied  Polycarp  on  his  journey  to 
Rome  respecting  the  Easter  controversy :  at  all  events  he  settled, 
with  others  from  the  Asiatic  Church,  in  Southern  Gaul,  and  he  was  a 
])resbyter  at  Lyon  in  the  time  of  the  i)ersecution  by  M.  Aurelius. 
The  mission,  on  which  we  have  seen  him  carrying  to  Rome  an  account 
of  the  martyrdoms  at  Lyon  and  Vienne,  was  entrusted  to  him  as  a 
means  of  allaying  the  heats  engendered  by  the  Montanist  disputes.'*  It 
was  probably  during  his  absence  that  he  was  chosen  to  succeed  the 
martyred  Pothinus  as  Bishop  of  Lyon  (178),  where  he  laboured  for 
the  oppressed  Church  for  nearly  five-and-twenty  years,  by  his  writings 
as  well  as  his  pastoral  teaching  and  government.  It  was  during  the 
early  years  of  his  episcopate  that  Irena^us  wrote,  in  Greek,  the  great 
work  against  the  Gnostic  heresies,  from  which  nearly  all  our  know- 
ledge of  Gnosticism  is  derived.'  Its  full  title  is  "EXeyxof  fal 
iivaTpoTTT}  rrji  yl/evbcouvfiov  yv^aeui,  but  it  is  commonly  quoted  by 
the  Latin  title  used  by  Jerome,  JdversKS  Hirreses.  Of  its  five  books 
we  possess  the  greater  ix)rtion  in  a  literal  Latin  version  crowded  with 
Graicisms.  Fragments  of  the  Greek  original  are  preserved  by  Eu- 
sebius,  Theodorct,  and  especially  Epiphanius  (H<er.  xxxi.  cc.  9-33).® 

>  See  Chap.  Tl.  §  15. 

-  The  name  sicrniHes  Peaceable.  Eusebius  notices  the  agreement  of  the 
hishop's  name  with  his  labours  for  the  peace  of  the  Church,  especially  in 
relation  to  the  controversy  about  Easter. 

^  hen.  .((//•.  ILrr.  III.  iii.  4.  Mr.  Harvey  supposes  Irenwus  to  have  been 
a  native  of  Syria.     Intniditction  to  Iren.aus,  p.  cliv. 

*  Res])ectini:;  Montanism,  see  Chap.  VI.  §  18. 

*  The  work  was  written  .lurina;  the  pontificate  of  Eleutherus  at  Rome, 
that  is,  between  the  years  177  ami  192. 

"  A  too  literal  version  is  often  made  clearer  to  the  mind  by  re-transla- 


96        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.    Chap.  IV. 

As  Eusebius  observes,  Irenjeus  verified  the  significance  of  his  name 
by  securing  the  peace  of  the  Church,  when  it  was  imperilled  by 
Victor  I.  of  Rome  with  respect  to  the  Easter  controversy.  Brought 
up  in  the  usage  of  the  Asiatic  churches,  he  had  adopted  at  Lyon  the 
]\oman  rule,  which  prevailed  through  the  West.  In  the  name  of 
his  church,  he  wrote  to  Victor,  counselling  moderation ;  and  the 
result  was  that  the  Asiatic  churches,  having  in  a  circular  letter 
cleared  themselves  from  the  suspicion  of  heretical  leanings,  were 
allowed  to  retain  their  own  usage,  till  the  Council  of  Kice  esta- 
blished a  uniform'  rule  for  the  Catholic  Church.  The  common 
statement  of  later  writers,  that  Irena^us  suffered  martyrdom  in  the 
persecution  of  Septimius  Severus  (a.d.  202),  is  rendered  somewhat 
doubtful  by  the  silence  of  TertuUian  and  Eusebius.  The  same 
tradition  fixes  his  burying-place  under  the  altar  of  the  church  of 
St.  John  at  Lyon. 

V.  The  Pseudo-Clementines. 

§  13.  It  has  been  observed  above,  how  early  Christians  were  led 
into  the  fatal  i^ractice  of  seeking  authority  for  disputed  doctrines  in 
works  doubtfully,  or  even  falsely,  ascribed  to  their  great  teachers. 
Among  the  writings  of  the  second  century  are  a  multitude  of  apo- 
cryphal Gospels,  Acts,  and  A^wcalypses,  ascribed  to  the  Evangelists 
and  Apostles,  besides  forged  Jewish  prophecies,'  such  as  the  Testa- 
ments of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs.  To  these  were  added  the  pretended 
prophetic  utterances  with  which  even  heathen  seers  were  said  to 
have  been  inspired,  such  as  the  books  of  Hydasi)es,  of  Hermes 
Trismegistus,  and  the  Sibyls ;  but  w-e  cannot  stay  to  describe  these 
curiosities  of  literature. 

Among  the  alleged  writings  of  the  Post-Apostolic  age,  we  have 
seen  how  much  is  either  verj^  doubtful  or  clearly  spurious.  Still 
the  Epistles  falsely  ascribed  to  Ignatius  and  Polycarp  are  more  or 
less  in  harmony  with  their  spirit  and  doctrines.  But  the  Judaizing 
Gnostics  did  not  scruple  to  embody  their  views  in  forged  works, 
bearing  the  venerable  name  of  the  earliest  Apostolic  Father,  Clement 
of  liome.  Tiie  fascinating  style  of  these  first  Christian  romances, 
their  moral  earnestness  and  tender  feeling,  have  combined  with  the 

tion  into  the  original  language.  Such  an  attempt  has  been  made  on  the 
first  four  chapters  of  the  third  book  of  Irena;us  by  H.  W.  Thiersch,  io  'the 
Stiidien  mul  Kritiken  for  184-2. 

'  See  Fabricius,  Cuilcx  Pscvdcpiqraphns  Vet.  Test.  Hamb.  1722,  and 
Codex  Apocnjphus  A'oi:  Test.  1719 ;  Thilo,  Codex  Apocr.  K  T.  Lips. 
1832;  Gfrorer,  Prophetic  Vet.  Psendepigraphi,  ex  Abessyn.  rel  I/ebr. 
I.atinc,  iHntti^.  1840;  Tischendorf,  Ecungelia  Apocrypha,  Lips  18.')3,  and 
Acta  Apostoloruin  Apocryplui,  Lips.  1851. 


Ci;xT.  II.  THE  PSEUDO-CLEMEKTLNES.  97 

support  they  give  to  the  pretensions  of  the  Roman  see  to  secure 
them  a  place  in  Christian  literature  from  which  the  merest  touch  of 
criticism  at  once  casts  them  down. 

§  14.  The  pseudo-Clementine  writin;4s  consist  of  two  chief  works, 
the  Ixecognitions^  and  the  Homilies,  embodying;  very  different  views. 
Some  sui){K)se  the  Jlotuilies  to  be  an  heretical  jierversion  of  the 
Ilecocjnitiwis ;  but  the  converse  seems  more  probable,  namely,  that 
the  Homilies  present  the  original  form  of  the  work,  of  which  the 
Itecognitions  are  a  more  orthodo.\  version.  The  IJamilics  are 
supposed  to  have  been  concocted  in  Syria,  the  liecoynitious  at 
Konie.  The  former  is  the  work  commonly  designated  as  the  Cle- 
mentines. Besides  the  full  Greek  text,  there  is  a  poor  abridgment 
of  the  work,  under  the  title  of  an  Epilome^^ 

The  Homilies  appear  to  have  been  written  in  the  second  half  of  the. 
second  century  by  a  Jewish  Christian,  who  was  versed  in  the  heathen 
systems  of  philo.-:x>phy.  While  fathering  his  work  upon  St.  Clement, 
he  confuses  tlie  Apostolic  liishop  of  l\ome  with  Flavins  Clemens, 
kinsman  of  the  Emperor  Domitian.  But  the  introduction  (though 
transparently  fictitious)  assigns  to  the  Homilies  that  higher  Apostolic 
authority  which  has  commended  them  to  the  Church  ofRomc.  In 
tliis  jireface,  Clement  writes  to  the  Apostle  James  the  Less,  .sending 
him  the  Homilies,  as  being  a  summary  of  the  preacliiug  of  Peter 
on  his  apostolic  journej's,  composd  at  the  instance  of  Peter  him- 
self, who,  shortly  before  his  death,  had  named  Clement  his  successor 
in  the  see  of  Home.  There  is  also  a  letter  of  Peter  to  James, 
begging  him  to  keep  the  sermons  strictly  secret.  Thus  does  the  writer 
attempt  at  once  to  give  his  work  the  authority  of  Peter,  and  to 
account  for  its  late  jmblication. 

The  work  is  described  by  Professor  Schaff^  as  "a  phiWophico- 
religious  romance,  based  on  some  historical  traditions,  which  it  is 

"  The  ten  books  of  the  Recognitions  are  mentioned  by  Origen,  but  they  arc 
now  extant  only  in  the  Latin  version,  "  Clenientis  Komani  Recognitione.s 
{avayvwatis,  avayvuipia-^ol  tov  KA7?;u€Vtoj),  interpretc  Hiifino,"  in  the  col- 
lections ot"  Cotelicr,  (iallandi,  and  (iersdorf,  and  in  a  Syriac  version  (ed. 
Lagarde,  I.iiis.  18G1).  The  title  of  the  Jiecognitions  is  derived  from  the 
narrative,  in  the  later  books,  which  tells  how  the  scattered  members  of  the 
Clementine  family  were  finally  re-united  in  Christianity  and  baptized  by 
Peter. 

^  lipitomc  de  Gestis  Petri,  or  Ta  KAijjueWio,  or  more  fully,  KA^^ei/ros 
roiv  TlfTpov  firiSjiuiicv  KTipvyfidruv  tirironT).  first  ])ublished  (withtiut  the 
•_>Uth  lloinily)  at  I'aris,  l.'),'>.^  ;  then  by  Cot.-lier  (Patrcs  A/'ost.  Par.  1672), 
and  by  Schwegler,  Stuttg.  1847.  The  complete  work  was  first  edited  from 
anew  MS.  by  A.  Dresscl,  "Clementis  Komani  (jujc  feruutur  Homilix 
^'iginti  nunc  primum  integra;,"  with  a  Latin  translation  and  Notes, 
<lottinf;.  18j3  ;  Dressel  has  also  edited '' Clementinorum  Ei)itoma;  dua'," 
Li|.s.  1859. 

*  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  vol.  i.  jip.  216,  foil. 


98       CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.     Chap.  IV. 

now  impossible  to  separate  from  philosophical  accretions."  The 
substance  of  the  Homilies  themselves  is  briefly  this :  Clement,  an 
educated  Koman,  of  the  imperial  family,  not  satisfied  with  heathen- 
ism, and  thirsting  for  truth,  goes  to  Judea,  having  heard  that  Jesus 
liad  appeared  there.  At  C;i!sarea  he  meets  with  the  Apostle  Peter; 
and,  being  converted  by  him,  accompanies  him  on  his  missionary 
journeys,  and,  at  the  Apostle's  request,  commits  the  substance  of  his 
discourses  to  writing.  Chief  among  these  are  the  disputations  of 
Peter  with  Simon  Magus,  who  is  made  the  author  of  all  anti- 
Jewish  heresies,  especially  of  the  Marcionite  Gnosticism.  But  it  is 
conjectured  that  the  real  "  deceiver,"  whom  the  writer  attacks  under 
the  mask  of  Simon,  without  venturing  to  utter  his  true  name,  is 
Paul  himself.  "  The  doctrine,  which  the  psuedo-Ciement  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  Peter,  is  a  confused  mixture  of  Ebionistic  and  Gnostic, 
ethical  and  metaphysical,  ideas  and  fancies.  He  sees  in  Christianity 
only  the  restoration  of  the  pure  primordial  religion,  which  God 
revealed  in  the  creation,  but  which,  on  account  of  the  obscuring 
power  of  sin  and  the  seductive  influence  of  demons,  must  be  from 
time  to  time  renewed.  The  representatives  of  this  religion  are  the 
seven  pillajrs  of  tlie  workl,^  Adam,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  Moses,  and  Christ.  Tliese  are  in  reality  only  ditierent  incar- 
nations of  the  same  Adam  or  primal  man,  tlie  true  prophet  of  God, 
who  is  omniscient  and  infallible."  The  faults  recorded  of  the 
patriarchs,  from  the  ftill  of  Adam  downwards,  as  well  as  all  imworthy 
views  of  God  (those  especially  which  liken  him  to  man)  are  ac- 
counted for  as  inter^wlations  made  by  demons  in  the  Scrijitures.  To 
Adam,  Moses,  and  to  Christ  above  alt,  he  assigns  the  highest  rank 
among  the  jirophets  and  lawgivers,  but  he  allows  Christ  no  supremer 
dignity  or  nature.  "  The  history  of  religion,  therefore,  is  not  that  of 
progress,  but  only  of  return  to  the  primitive  revelation.  Christianity 
and  Mosaism  are  identical,  and  both  coincide  with  the  religion  of 
Adam.  Whether  a  man  believe  in  Moses  or  in  Christ,  it  is  all  the 
same,  provided  he  blaspheme  neither.  But  to  know  botli,  and  to 
find  in  both  the  same  doctrine,  is  to  be  rich  in  God,  to  recognize  the 
new  as  old,  and  the  old  as  become  new.  Christianity  is  an  advance 
only  in  its  extension  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  and  its  consequent 
universal  character." ^ 

His  acknowledgment  of  one  God,  the  Creator,  is  distinctly  Ebion- 
istic, as  opposed  to  the  dualism  of  the  Gnostics.  But  then  in  tlie 
dual  form  of  antithesis,  which  he  ascribes  to  the  whole  creation, 
and  which  returns  to  God  as  its  final  rest,  his  scheme  accords 
with  the  Gnostic  view  of  a  pantheistic  emanation.  "The  ful- 
filling of  the  law,  in  the  Ebionistic  sense,  and  knowledge,  on  a 

'  Comp.  Prov.  ix.  1,  «  Schaff,  I.  c. 


Cent.  II.      APOSTOLICAL  CONSTITUTIONS  AND  CANONS.  99 

half-Gnostic  principle,  are  the  two  parts  of  the  way  of  salvation. 
The  former  includes  frequent  fasts,  ablutions,  abstinence  from  animal 
footl,  and  voluntary  poverty,  while  early  marriage  is  enjoined,  to 
l>revent  licentiousness.  In  declaring  baptism  to  be  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  tiie  forgiveness  of  sin,  the  author  approaches  the  Catholic 
system.  He  likewise  adopts  the  Catholic  principle  involved,  that 
salvation  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  external  Church.  As  regards 
ecclesiastical  organization,  he  fully  embraces  the  episcopal  mon- 
archical view.  The  bishop  holds  the  place  of  Christ  in  the 
congregation,  and  has  ix)wer  to  bind  and  loose.  Under  him  stand 
presbyters  and  deacons.  But  singularly,  and  again  in  true  Ebionistic 
style,  James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  which 
is  the  centre  of  Christendom,  is  made  the  general  Vicar  of  Christ, 
the  visible  head  of  the  whole  Church,  the  Uishop  of  Bishops.  Hence 
even  Peter  must  give  to  James  an  account  of  his  labours.  It  is  very 
easy  to  see  that  this  appeal  toapseudo-Petrine  primitive  Christianity 
■was  made  by  the  author  of  the  Homilies  with  a  view  to  reconcile 
all  the  existing  difl'erences  and  divisions  in  Christendom." 

§  15.  Besides  the  llomilies  and  liecognitions,  the  nameof  Ckment 
was  used  to  give  authority  to  the  so-called  Apostolical  Constitutions 
and  Canons,  derived  by  him,  professedly,  from  the  Ajwstles.  The 
Apostolic  Constitutions '  are  eight  books  of  moral  exhortations. 
Church  laws  and  usages,  and  liturgical  formularies,  collected  probably 
from  the  teaching  and  customs  of  the  early  Churches,  which  the 
compiler  pretends  to  have  been  taught  or  dictated  by  the  Apostles  to 
the  Roman  bishop  Clement.  The  first  six  books,  which  form  the 
basis  of  the  work,  compiled  probably  in  Syria  in  the  second  century, 
have  a  strongly  Jewish-Christian  tone.  The  seventh  and  eighth 
books  are  a  distinct  work,  belonging  to  the  beginning  of  the  4th 
century,  before  the  Council  of  Nice.  The  design  of  the  whole  collec- 
tion was  to  set  forth  rules  of  ecclesiastical  life  for  the  clergy  and 
laity,  and  to  maintain  the  power  of  the  episcopal  order.  The  work 
formed  the  prevalent  standard  of  discijjline  in  the  Kast,  till  it  was 
rejected  for  its  heretical  interpolations  by  the  TruUan  Council,  in 
A.u.  G92. 

The  Apostolic  Canons^  are  85  (in  some  copies  50)  brief  rules  of 

'  AiaTa7al  ruv  ayloiv  ^kiroajSKuv  5ja  KX^juei/ros,  also  entitled  AiSao-- 
KaAia,  AiaTa|€i;,  AiSaxaJ  tuu  'Airoa-T6\wy,  and  AiSatrKaAia  KaBoKiKij. 
Printed,  under  the  title  of  Coustituthius  A]MStijlic(r,  in  Cutelerius  (vol.  i. 
p.  I9y,  scqij.),  and  in  the  collections  of  Councils  by  Mansi  and  Harduin, 
and  newly  edited  by  Ueltzen,  Rostock,  1833.  English  translation  : — 
Chasi;,  Constitutions  </  t/w  Ifol;/  Apostles,  includin;]  the  Canons  ;  Whiston's 
version,  revised  from  the  (ireek  ;  with  a  prize  essay  (by  Krabbe)  upon 
their  oric;in  and  contents,  New  York,  1848. 

"  Kav6v(s  fKK\ri(Tiaa-TtKo\  twv  aytwv'ArroaroKwv,  Canotics,qui  (licunti(r. 


100      CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  SECOND  CENTURY.    Chap.  IV. 

prescriptions,  added  as  au  api)endix  to  the  8th  Book  of  the  Con- 
stilutions,  but  also  existing  separately  in  Greek,  Syriac,  Ethiopic, 
and  Arabic  MSS.  "  Their  contents  are  borrowed  partly  from  the 
Scriptures,  partly  from  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  partly  from  tradition, 
and  partly  from  the  decrees  of  early  councils  at  Antioch,  Neo- 
ca3sarea,  Nice,  Laodicea,  &c.  They  are  therefore,  evidently  of 
gradual  growth,  and  were  collected  either  after  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century,  or  not  till  the  latter  jiart  of  the  fifth,  by  some 
imknowu  hands,  probably  also  in  Syria.  They  are  designed  to 
furnish  a  complete  system  of  discipline  for  the  clergy.  Of  the  laity 
they  say  scarcely  a  word.  The  85th  and  last  canon  •  settles  the 
Canon  of  the  Scripture,  but  reckons  among  the  New  Testament 
books  two  Epistles  of  Clement  and  the  genuine  books  of  the  pseudo- 
Apostolic  Constitutions.  The  Greek  Church,  at  the  Trullan  Council 
of  692,  adopted  the  whole  collection  of  85  canons  as  authentic  and 
binding.  The  Latin  Church  rejected  it  at  first,  but  subsequently 
decided  for  the  smaller  collection  of  50  Canons,  which  Dionysius 
Exiguus,  about  the  year  500,  translated  from  a  Greek  manuscript."^ 

The  so-called  Lituniy  of  St.  Clement  is  a  part  of  the  8th  Book  of 
the  Apostolical  Constitutions. 

Five  Decretal  Letters,  forged  in  the  name  of  Clement,  are  placed 
at  the  head  of  tiie  famous  pscudo-Isidorian  Decretals.^  Three  of 
them  are  a  part  of  that  fabrication  ;  the  other  two,  addressed  (like 
the  Homilies)  to  James,  are  older  than  the  pseudo-Isidorians. 

Apostolormn.  They  are  printed  by  Cotelerius,  JIansi,  and  Harduin,  and  in 
most  collections  of  Church  law,  and  newly  edited  by  De  Lagaude,  Eeli- 
quicc  Jtiris  Eccles.  Antiquissiinw,  Syr.  ct  Grccc.  Lips.  1856. 

1  Schaff,  vol.  i.  pp.  442-3. 

?  Respecting  this  famous  forgery  of  the  9th  century,  see  Chap.  XXII.  §  9. 


Altar  of  S.  Allcssamlro  on  the  Via  N<inieritana,  near  Home.    Probably  of  the 
5tU  Century. 


Symbol  of  the  Cliurch  as  a  Ship. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THHiD  CENTURY. 

rnoM  THE  accession  of  septimils  sevekus  to  constantine's  edict 
OF  toleuatiox,  a.d.  192-313. 

§  1.  Roign  of  Septimius  Seveuus  (a.d.  193-211) — Local  Persecutions  of 
the  Christians — The  Fifth  General  Persecution — The  African  Martyrs — 
Perpetua  and  Felicitas.  §  2.  Christianity  under  Caracalla  (a.d.  211- 
217),  Elagaualus  (a.d.  218^222),  and  Alexander  Sevkrus  (222- 
23.'>) — Honours  paid  by  Alexander  to  Christ — Favour  of  his  Mother, 
JIama'a,  for  the  Christians — Continued  Persecutions  in  the  Provinces — 
The  Sassanid  Dynasty  in  Persia.  §  3.  The  Sixth  Ferseaitiun,  under 
Maximin  (a.d.  235-238).  §  4.  The  Emperors  Gordian  (238-244)  and 
Philip  (244-249) — The  Millennium  of  Rome — Alleged  Christianity  of 
Philip.  §  5.  The  Seventh  I'erseciition,  under  Decius  (249-2.")l),  a 
really  General  Persecution — Its  Spirit  and  Object — §  G.  Eft'ect  of  this 
Persecution  on  the  Church — The  "  Lapsed  " — Flight  from  Persecution, 
defended  by  Cvprian — Enthusiasm  for  Martyrdom — Legend  of  the 
Seven  Sleepers  of  Ephesiis.  §  7.  Reigns  of  Gallus  (251-253)  and  Vale- 
rian (253-260)  —  The  Eighth  General  Persecution  —  Martyrdom  of 
Cvprian  of  Carthage  and  Sixtus  11.  of  Rome — Legend  of  St.  Lawrence. 
§  8.  Gallienus  (a.d.  254—268)  issues  the  First  Edicts  of  Toleration — 
Eminent  Positions  held  by  Christians.  §  9.  The  inetlectual  Edict  of 
Ai'RELiAN  (a.d.  270-275),  wrongly  called  the  Ninth  Persecution — The 
Settlement  of  the  Empire  by  DIOCLETIAN  (284-305) — His  colleague 
JIaximinian,  and  the  Ca?sars,  Galerius  ami  Constantius.  §  10. 
Christian  Dignitaries  of  the  Empire — Peace  enjoyed  by  the  Church  for 
twenty  years,  but  with  partial  interruptions — Story  of  St.  Maurice  and 
the  Theban  Legion — Legends  of  St.  Gereon,  &c.  §  11.  Progress  of 
Christianity  to  the  End  of  the  Third  Century — Hindrances  to  Christianity 
— The  decay  of  Heathenism  and  confessed  need  for  a  better  Religion. 
§  12.  Facilities  for  its  Dirtusion — Its  Missionaries  and  ^'ersions  of  the 
Scriptures — Numbers  of  the  Christians  through  the  Empire.  §  13. 
Churches  in  Asia  and  Africa — Of  Rome  and  Italy — In  Gaul,  and 
among  the  Germans  and  other  Barbarians — In  Spain  and  Britain — 
Christianity  in  Persia.  §  14.  Literary  Opposition  to  Christianity — The 
Life  of  Ai>OLLOMLS  of  Tyana  by  Piiilostratis,  and  the  Discourses  of 


102  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  Chap.  V. 

HiEROCLES.  §  15.  LuciAN  of  Samosata — His  Life  and  Death  of 
Feregrinus — The  Ti-ue  Discourse  of  Cklsus.  §  16.  Rise  of  Neo- 
Platonism — Its  Spirit  and  Doctrines — Its  Religious  System — Its  Magic 
and  Superstition — Ammonius  Saccas — Plotinus  and  his  Successors — 
Porphyry's  Discourses  against  the  Christians.  §  17.  The  great  Tenth 
Persecution  throughout  the  whole  Empire — First  Edict  of  Diocletian. 
New  causes  of  exasperation — Search  for  the  Scriptures — The  traditores. 
§  18.  Second,  third,  and  fourth  Edicts — Their  various  enforcement  in 
the  Provinces — St.  Alban  and  the  British  Martyrs.  §  19.  Abdication 
of  Diocletian  and  Maximian — Persecuting  fury  of  Maximin.  §  20. 
Death  of  CoNSTA«TiUS — Tolerant  Edict  of  Galerius — Victory  of  CoN- 
STANTiNE  over  Maxentius — His  Edict  of  Milan,  establishing  universal 
freedom  of  religion. 

§  1.  The  extinction  of  the  Antonine  line  by  the  death  of  Corn- 
modus  caused  a  change  in  the  relations  of  the  empire  to  religion. 
The  distinguished  princes  who  had  reigned  duriag  the  second 
century,  as  representatives  of  the  Roman  senate  and  people,  were 
firm  adherents  of  the  national  religion.  The  line  of  emperors  who 
followed  them,  and  assumed  the  honoured  name  of  Antoninus,^  were 
imbued  with  an  Oriental  spirit,  and  had  little  zeal  for  the  deities  of 
the  Capitol.  The  successful  competitor  for  the  purple,  Septimius 
Severus  (a.d,  193-211),  was  of  Punic  origin,  and  his  wife,  Julia 
Domna,  was  a  Syrian.  She  is  said  to  have  favoured  the  Christians, 
to  whom  Severus  was  at  first  not  unfriendly.^  But  the  Christians 
were  still  exposed  to  popular  fury ;'  and  the  old  laws  against  them 
were  made  a  new  engine  of  oppression  by  the  caprice  and  rapacity 
of  provincial  governors.^  As  the  Church  grew  in  numbers,  the 
pure  spirit  of  martyrdom  declined ;  toleration  or  escape  was  pur- 
chased by  a  bribe ;  and  governors  put  to  death  a  few  of  the  }X)orer 
Christians,  to  frighten  the  rich  into  paying  freely.  Such  bribes 
became  in  some  places  a  regular  tax,  like  the  licence  to  carry  on 
disreputable  callings.  Bishops  defended  the  practice  by  the  example 
of  Jason  ;*  and  its  chief  opponents  were  found  among  the  heretic 
Marcionites  and  Montanists.  Tertullian  condemns  alike  the  "  gra- 
tuitous ransom  of  flight,  and  escape  by  a  ransom  in  money."  ° 

On  his  return  to  Rome  from  his  successful  expedition  against  the 

*  There  was  ii  fivmily  connection  between  Septimius  Severus,  his  sons 
Caracalla  and  Geta,  and  the  emperors  Elagabalus  and  Alexander  Severus. 

-  TertuU.  ad  Scapulain,  4.  This  toleration  is  ascribed  to  a  cure  wrought 
on  Severus  by  an  anointing  with  oil  at  the  hands  of  a  Christian  named 
Proculus  Torpacion,  whom  the  Emperor  kept  near  his  person.  His  son 
Caracalla  seems  to  have  had  a  Christian  nurse,  for  Tertullian  speaks  of  him 
as  "  brought  up  on  Christian  milk." 

»  TertuU.  ApoL  12,  30.  ■»  Acts  xvii.  9. 

*  Tertull.  de  Fuga  in  Fersecufione,  12  :  "  Sicut  fuga  redemptio  gratuita 
est,  ita  redemptio  nummaria  fuga  est." 


A.D.  202.  THE  FIFTH  GENERAL  PERSECUTION.  103 

Parthians  (a.d.  202),  Severus  issued  an  edict,  that  none  of  his 
subjects  should  embrace  Judaism  or  Christianity  imder  a  heavy- 
penalty.'  This  edict  seems  to  have  been  in  the  spirit  of  the  old 
laws  against  illegal  societies,^  and  to  have  been  suggested  in  part 
by  what  Severus  saw  in  Palestine  of  Jewish  fanaticism,  in  part  by 
the  rumours  of  the  coming  of  Christ,  which  suggested  a  new- 
competitor  for  the  purple,  after  the  two  whom  he  had  put  down.^ 
Signs  of  disloyalty  were  probably  seen  in  the  refusal  of  the  Christians 
to  join  in  celebrating  the  emperor's  triumph,  since  Tertullian 
explains  their  abstinence  from  the  indecent  heathen  rites,  in  which 
conscience,  and  not  disloyalty,  forbad  their  taking  part.* 

It  is  only  the  conjecture  of  Gieseler,^  that  this  Fifth  Persecution 
was  provoked  in  part  by  the  excesses  of  the  fanatical  sect  of  the 
Montanists,  which  had  lately  arisen  in  Africa ;  but,  at  all  events, 
its  severity  was  confined  to  the  African  provinces.  At  Alexandria, 
Leonides,  the  father  of  Origen,  was  beheaded ;  and  a  beautiful 
virgin,  named  Potamiena,  was  tortured  and  then  burnt  to  death, 
with  her  mother,  in  boiling  pitch.  Basilides,  one  of  her  executioners, 
shielded  her  from  worse  abuse,  and  was  moved  by  lier  constancy  to 
become  a  Christian  and  a  martyr." 

Proconsular  Africa,  which  was  the  chief  seat  of  Montanism,  was 
the  scene  of  the  famous  martyrdom  of  Perpetua  and  Felicitas  and 
three  young  men.  Their  Acts,  a  document  which  consists,  in 
part  at  least,  of  their  own  words  written  in  the  prison,  form  an 
affecting  narrative,  though  marked  with  the  delusions  of  Montanist 
enthusiasm.'^  Perpetua  was  a  noble  and  wealthy  lady  of  Carthage, 
a  wife  or  recent  widow  of  the  age  of  22,  with  an  infant  at  the 
breast.  On  her  arrest  as  a  Christian,  she  resisted  the  passionate 
entreaties  of  her  heathen  father,  and  his  appeal  to  her  pity  for  her 
child  and  the  shame  she  would  bring  upon  her  relations.  She  was 
baptized  in  prison,yith  her  companions — Felicitas,  who  was  a  slave, 
and  Kevocatus,  Saturninus  and  Secundulus — for  as  yet  they  were  all 
catechumens.  Their  trial  in  the  forum  was  interrupted  by  another 
piteous  appeal  to  Perpetua  from  lier  father,  whom  the  procurator 
scourged    before  his    daughter's  face.     After  their  condemnation, 

>  Ael.  Spartian.  Vit.  Sever.  17.  -  Ulpian.  \n  Duj.  i.  tit.  12,  §  14. 

3  Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  7.  ••  Tertull.  Apol.  35. 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  191.  6  Euseb.  //.  K.  vi.  1,  5. 

'  Among  these  is  the  vision  in  which  Perpetua.  having  prayed  for  her 
deceased  infant  brother,  Dinocrates,  saw  him  "  translated  from  punish- 
ment," in  which  we  have  germs  of  the  doctrines  of  purgatory  and  prayers 
for  the  dead.  Augustine  argues  against  the  inference,  that  prayer  is  effica- 
cious for  those  who  die  uubaptized.  (/)e  Aniina,  i.  10,  iii.  9.)  The  Actx 
SS.  Perpetua  et  Felicitatis  have  been  published  by  Ruinart,  and  in  Sliinter's 
Prirnordia  Ecclesiw  Africanw. 


104'  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.         CirAP.  V. 

Felicitas  gave  birth  to  a  child,  and  when  the  jailor  asked  her  how 
she  would  bear  the  keener  pain  of  being  torn  in  pieces  by  wild 
beasts,  she  answered,  "It  is  I  that  bear  luy  present  suffering,  but 
then  there  will  be  One  within  nie  to  suffer  for  me,  because  I  too 
shall  suffer  for  him."  Their  martyrdom  formed  a  part  of  the  show 
which  celebrated  the  birthday  of  Geta,  whom  his  father  Severus 
had  associated  in  the  empire.  The  men  were  torn  in  pieces  by 
lions,  bears,  and  leopards ;  Perpetua  and  Felicitas  were  tossed  by  a 
furious  cow,  and  finally  despatched  by  the  swords  of  gladiators. 

It  was  under  Severus  that  Teutullian  wrote  the  famous  Apology, 
of  which  we  have  to  speak  with  the  other  writings  of  this  father  of 
Latin  theology. 

§  2.  The  persecution  gradually  ceased  under  Caracalla,  the 
infamous  son  of  Severus  (a.d.  211-217)  ;^  and  his  abandoned 
cousin  Elagabalus  (218-222)  tolerated  all  forms  of  religion,  as  a 
step  to  merging  them  in  his  own  sanctity  as  the  high-priest  and 
incarnation  of  the  Sun-god  of  Syria,  from  whom  he  took  his  name 
(El-Gahal).  In  the  universal  temple,  which  he  built  beside  the 
imperial  residence  on  the  Palatine,  he  proposed  to  celebrate  the 
rites  of  Jews,  Samaritans,  and  Cliristians.^ 

In  a  like  spirit  of  Oriental  comprehension,  his  virtuous  cousin, 
Alexander  Severus  (a.d.  222-235)  granted  full  toleration  to 
Jews  and  Christians,  and  set  up  the  image  of  Christ,  in  the  company 
of  Abraham,  Orpheus,  and  ApoUonius  of  Tyaua,  in  the  chapel 
(Jararium)  where  he  began  each  day  with  prayer.^  He  inscribed 
on  his  palace,  and  on  public  monuments,  a  maxim  like  the  law  of 
Christ,  "  As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so 
to  them."*  He  had  many  Christians  in  his  household.  He  would 
have  built  a  temple  to  Christ,  and  enrolled  him  among  the  gods, 
had  not  the  soothsayers  found  a  prophecy  that,  if  this  were  done, 
all  men  would  become  Christians,  and  the  other  temples  would  be 
deserted.^  One  story  of  Alexander's  tolerance  is  interesting,  as  show- 
ing how  the  Christians  were  gradually  obtaining  places  for  public 
worship.  They  had  taken  possession  of  a  place  which  was  public 
property ;  the  eating-house  keepers  claimed  it  as  theirs ;  but  an 
imperial  rescript  declared  that  it  was  better  for  God  to  be  wor- 
shipped there,  in  whatever  form,  than  for   the  place  to  be  given 

'  Between  Caracalla  and  Elagabalus,  Macrinus  was  emperor  for  a  year 
in  the  East ;  but  there  is  no  record  of  his  relations  with  the  Christians. 

-  Lamprid.   Vit.  Elufjahali,  3.  *  Lamj)rid.  Alex.  Set.  29. 

■'  Lamprid.  1)1.  But  he  used  it  only  in  the  m-qative  form — Qiuxl  iihi  fieri 
non  vk,  alterine  feceris — in  which  it  is  found  in  Isourates  and  in  the  Tahiuid. 
It  is  one  <;lory  of  (Jhrist's  teaching  to  stamp  with  divine  approval  the 
purest  maxims  of  luiman  benevolence. 

5  Ibid.  43. 


A.D.  238.  THK  SIXTH  PERSECUTION.  105 

up  to  the  cooks,'  Still  more  decided  was  the  favour  shown  to 
Christianity  by  the  emjieror's  mother,  Julia  Mamaja,  who  invited 
Origen  to  the  court  at  Antioch.^  Eusebius  calls  her  a  very  de- 
vout and  pious  woman.*  Later  writers  claim  her  for-  a  Christian  ;* 
but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  either  she  or  her  son  favoiu'ed 
Christianity  in  any  other  than  an  eclectic  spirit.  Persecution  and 
martyrdom  did  not  cease  in  the  provinces;  and  the  laws  against 
the  Christians,  so  far  from  being  repealed,  were  about  this  time 
collected  into  a  digest  by  the  great  jurist  Ulpian,  in  his  book  on 
the  Duties  of  a  Proconsul.^  At  all  events,  we  now  mark  a  certain 
tendency  in  the  ruling  powers,  from  very  mixed  motives,  to  give 
Christianity  some  place  among  the  elements  of  the  constitution. 

The  reign  of  Alexander  Severus  was  marked  by  an  event  which 
had  a  great  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  Christianity  in  the  East. 
]n  the  j'ear  226,  the  Persian  AnDsniR,  whom  the  Greeks  called 
Artaxerxes,  overthrew  the  last  Parthian  king,  founded  the  new 
Persian  dynasty  of  the  Sassanians,"  and  restored  the  religion  of 
Zoroaster.  Wc  shall  presently  have  to  trace  the  connection  of  this 
revolution  with  the  rise  of  the  great  ManicluTan  heresy,  wliich 
blended  the  dualism  of  the  Magian  religion  with  Cin-istianity.^ 

§  3.  The  savage  Thracian  usurper,  Maximix  (a.d.  235-238), 
who  showed  his  regard  for  the  national  religion  by  stri^Dping  the 
temples  of  their  oflerings,  and  melting  down  the  statues  of  gods, 
heroes,  and  emperors,  to  pay  his  rude  soldiery,  made  the  Christians 
suffer  for  the  favour  they  had  enjoyed  from  the  emix;ror  whom  he 
had  slain.  It  was  as  the  friend  of  Julia  Mama\a  that  Origen  was 
marked  for  a  victim,  and  driven  from  Ca^sarea.  In  the  provinces, 
encouragement  was  given  to  the  new  outburst  of  jwpular  rage, 
which  made  the  CliTistians  responsible  for  a  series  of  terrible  earth 
quakes.  Many  were  put  to  death,  and  their  churches  were  burned, 
in  this  Sixth  General  Persecution.^ 

§  4.  A  respite  from  persecution  was  enjoyed  under  Gokdian  (238- 
244)  and  Philip  the  Arabian  (244-249),  who  was  early  claimed  as 
the  first  Christian  emperor.     But  it  seems  to  have  been  rather  a 

'   Lamprid.  40.  -   Euscb.  //.  E.  vi.  21. 

^  //.  1].  vi.  21:  Bfoaefiea-TaTij  Kai  (vAafiris;  comp.  Lamprid.  Alex.  Sev. 
.15  :  "  Mulier  sancta,  sed  avara,  ot  auri  atque  argenti  cupida."' 

*  Oros.  vii.  18  ;  Tillemont,  iii.  279,  adopts  this  view. 

*  Lactant.  Die.  Inst.  v.  11. 

6  The  Sassanians  reigned  in  Persia  from  A.D.  226  to  the  Mohammedan 
coni|uest  in  A.D.  G.ol.  '  See  Chap.  IX.  §  13. 

"  The  legend  of  St.  Ursula  and  her  11,000  virgins  is  dated  in  the  reign 
of  Maximin.  An  origin  has  been  suggested  for  the  story  in  an  old  inscrip- 
tion (in  a  missal  of  the  Sorbonne),  "  Ursula  et  XI.  M.V.,"  which  may 
stand  for  "XI.  martyres  virgines,"  but  was  read  "XI.  milia  virginum." 
(Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  171). 


106  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.        Chap.  V. 

fond  idea  than  a  real  fact  which  connected  the  attainment  of  Rome's 
millennium  with  the  conversion  of  her  imperial  head.  There  was 
nothing  in  Philip's  character  to  make  the  Church  proud  of  such 
a  convert ;  and  the  games  by  which  he  celebrated  the  thousandth 
year  from  the  foundation  of  the  city  were  entirely  heathen.  It  seems 
clear,  however,  that  Philip  was  friendly  to  the  Christians.  Both  he 
and  his  wife,  Severa,  received  letters  from  Origen,  who  now  began  to 
rejoice  that  God  had  given  the  Christians  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion,  and  to  anticipate  the  conversion  of  the  empire.^  This  was 
"anew  idea,  remarkably  opposed  to  the  tone  of  the  earlier  Christian 
writers,  who  had  always  regarded  the  Eoman  pcJwer  as  incurably 
hostile  and  persecuting, — as  an  oppression  from  which  there  could 
be  no  hope  of  deliverance  except  through  the  coming  of  the  end."^ 
§  5.  Such  hopes  were  at  once  dashed  by  the  Seventh  Persecution, 
under  Decius  (249-251),  the  first  which  historians  agree  in  calling 
strictly  "  general."^  It  was  a  systematic  effort  to  uproot  Christianity 
throughout  the  empire.  The  edict  of  Decius  is  lost,*  but  we  have 
the  contemporary  records  of  its  imiversal  enforcement  by  torture 
and  death,  exile  and  confiscation.^  Contrary  to  the  rule  laid  down 
by  Trajan,  strict  inquisition  was  made  for  the  Christians,  and  chiefly 
for  the  bishops  and  clergy.  Among  the  most  eminent  martyrs  were 
Fabian,  Bishop  of  Rome,  Babylus  of  Antioch,  and  Alexander  of  Jeru- 
salem. Origen  obtained  the  lesser  honours  of  a  confessor,  and  the  cruel 
tortures  to  which  he  was  put  in  his  prison  hastened  his  death.'' 

The  treatment  of  Origen  illustrates  one  peculiar  feature  of  this 
jxjrsecution.  It  was  undertaken  by  Decius  as  a  reforming  states- 
man ;  and  the  saying  is  ascribed  to  him,  that  he  would  rather  have 
a  second  emperor  by  his  side  than  a  bishop  at  Rome, — a  striking 
testimony  to  the  place  which  Christianity  now  tilled  in  the  empire, 
and  to  the  dignity  claimed  by  its  ministers.^  The  persecution  was 
therefore  directed,  primarily,  to  make  the  Christians  apostatize, 
through  promises  or  threats,  confiscation  and  imprisonment,  torture 
and  starvation,  death  being  reserved  as  the  penalty  of  obstinacy  or 
to  terrify  the  many  by  a  few  eminent  examples. 

1  Orig.  contra  Cclsnm,  vii.  26,  viii.  68. 

-  Robertson,  vol,  i.  p.  98;  Neander,  vol.  i.  p.  179. 

^  Its  severity  seems  to  have  led  Origen  to  underrate  the  extent  of  former 
persecutions  when  he  says,  oKiyoi  kuto.  Kaipovs  Koi  (r(t>6Spa  «uapi9/i7/T0i 
irepl  T7)S  Xptffrtavwv  Oeoaefieias  Te0v7tKa<Tt  {contra  Cclsum,  iii.  p.  116). 

*  It  is  described  by  Gregory  of  Nvssa  (Vit.  Gregor.  Thanmaturgi,  \\\. 
p.  567). 

*  Dionys.  of  Ale.x.  ap  Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  40-42,  and  the  works  of  Cyprian. 
«  See  Chapter  VI.  §  10. 

'  The  saving  of  Decius  alone  might  not  prove  the  latter  inference  ;  but 
it  is  borne  out  by  the  claims  of  high  episcopal  authority,  though  as  yet  only 
within  the  Church,  put  forward  by  Cyprian  and  other  writers. 


A.D.  249.  THE  SEVENTH  PERSECUTION.  107 

§  6,  The  comparative  security  wliick  the  Christians  had  long 
enjoyed,  and  the  growth  of  mere  nominal  profession  and  worldli- 
ness  with  the  increasing  numbers  of  the  Church,  aided  the  effect  of 
this  policy.  Origen  in  the  East,  like  Cyprian  in  the  West,  had 
denounced  the  pride,  luxury,  and  covetousness  of  the  higher  clergy 
and  the  irreligious  lives  of  the  people,  and  had  foretold  a  great 
falling  away  if  persecution  should  arise.  The  fulfilment  of  his 
prediction  revealed  one  purpose  of  these  trials,  in  the  sifting  of 
the  Church,  and  the  renovation  of  a  true  Christian  spirit. 

In  the  first  heat  of  the  persecution  many  yielded  so  as  to  perform 
the  heathen  rites,  for  which  their  brethren  branded  them  with  signi- 
ficant epithets,'  as  well  as  with  the  general  title  of  "the  lapsed" 
(lajisi).  A  vehement  controversy  afterwards  arose  on  the  question  of 
restoring  to  the  Church  those  of  them  who  repented  their  apostasy. 

Many,  especially  of  the  bishops  and  clergy,  fled  through  cowardice; 
while  some  took  the  same  course  from  Christian  prudence,  hoi)ing 
that  their  absence  would  turn  aside  the  fury  of  persecution  from 
their  flocks,  to  whom  they  might  return  in  better  times.  Distin- 
guished among  this  class  was  Cyprian,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  who 
thus  defended  his  flight : — "  Our  Lord  commanded  ns  in  times 
of  persecution  to  yield  and  fly.  He  taught  this,  and  practised  it 
himself.  For  since  the  martyr  s  crown  comes  by  the  grace  of  God, 
and  cannot  be  gained  before  the  appointed  hour,  he  who  retires  for 
a  time  and  remains  true  to  Christ,  does  not  deny  his  faith,  but  only 
bides  his  time."  When  that  time  came  to  Cyprian  himself,  in  the 
next  great  persecution,  he  proved  that  he  had  the  true  martyr's 
spirit ;  and  meanwhile  from  his  place  of  retirement  he  laboured 
diligently  in  the  pastoral  work  of  confirming  and  comforting  the 
suffering  Churches  of  Africa. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  course  taken  by  Cyprian  was  that 
enthusiasm  of  self-sacrifice,  which  had  been  seen  in  former  perse- 
cutions, and  was  generally  checked  by  the  greatest  teachers  as 
passing  the  limits  of  Christian  duty.  Hundreds  presented  them- 
selves before  the  tribunals,  to  proclaim  their  faith  and  demand 
the  confessor's  sufferings  or  the  martyr's  crown.  Their  spirit 
breathes  in  the  letter  which  the  confessors  of  Rome  wrote  from 
prison  to  their  brethren  in  Africa  : — "  What  more  glorious  and 
blessed  lot  can  fall  to  man  by  the  grace  of  God,  than  to  confess  the 
Lord  God  amidst  tortures  and  in  the  face  of  death  itself ;  to  confess 
Christ  the  Son  of  God  with  lacerated  body  and  with  a  spirit 
departing,  yet  free ;  and  to  become  fellow-sufferers  with  Christ  in 

»  Sacrificati,  ihurificiti,  libeUalici.  (Comp.  Chap.  VI.  §  22.)  The  last 
term  denoteil  those  who.  without  sacrificing,  obtained  by  a  paj-nient  in 
money  certificates  that  thev  had  obeyed  the  edict. 


108  THE  CIiaUCH  IX  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  Chap.  V. 

the  name  of  Christ  ?  Though  Ave  have  not  yet  shed  our  blood,  we 
are  ready  to  do  so.  Pray  for  us,  then,  dear  Cyprian,  that  the  Lord, 
the  best  captain,  would  daily  strengthen  each  one  of  us  more  and 
more,  and  at  last  lead  us  to  the  field  as  faithful  soldiers,  armed  with 
those  divine  weapons,^  which  can  never  be  conquered." - 

§  7.  The  sharp  persecution  of  Decius  ended  with  his  short  reign, 
but  under  Galt.us  (251-253)  the  Christians  still  suffered  from  the 
l^opular  rage,  which  ascribed  to  them  the  calamities  brought  on  the 
empire  by  the  Gothic  invasions,  and  by  the  great  plague  -which 
lasted  for  fifteen  years.  In  the  short  reign  of  Gallus,  two  bishops 
of  Home,  Cornelius  and  Lucius,  were  banished,  and  afterwards  put 
to  death. 

The  Emperor  Valerian  (253-260)  was  at  first  more  favourable  to 
the  Christians  than  "  even  those  of  his  predecessors  who  were  reputed 
Christians."^  But  in  his  fifth  year  (257-8)  Valerian  was  instigated 
to  that  which  is  reckoned  as  the  Eighth  Persecution  by  his  minister, 
]\Iacriauus,  who  is  said  to  have  been  connected  with  the  Egyptian 
magicians.**  As  in  the  persecution  of  Decius,  but  in  a  much  milder 
form,  the  attempt  was  made  to  win  back  the  common  people  by 
depriving  them  of  their  teachers  and  leaders,  and  forbidding  their 
assemblies  for  worship  and  the  use  of  their  cemeteries.  When 
these  measures  were  found  ineffectual,  the  em|)eror  issued  a  second 
rescript  to  the  Senate,  that  the  bishops,  presbyters,  and  deacons 
should  be  forthwith  put  to  death ;  that  senators  and  knights,  and 
other  men  of  rank,  should  be  deprived  of  their  privileges  and  their 
property,  and  if  they  still  persevered  in  Christianity,  they  were  to  be 
capitally  punished ;  noble  matrons  and  persons  of  lesser  rank  were 
to  suffer  confiscation  and  banishment.^  No  direct  penalties  were 
provided  for  the  common  people  ;  and,  instead  of  being  deterred  by 
the  example  made  of  their  leaders,  they  followed  their  bishops  into 
the  remote  places  of  their  exile,  and  spread  the  Christian  faith  to 
regiuns  where  it  had  been  unknown  before. 

'  Ephes.  vi.  2. 

*  The  legend  of  the  "  Seven  Sleepers"  refers  to  this  persecution  the 
miracle  of  the  seven  brethren,  of  Ephesus,  who  retreated  to  a  cave  and 
there  fell  asleep,  and  only  awoke  200  years  later,  under  Theodosius  II. 
(447)  to  find  Christianity  the  religion  of  the  empire.  The  story  is  first 
told  a  hundred  years  later  still  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  in  the  sixth  century; 
and  no  criticism  is  needed  to  show  the  jioetic  form,  which  has  been  adopted 
by  innumerable  writers  of  imagination,  to  represent  the  suri>rising  cha- 
racter of  a  great  revolution. 

*  These  words  of  a  contemporary  (Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  ap.  Euseb. 
vii.  10)  are  especially  interesting,  as  showing  that,  even  thus  early,  not  one 
only,  but  more,  of  the  preceding  emperors  were  claimed  as  Christians. 
The  passage  may  be  assumed  to  ret'er  to  Alexander  Severus  and  JIam<Ta,and 
to  Philip.  "  *  Dionys.  /.  c.  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  '3'J. 

*  Cyprian.  J'pist.  82. 


A.D.  254.  FIRST  EDICTS  OF  TOLERATION.  109 

The  most  eminent  martjTs  in  this  persecution  were  Cyprian, 
Bishop  of  Carthage,  of  whom  we  have  presently  to  speak  fully,'  and 
Xystus  (or  Sixtus  II.),  Bishop  of  Rome,  with  his  deacon,  Lau- 
rentius.  But  the  famous  story  of  St.  Lawrence  bears  the  stamp  of 
legend.  His  martyrdom  is  first  related  by  Ambrose,  and  its  details 
glorified  by  the  Christian  poet  rrudentius,  a  century  after  the  event. 
It  is  said  that,  on  l)eing  required  to  give  up  the  treasures  of  wliich  he 
had  charge  as  deacon,  Laurentius  referred  the  avaricious  magistrates 
to  the  poor  and  sick  as  the  true  treasure  of  the  Church  ;  and,  to 
extort  a  more  literal  answer,  he  was  slowly  roasted  to  Ufath  on  the 
gridiron,  which  has  become  his  sign.'' 

§  8.  On  the  capture  of  Valerian  by  the  Persian  Sn])or  I.,  his  son 
and  associate  in  the  empire,  Gallienus  (a.d.  25-4-208),  not  only 
put  a  stop  to  the  jxTsecution,  but  proclaimed  throughout  his  whole 
empire  the  First  Edicts  of  Toleration,  addressed  to  the  Christian 
bishops  themselves.  In  his  own  striking  words,  he  "ordered  the 
benevolence  of  his  gift  to  be  proclaimed  throughout  the  whole 
world."  ^  The  Christian  exiles  were  recalled ;  the  burial-places, 
which  they  called  with  a  beautiful  significance  cemeteries  ("sleeping- 
places  "),  were  restored  to  them  •*  and  Christianity  was  acknow- 
ledged as  a  religio  licita.  The  weak  and  worthless  character  of 
Gallienus  leaves  us  to  find  the  only  explanation  of  this  great  act  ot 
toleration  in  the  growing  influence  which  Christianity  had  obtained 
in  high  ])laces.  The  edicts  of  Valerian  prove  that  many  senators, 
knights,  imperial  officers,  and  ladies  of  rank  and  influence,  were 
Christians ;  and  the  shortness  of  the  persecution  would  naturally 
leave  many  of  them  undisturbed,  to  advise  a  change  of  policj''  after 
Valerian's  great  disaster.  The  same  process  went  on  more  and  more 
during  the  ensuing  forty  years  of  peace  for  the  Church ;  and  the 
jwsition  obtained  by  Christians  in  the  empire  was  a  chief  cause  and 
measure  of  the  severity  of  Diocletian's  iiersecution.* 

§  9.  This  period  of  rest  and  outward  prosiierity  was  not  inter- 

>  See  Chap.  VI.  §  25. 

■  The  example  was  not  lost  on  so-called  Christian  magistrates  and  nobles 
in  their  dealings  with  .lews  for  a  like  purpose  ;  and  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  a 
great  burner  of  heretics,  built  his  palace  of  the  Escorial  in  the  form  of  a 
gridiron  in  honour  of  the  saint.  The  martyrologics  place  the  death  of  St. 
Lawrence  at  August  10th,  258. 

*  Eusebius  (vii.  13)  quotes  two  rescripts  of  Gallienus,  to  this  effect. 
One  is  addressed  to  the  bishops  of  Egy])t  (which  he  had  just  reconquered) 
announcing  to  them  the  toleration  already  proclaimed  in  the  rest  of  the 
empire  (2'il),  in  which  (iallienus  says,  T^v  evfpyffftav  ttjj  ^firjs  Suotas 
Sia  iravThr  rov  k6(Tijlov  iKfii^aadr]vai  irpofffTa^a. 

*  The  second  of  the  rescripts  cited  l>y  Eusebius  is  To  twv  KaXovfjiivwv 
KoiixriT-qpluv  aTroXanSdvftP   iiriTpi-Kwv  xwpla. 

^  Euseb.  H.  E.  viii.  1. 
7 


110  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.         Chap.  V. 

nipted,  though  it  was  threatened,  by  Aurelias  (a.d.  270-275). 
The  conqueror  who  put  down  the  so-called  "  Thirty  Tyrants,"  and 
recovered  the  East  from  Zenobia,  was  a  devotee  of  heathenism,  and 
esjiecailly  of  the  Eastern  worship  of  the  Sun,  whose  priestess  his 
mother  had  been.  He  affected  to  rank  with  the  great  princes  who 
had  restored  the  empire  and  the  national  religion.  Like  them,  he 
despised  the  Christians,  and  an  edict  for  their  persecution  expressed 
gratitude  to  the  gods  of  Rome  for  his  victorious  estabhshment  in 
the  empire.  But  tlie  emperor's  assassination  prevented  the  execu- 
tion of  his  edict ;  and  ecclesiastical  writers  are  clearly  wrong  in 
reckoning  a  Ninth  General  Persecution  under  Aureliax.^  The 
edict  was  revoked  by  Aurelian's  successor,  Tacitus  (a.d.  275-276)  ; 
and  the  Christians  were  at  peace  during  the  defensive  wars  waged 
against  the  Goths  and  Persians  by  Pkobus  (276-282),  Carus,  and 
his  sons  (282-284).  At  length  the  empire  received  a  stable  govern- 
ment by  the  accession  of  Diocletian  (284),  and  his  choice  of 
Maximian  as  his  colleague,  to  rule  over  the  Western  Provinces 
(286),  was  followed  by  the  association  of  two  Ccesurs  with  the  two 
August/,  as  their  subordinate  colleagues,  sons-in-law,  and  successors 
designate  ;  Galerius  with  Diocletian  in  the  East,  and  Coxstaxtius 
Chlorus  with  Maximian  in  the  West  (a.d.  292). 

§  10.  Under  the  imperial  constitution,  which  Diocletian  framed 
on  the  model  of  an  Oriental  monarchy.  Christians  had  a  large  share 
in  the  new  dignities  of  the  court  and  ofiices  of  the  imperial  house- 
hold. Diocletian,  a  rude  Illyrian  soldier  by  origin,  was  indiflerent 
to  the  various  legal  religions,  among  which  the  edict  of  Gallienus 
had  given  a  place  to  Christianity.  His  wife  Prisca,  and  her  daughter, 
Valeria,  were  Christians.  The  influence  of  the  latter  kept  in  check 
the  hostility  to  Christianity  which  her  husband  Galerius  shared 
with  the  savage  Maximian  ;  and  twenty  years  passed  before  that 
hostility  prevailed  upon  the  aged  Diocletian  to  order  the  last  and 
greatest  of  the  i^ersecutious. 

The  heathen  party,  however,  were  still  able  to  inflict  annoyance 
and  suffering  upon  Christians,  on  various  indirect  grounds,  especially 
upon  soldiers  under  the  jiretence  of  military  discipline.  There  are 
records  of  military  martyrs  in  the  early  years  of  Diocletian,  but  the 
story  of  Maximian's  persecution  of  the  famous  "  Theban  Legion  "  ^ 

•  Vopisc.  Aurelian,  4,  20 ;  Euseb.  //.  E.  vii.  30  ;  the  work  ascribed  to 
Lactantius,  Dc  Mortibus  Persecutorum,  G. 

^  Lcijio  Thcbrca,  Thebaci,  Lcrjio  Felix  Atjauncnsis.  Eusebius,  Lactantius, 
Frudcntius,  and  Sulpic^ius  Severus,  are  all  silent  about  the  story,  which  is 
first  found  in  martyrologies  of  the  sixth  century.  It  was  transferred  to  a 
Greek  Mauritius,  who  is  made  a  military  tribune,  executed  with  seventy 
soldiers  at  Apamea,  by  order  of  Maximian;  and  it  was  repeated  at 
various  places,  as  in  the  famous  legend  of  St.  Oereon  and  his  318  fellow- 


A.D.  284,  f.  REST  FROM  PERSECUTION.  Ill 

must  be  regarded  as  legendary,  at  all  events  in  its  details,  ^'he  date 
assigned  to  the  story  is  286.  "  The  legion,  it  is  said,  consisting  of 
6(500  Christians,  was  summoned  from  the  Jlast  for  the  service  of 
Maximian  iu  Gaul.  When  near  the  Alpine  town  of  A<jaunum, 
which  takes  its  modern  name  from  their  leader,  St.  Maurice^  the 
soldiers  discovered  that  they  were  to  be  emjiloyed  in  the  persecution 
of  their  brethren  in  the  faith,  and  refused  to  march  onwards  for 
such  a  purpose.  By  order  of  Maximian,  who  was  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, they  were  twice  decimated,  lint  this  cruelty  was  unable  to 
shake  the  firmness  of  the  survivors  ;  and  Maurice,  in  the  name  of  his 
comrades,  declared  to  the  cmj>eror  that,  while  ready  to  obey  him  in 
all  things  consistent  with  their  duty  to  God,  they  would  rather  die 
than  violate  that  duty.  The  emperor,  exasperated  by  their  obsti- 
nacy, ordered  his  other  troops  to  close  around  them  ;  whereupon  the 
devoted  band  laid  down  their  arms  and  peacefully  submitted  to 
martyrdom."  ^  In  298  an  order  was  issued  that  all  persons  in  mili- 
tary service,  or  iu  public  employment  of  any  kind,  must  sacrifice  to 
the  gods. 

That  such  difficulties  were  not  of  daily  occurrence,  and  that 
the  profession  of  Christianity  was  found  compatible  at  all  with 
military  service,  affords  striking  evidence  not  only  of  the  loyalty  of 
the  Christians,  but  of  the  tolerant  spirit  of  the  imperial  govern- 
ment. But  still,  as  Gibbon  observes,  examples  of  sucli  a  nature 
served  to  alienate  the  minds  of  the  emperors,  and  to  authorise  the 
opinion  that  a  sect  of  enthusiasts,  which  avowed  principles  so 
repugnant  to  the  public  safety,  must  either  remain  useless,  or  would 
soon  become  dangerous  subjects  of  the  empire. 

§  11.  The  pause  before  the  last  great  stniggle,  which  was  to  decide 
whether  the  dominant  religion  of  the  reconstituted  emjure  should 
be  heathenism  or  Christianity,  is  a  fit  epoch  for  reviewing  the 
progress  made  by  the  Church  to  the  end  of  the  third  century. 

Its  spread  throughout,  and  even  beyond  the  empire,  had  gone  on 
steadily,  notwithstanding,  nay,  rather  in  proportion  to  the  prejudices 
and  hatred  of  the  jieople,  the  scornful  or  interested  opposition  of 
philosophers,  priests,  and  the  higher  society,  and  the  direct  efforts  of 
the  ruling  jww'ers  to  suppress  it.  The  self-defeating  results  of  per- 
secution are  summed  up  in  the  memorable  words  of  Terttillian  : — 
"  All  your  ingenious  cruelties  can  accomplish  nothing ;  they  are  only 
a  lure  to  this  sect.     Our  number  increases  the  more  you  destroy  us. 

soldiers  martyred  at  Colonia  Agrippensis  (^Cologne).     See  Gieseler,  vol.  i. 
p.  195. 

'  Mauritius,  the  Primicerius  Leqionis.  The  name  of  St.  Maurice  is 
given  to  more  than  one  Alpine  village;  the  scene  of  the  legend  is  the  one 
in  Wallis  (the  Valais).  ^  Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  147-8. 


1 1 2  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.         Chap.  V. 

The  bloo^  of  the  Christians  is  their  seed."  But  the  same  great  apo- 
logist testifies  that  more  were  kept  out  of  the  new  sect  by  the  love 
of  pleasure  than  by  the  love  of  life.  The  religiou  of  Christ  offered 
no  such  baits  as  Mohanimedauism  afterwards  held  out  to  the  corrupt 
desires  of  human  nature.  It  struck  at  the  very  roots  of  pride,  self- 
righteousness,  and  self-indulgence,  by  its  demand  for  rejientance  and 
faith,  purity  and  self-denial;  and  it  thwarted  the  inclinations  of 
daily  life  by  requiring  renunciation  of  the  world  as  the  condition  of 
the  true  pleasure  to' be  found  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Though  it 
perfected  the  revelation  made  to  the  Jews,  and  ofl'ered  the  true  life 
after  which  the  best  heathens  had  been  striving,  its  spiritual  doc- 
trines and  moral  purity  offended  Jews  and  Gentiles  alike  ;  and 
its  very  Jewish  origin  caused  it  to  be  repudiated  by  the  one  and 
scorned  by  the  other.  The  blessings  which  it  ofiered  to  all  classes 
alike,  and  which  many  of  the  highest  and  wisest  learned  from  the 
first  to  value,  were  naturally  accepted  more  readily  by  those  who 
had  least  of  worldly  riches  and  favour  and  knowledge ;  and  the  fact 
that  Christianity  was  the  religion  of  the  poor  and  lowly  roused  the 
contempt  of  those  who  called  themselves  the  better  classes.  The 
first  heathen  antagonist  who  is  known  to  have  encountered  the  new 
faith  by  argument,  Celsus,  scoffingly  remarked  that  "  weavers,  cob- 
l)lers,  and  fullers,  the  most  illiterate  persons,"  preached  the  "irrational 
faith,"  and  knew  how  to  conmiend  it  especially  "  to  women  and 
children." 

In  this  very  taunt  the  believer  sees  the  confession  that  Chris- 
tianity supplies  the  deepest  spiritual  wants  of  humanity  itself,' 
and  the  chief  reason  of  its  steady  progress  against  all  opposition,  and 
under  all  sufferings.  The  wants  for  which  it  provides  are  felt  in 
every  age  by  individual  man,  conscious  of  sin  and  misery,  and 
yearning  for  happiness  and  immortal  life ;  but  they  were  the  cryiug 
needs  of  the  world  at  the  epoch  appointed  by  God  for  this  last  i)er- 
fect  revelation.  To  use  the  words  of  a  great  Church  historian, 
"Christianity  had  a  powerful  advantage  in  the  hojwless  condition  of 
the  Jewish  and  heathen  world.  Since  the  fearful  judgment  of  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  Judaism  wandered  restless  and  accursed, 
without  national  existence.  Heathenism  outwardly  held  sway,  but 
was  inwardly  rotten  and  in  process  of  inevitable  decay.  The  popular 
religiou  and  public  morality  were  undermined  by  a  sceptical  and 
materialistic  philosoplry  ;  Grecian  science  and  art  had  lost  their 
creative  energy ;  the  Roman  Empire  rested  only  on  the  jwwer  of  the 
sword  and  of  temporal  interests ;  the  moral  bonds  of  society  were 
sundered  ;  imbounded  avarice  and  vice  of  every  kind,  even  by  the 
confession  of  a  Tacitus  and  a  Seneca,  reigned  in  Rome  and  in  the 
provinces,  from  the  throne  to  the  hovel.     Nothing  that  classic  an- 


A.D.  284,  f.  DIFFUSION  OF  CHRISTIAKITr.  113 

tiquity  in  its  fairest  days  had  produced  could  heal  the  fatal  wounds 
of  tlie  age,  or  even  give  transient  relief.  The  only  star  of  hope  in 
the  gathering  night  was  the  young,  the  frcHli,  the  dauntless  religion 
of  Jesus,  fearless  of  deatli,  strong  in  faith,  glowing  with  love,  and 
destined  to  commend  itself  more  and  more  to  all  reflecting  minds  as 
the  only  living  religion  of  the  present  and  the  future.  '  Christ 
appeared,'  says  Augustine,  '  to  tlie  men  of  the  decrepit,  decaying 
world,  that  while  all  around  them  was  withering  away,  they  might 
through  Him  receive  new  youthful  life.'"^  This  spiritual  craving 
of  the  human  heart  witl)in  and  cry  of  human  society  without,  and 
the  essential  truth  of  the  religion  which  could  alone  satisfy  them,  are 
the  very  considerations  omitted  from  Gibbon's  elaborate  attem[it  to 
accoimt  for  the  early  progress  of  Christianity,  by  secondary  causes, 
partly  true  and  partly  distorted  with  insidious  art.'^ 

§  ].2.  The  same  l^rovidence,  which  sent  the  remedy  when  the 
disease  had  readied  its  height,  had  prepared  the  way  for  its  diffu- 
sion by  that  most  wonderful  fact  in  political  history,  the  union  of 
the  civilized  world  under  the  strong  government  of  Kome.  "  Com- 
munication among  the  different  parts  of  the  Koman  Empire,  IVom 
Damascus  to  Britain,  was  comparatively  easy  and  safe.  The  high- 
Avays  built  for  commerce  and  for  the  l^oman  legions  served  also  the 
messengers  of  peace  and  the  silent  conquests  of  the  Cross.  The  par- 
ticular mode,  as  well  as  the  precise  time,  of  the  intioduction  of 
Christianity  into  the  several  countries  is  for  the  most  part  uncertain, 
and  we  know  not  much  more  than  the  I'act  itself.  •  .  .  Besides  the 
regular  ministry,  slaves  and  women  particularl)"^  ajipear  to  have  per- 
formed missionary  service,  and  to  have  introduced  the  Christian  life 
into  all  circles  of  society.  Commerce,  too,  at  that  time  as  well  as 
now,  was  a  powerful  agency  in  carrying  the  Gospel  and  the  seeds  of 
Christian  civilization  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  lioman  Empire.'"" 
Wherever  the  missionaries  of  the  Gospel  went,  tliey  carried  with 
them  the  Holy  Scriptures,  first  in  the  Greek,  which  was  the  tongue 
of  civilized  life  in  the  Eastern  Empire,  and  then  in  translations, 
especially  into  the  vernacular  Sj'riac  of  the  East  and  Latin  of  the 
West.*     The  sacred  writings,  now  collected   into  the   recognized 

'  Schaff,  vol.  i.  pp.  150-1. 

*  It  is  needless  to  enter  upon  a  detailed  answer  to  Gibbon's  famous 
attack,  after  all  that  will  be  found  in  the  Notes  to  Dean  llilman's  and  Dr. 
William  Smith's  editions  of  the  Ikxlinc  and  Fall.  The  reader  who  sees 
throuf^h  the  fallacies  and  insidious  purpose  of  Gibbon  may  derive  valuable 
instruction  from  many  points  in  his  sketch  of  the  spread  of  Christianity. 

3  Schatr,  I.  c. 

*  The  oldest  Latin  .nnd  Syriac  versions  date  as  early  as  the  second 
century.  The  general  subject  of  ancient  versions  of  the  Scriptures  belongs 
to  the  province  of  Biblical  criticism.  (See  the  Article  '*  Versions"  in  Dr. 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  liible.) 


114  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.         Chap.  V. 

**  Canon "  as  one  book  (the  Bible),  not  only  supplied  the  historic 
evidence  of  the  rise  of  Christianity  and  the  teaching  of  its  Founder 
and  ilis  Apostles,  but  the  proofs  of  its  continuity  with  the  former 
revelation,  which  went  back  to  those  first  mysteries  of  creation  and 
the  relations  of  man  to  God,  that  had  ever  ibrined  the  insoluble 
problems  of  philosophy,  Origen,  in  the  early  part  of  the  third  cen- 
tury, testifies  that "  Christians  did  not  neglect  to  sow  the  Word  in  all 
parts  of  the  inhabited  world ;  and  some  made  it  their  business  to  go 
through  not  only  cities,  but  also  villages  and  hamlets."' 

The  result,  in  the  rapid  and  almost  universal  difl'usion  of  Chris- 
tianity, is  described  by  the  eloquence  of  TertuUian,  as  early  as 
the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  in  words  which  had  acquired 
double  force  at  its  end  :— "  We  are  a  people  of  yesterday,  and  yet  we 
have  filled  every  place  belonging  to  you — cities,  islands,  castles, 
towns,  assemblies,  your  very  camp,  your  tribes,  companies,  palace, 
senate,  forum  !  We  leave  you  your  temples  only.  We  count  your 
armies ;  our  numbers  in  a  single  province  will  be  greater."  It  would 
be  in  vain,  however,  to  make  this  rhetorical  comparison  the  basis 
for  an  attempt  to  compute  the  number  of  Christians  in  the  empire  ;^ 
but  their  large  proportion  to  the  whole  jwpulation  is  testified  by 
heathen  and  official  statements.  One  of  the  persecuting  edicts  of 
Maximin  declares  that  "almost  all"  had  abandoned  their  ancestral 
religion  for  the  new  sect. 

§  13.  Several  provinces,  of  which  the  evangelization  was  only 
matter  of  inference  or  conjecture  during  the  second  century,  are  now 
the  seats  of  vigorous  churches.  Of  those  in  Asia,  Egypt,  and 
proconsular  Africa,  we  have  more  to  say  presently.  No  less  than 
twenty  Egyptian  bishops  attended  a  council  at  Alexandria  in  A.d. 
235.  In  258  Cyprian  assembled  at  Carthage  eighty-seven  bishops 
from  proconsular  Africa,  Numidia,  and  Mauritania;  showing  how 
numerous  were  the  churches  throughout  all  Koman  Africa.  But  the 
rapid  progress  of  a  second  half-century  is  proved  by  the  meeting  at 
Carthage  of  270  bishops  of  the  schismatic  sect  of  the  Donatists 
alone  (a.d.  308). 

Turning  to  Europe,  we  have  more  precise  accounts  of  that  which 
was  more  and  more  acknowledged  as  the  central  Church  in  the 
capital.  Eusebius  states  that,  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century, 
the  Church  of  Rome  numbered  1  bishop,  40  presbyters,  7  deacons, 
with  as  many  sub-deacons,^  50  readers,  exorcists,  and  door-keepers 

•   Contra  Celsiim,  iii.  p.  IIG. 

^  Gibbon  reckons  the  proportion  of  the  Christians  to  the  whole  popula- 
tion as  low  as  one-twentieth:  Robertson,  as  high  as  one-fifth;  SchafF 
adopts  the  mean,  one-tenth. 

'  The  number  in  Acts  vi.  seems  to  have  been  adhered  to. 


A.D.  284,  f.      CHURCHES  IN  GAUL,  SPAIN,  AND  BRITAIN.         Ho 

and  1500  widows  and  poor  persons  under  its  care.  From  this  tlie 
whole  number  of  members  has  been  computed  at  50,000  or  G0,000, 
that  is,  about  a  twentieth  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city.*  The  rest 
of  Italy  sent  only  twelve  bishops  to  a  synod  held  by  Telesphorus  in 
the  middle  of  the  second  century ;  but  Cornelius,  a  century  later, 
assembled  five  times  that  number  (a.d.  255). 

In  Gaul,  the  aflecting  story  of  the  martyrs  nnder  M.  Aurelius 
referred  only  to  the  two  churches  of  Lyon  and  Vienne,  which  had 
been  founded  by  missionaries  from  Asia  Minor.  Other  churches 
appear  to  have  been  founded  from  Komc  in  the  first  half  of  the 
third  century  -^  and  Dionysius,  the  first  Bishop  of  Paris,  is  said  to 
have  suffered  martyrdom  on  the  hill  thence  named  Montmartre. 
This  patron  saint  of  the  Gallic  Church,  St.  Denys,  was  afterwards 
further  dignified  by  a  confusion  with  Dionysius  the  Areopagite, 
the  convert  of  Paul  at  Athens.  We  have  seen  that  Irenajus,  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  second  century,  speaks  of  German  Chris- 
tians, meaning  probably  the  German  provinces  of  Gaul,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine ;  but  it  is  not  till  after  the  end  of  the 
third  century  (under  Constantine)  that  we  have  distinct  mention 
of  churches  in  that  region,  such  as  those  of  Cologne  and  Treves.'* 
On  the  Danubian  frontier,  we  find  traces  of  Christianity  in  Vin- 
delicia,  such  as  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Afra  by  fire  at  Augsburg 
in  the  Diocletian  persecution  (a.d.  304).  The  free  Germans, 
and  other  barkirian  tribes,  appear  to  have  only  received  some 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel  indirectly,  through  those  who  returned 
home  after  visits  to  the  empire  or  from  service  in  the  Koman 
armies,  and  through  their  Christian  captives.  In  this  last  way  we 
are  told  that  Christianity  became  known  to  the  Goths.* 

In  the  extreme  west  of  the  empire.  Christian  churches  are  first 
found  in  Spain  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  and  nineteen 
bishops  met  at  the  council  of  lUibcris  in  a.d.  305.  As  for  Britain, 
we  have  already  seen  TertuUian  affinning  that  Christianity  had 
reached  the  island  in  the  beginning  of  the  3rd  century,  and  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  we  have  the  record  of  St.  Albau's  martyrdom 
under   Diocletian,   and   of  the  presence  of  the  bishops   of  York, 

'  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  154. 

*  St.  Gregory  of  Tours  (about  a.d.  590)  says  that  seven  missionary 
J)ishoi)s  were  sent  to  the  Gallic  provinces  (m  Gallias)  in  the  consulship  of 
Decius  and  Gratus  (a.d.  25o),  and  he  gives  their  names  and  sees,  Tours, 
Aries,  Narhonne,  Toulouse,  Paris,  the  Arverni  (the  see  was  at  Augustone- 
metum,  Clcnninit),  and  the  Lemovices  (at  Augustoritnni,  Liinoiics).  He 
cites  the  J/istort/  of  the  I'assion  of  Satnrninus,  which  mentions  none  of  these 
except  Saturninus,  who  was  made  Bishop  of  Toulouse  at  the  date  specified 
(c.  2,  Ruinart);  and  he  probably  refers  the  others  arbitrarily  to  that  date. 
The  rest  of  his  statement  is  compiled  t'r<im  various  authorities. 

••  Gieseler  vol.  i.  p.  205.     *  Sozomen,  7/.  L\  ii.  6  ;  Philostorg.  //.  E.  ii.  5. 


116  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.         Chap.  V. 

London,  and  (probably)  Lincoln,  at  the  Synod  of  Aries  in 
A.D.  314.' 

In  the  rival  empire  of  Persia,  which  had  now  eclipsed  the  Roman 
power  in  the  East  by  the  victory  of  Sajwr  over  Valentinian,  we 
have  presently  to  notice  the  rise  of  the  great  Manichsean  heres}'. 

§  14.  This  wide  and  rapid  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  provoked  not 
only  enmity  from  the  people  and  persecution  by  the  State,  but  a 
strong  intellectual  resistance  from  heathen  writers.  The  scornful 
or  malignant  misrepresentations  of  such  writers  as  Tacitus,  Pliny, 
and  Marcus  Aurelius,  were  the  least  fonnidable  part  of  this  oppo- 
sition. Those  who  saw  deeper  into  the  meaning  of  Christianity 
attempted  to  set  up  a  reformed  heathenism  as  able  to  satisfy  man's 
spiritual  wants.  But  some  of  them  were  not  above  the  shallow 
arti6ce,  which  has  been  repeated  by  modern  infidels,  of  treating  the 
miraculous  evidences  of  Christianity  as  magical  tricks  or  delusions, 
which  could  be  paralleled  by  similar  wonders  wrought  by  heathens. 

The  most  remarkable  case  of  this  sort  is  the  use  made  of  the  pre- 
tended miracles  of  Apollonius  OF  Tyana,  a  Pythagorean  i^hilosopher 
of  the  first  century,  born  just  at  the  same  time  as  Christ  himself 
(b.c.  4).  We  have  no  evidence  of  any  opposition  or  other  relations 
of  A}X)llonius  himself  to  Christianity ;  but  the  philosophers  of  a 
later  age  put  forward  his  alleged  miracles  as  a  set  ofif-to  those  of 
Christ,  his  contemporary ;  either  ascribing  both  alike  to  magic  or 
imposture,  or  preferring  those  of  Apollonius  as  the  more  genuine. 
The  account  of  these  miracles  is  contained  in  the  Life  of  Apollonius 
by  Philostratus,  who  wrote  at  the  conmiand  of  the  Empress  Julia 
Domna  (the  widow  of  Septimius  Severus),  and  while  he  was  living 
in  the  palace  of  Alexander  Severus.  But  these  very  relations  seem 
to  contradict  the  supposition  that  his  work  was  an  indirect  attack 
on  Christianity,  to  which  the  empress  was  favourable  (see  §  1), 
and  whose  foujider  had  an  equal  place  in  the  chapel  of  Alexander 
with  Apollonius  himself.  Neither  is  there  any  trace  in  the  Life 
of  a  systematic  parallel;  it  rather  seems  that  Philostratus,  in 
exalting  the  supernatural  character  of  the  enthusiast  who  mingled 
the  Pythagorean  philosophy  with  heathen  mysticism,  ascribed  to 
him  miracles  borrowed  from  the  Gospels  among  other  sources. 
Hence  the  curious  resemblances  apparent  in  the  announcement  of 
the  birth  of  AjwUonius  to  liis  mother  by  Proteus,  the  incarna- 
tion of  Proteus  himself,  the  chorus  of  swans  which  sung  for  joy 
on  the  occasion,  the  casting  out  of  devils,  raising  the  dead,  and 
healing  the  sick,  the  sudden  disappearances  and  reapiiearances  of 

*  Acta  Cone.  Arelat.  I.  The  bishops  named  Kte  "  Eborius,  de  civitate 
Eboraccnsi;  Restitutus,  de  civitate  Londincnsi ;  Adelphius,  de  civitate 
Cvlonia  Londinensium  (an  error,  probably,  for  /.indcnsi'um). 


Cent.  III.  PHILOSTRATUS  AND  HIEROCLES.  lit 

Aix)llonius,  his  adventures  in  the  cave  of  Trophonius,  and  the 
sacred  voice  which  called  him  at  his  death,  to  which  may  be  added 
his  claim  as  a  teacher  having  authority  to  reform  the  world. 

But  along  with  this  likeness  in  some  details,  there  is  a  marked 
dift'ercnce  between  the  general  character  of  the  miracles  ascribed  to 
ApoUonius  and  those  of  Christ.  The  former  are  distinctively  the 
assumed  powers  of  a  Pythagorean  sage.  They  are  chiefly  prophecies, 
and  what  ApoUonius  is  made  to  claim  is  not  the  jx)wer  of  controlling 
the  laws  of  nature,  but  rather  a  Avonder-working  secret,  which  gives 
him  a  deeper  insight  into  those  powers  than  is  possessed  by  ordinary 
men.  His  real  position  seems  to  have  been  midway  between  the 
mystic  philosopher  and  a  mere  impostor,  between  Pythagoras  and 
Lucian's  Alexander;  and  in  this  double  character  he  was  regarded 
by  the  ancients  themselves.  As  a  philosopher,  AjxtUonius  was  one 
of  the  intermediate  links  between  the  Greek  and  Oriental  systems, 
which  he  endeavoured  to  harmonize  in  the  symbolic  lore  of  Pytha- 
goras. His  main  object  was  to  re-establish  the  old  religion  on  a 
Pythagorean  basis,  to  purify  the  worship  of  paganism  from  the 
corruptions  which  the  fables  of  the  poets  had  (he  said)  brought  in. 
In  his  works  on  divination  by  the  stars,  and  on  offerings,  he  rejects 
sacrifices  as  impure  in  the  sight  of  Gotl.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he 
himself  pretended  to  supernatural  powers,  and  he  was  variously 
regarded  by  the  ancients  as  a  magician  and  as  a  divine  being.  The 
biographer,  who  wrote  to  please  the  imperial  worshipper  of  ApoUo- 
nius, has  supported  the  seer's  supernatural  claims  by  miracles 
borrowed  from  a  great  variety  of  sources,  among  which  the  records 
of  heathen  magic  and  Christian  truth  are  confounded.  The  first 
laws  of  criticism  forbid  the  attempt  to  place  these  compilations,  of 
a  date  two  centuries  after  the  time  of  ApoUonius,  in  any  sort  of 
comparison  with  the  records  of  Christ's  miracles  by  those  who  were 
contemporaries  and  eye-witnesses. 

Nor  was  the  attempt  made  till  about  another  centurj''  after  the 
time  of  Philostratus,  by  Hiekoclks,  who  took  an  active  part  in 
Diocletian's  jx-rsecution,  as  governor,  first  of  Bithynia,  and  after- 
wards of  Alexandria.  His  deeds  of  lust  as  well  as  cruelty  form  a 
strange  comment  on  the  title  of  his  "Truth  loving  Words  to  the 
Christians,"^  which  is  only  known  to  us  through  the  fragments 
preserved  in  the  answer  by  Eusebius  of  Caesarea.'^  Its  substance 
appears  to  have  been  that  the  Christians  considered  Jesus  a  god,  on 
account  of  some  insignificant  miracles  falsely  coloured  up  by  his 
apostles;  but  the  heathens  far  more  justly  declare  the  great  wonder- 
worker, AjwUonius,  as  well  as  an  Aristeas  and  a  Pythagoras,  a 
favourite  of  the  gods  and  a  benefactor  of  men.*     Such  was  the 

'  ^6-yoi  (pi\a\y]0(is  irphs  XpiffTiavovs.  •  Contra  Hieroclem. 

'  See  J.  H.  Nfwnian,  Art.   "ApoUonius  Tvaneus  "   in  the  Encyclopoedia 


118  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURf.         Chap.  V. 

Pythagorean  argument  against  Christianity,  which  has  been  adopted 
by  the  English  Ireethinkers  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  and  it  may 
be  here  observed  that  nearly  all  the  objections  of  the  moderns,  who 
pride  themselves  on  the  title  of  "  advanced  thinkers,"  were  advanced 
by  Jewish  and  heathen  opponents,  and  refuted  by  the  Christian 
writers  of  the  first  three  or  four  centuries. 

§  15.  The  early  date  of  ApoUonius  himself  has  led  us  to  speak  of 
Hierocles,  who  was  really  among  the  last  of  the  literary  antagonists 
of  Christianity.  The.  earliest  were  the  famous  Lucian  of  Samosata, 
and  his  friend  Celsus,  who  lived  in  the  middle  and  second  half  of 
the  second  century,  and  brought  their  literary  attacks  to  aid  the 
persecuting  zeal  of  the  philosophic  emperor,  Marcus  Aurelius. 

Lucian,'  the  Epicurean  satirist,  who  has  been  called  the  Voltaire 
of  heathen  literature,  treats  Christianity,  in  common  with  paganism, 
rather  as  an  object  of  ridicule  than  of  hatred.  He  speaks  of  Christ, 
not  as  an  impostor,  but  as  a  "crucified  sophist."  He  caricatures 
Christianity,  in  common  with  Cynicism,  in  his  imaginary  life  and 
death  of  a  contemporary  Cynic  philosopher,  Peregrinus  Proteus.^ 
"  Peregrinus  is  here  represented  as  a  perfectly  contemptible  man, 
who,  after  the  meanest  and  grossest  crimes,  adultery,  sodomy,  and 
parricide,  joins  the  credulous  Christians  in  Palestine,  cunningly 
imposes  on  them,  soon  rises  to  the  highest  repute  among  them,  and, 
becoming  one  of  the  confessors  in  prison,  is  loaded  with  presents  by 
them,  in  fact  almost  worshipped  as  a  god,  but  is  afterwards  excom- 
municated for  eating  some  forbidden  food  (probably  meat  of  the 
idolatrous  sacrifices)  ;  then  casts  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Cynics, 
travels  about  everywhere  in  the  filthiest  r,tyle  of  that  sect,  and  at 
lust,  about  the  year  165,  in  frantic  thirst  for  fame,  plunges  into  the 
flames  of  a  funeral  pile  before  the  i:)eople  assembled  at  Olympia 
for  the  triumph  of  philosophy.  Perhaps  the  fiction  of  a  self- 
burning  was  meant  for  a  parody  on  the  Christian  martyrdom, 
possibly  of  Polycarp,  who  about  that  time  suflered  death  by  fire  at 
Smyrna.'" 

This  satire  can  hardly  be  ranked  as  a  polemical  work ;  and  the 
first  place  in  the  heathen  literary  controversy  against  Christianity 
belongs  to  Celsus,  an  earnest  and  bitter  enemy.  His  True  Dis- 
couj-se  *  is  known  to  us  only  by  the  fragments  embodied  in  the 
famous  refutation  of  the  work  by  Origen,  who  describes  the  author 
as  an  Epicurean  philosopher  and  a  friend  of  Lucian."     This  ascri^)- 

Metropolitana,  vol.  x.  pp.  619-644;  Schaft',  Church  History,  vol.  i.  pp.  194- 
195. 

'  Lucian  was  born  at  Samosata,  in  Syria,  in  A.D.  130,  and  died  about 
A.D.  200. 

*  Hep]  rris  Tlfpfypluov  Tf\fvTr)i :  also  in  his  'A\v0i]i  icrropla. 
»  SchafT,  vol.  i.  pp.  189,  190.  *  'A\v0hs  A6yos. 

•  Lucian  dedicated  to  the  Epicurean  Cilsu.s  his  life  of  the  magician  Alex- 


A.D.  1^0  (circ.)      THE  "TRUE  DISCOURSE"  OF  CELSUS.  IVJ 

tion  of  the  work,  however,  is  rendered  doubtfal  by  the  distinctly 
Platonic  oi)inious  expressed  by  the  author  ;  but  an  eminent  €hiu-ch 
historian  solves  the  difliculty  by  regarding;  the  views  of  Celsus  as 
those  of  "an  eclectic  philosopher  of  varied  culture,  skilled  in 
dialectics,  and  somewhat  read  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostles,  and 
even  in  fhe  Old  Testament.  He  speaks  now  in  the  frivolous  style 
of  an  Epicurean,  now  in  the  earnest  and  dignified  tone  of  a 
Platonist.  At  one  time  he  advocates  the  popular  heathen  religion, 
as,  for  instance,  its  doctrine  of  daemons  ;  at  another  he  rises  above 
the  jx)lytheistic  notions  to  a  pantheistic  or  sceptical  view.  He 
employs  all  the  aids  which  the  culture  of  his  age  afforded,  all  the 
weajwns  of  learning,  common  sense,  wit,  sarcasm,  and  dramatic 
animation  of  style,  to  disprove  Christianity  ;  and  he  anticipates 
most  of  the  arguments  and  sophisms  of  the  deists  and  naturalists  of 
later  times.  IStill  his  book  is,  on  the  whole,  a  very  superficial, 
loose,  and  light-minded  work,  and  gives  striking  proof  of  the 
inability  of  the  natural  reason  to  understand  the  Christian  truth. 
"  Celsus  first  introduces  a  Jew,  who  accuses  the  mother  of  Jesus 
of  adultery  with  a  soldier  named  Tanthera  ;^  adduces  the  denial  of 
Peter,  the  treachery  of  Judas,  and  the  death  of  Jesus,  as  contra- 
dictions of  His  pretended  divinity ;  and  makes  the  resurrection  an 
imposture.  Then  Celsus  himself  begins  the  attack,  by  combating 
the  whole  idea  of  the  supernatural,  which  forms  the  common 
foundation  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  'i'he  controversy  between 
Jews  and  Christians  appears  to  him  as  foolish  as  the  strife  about 
the  shadow  of  an  ass.  The  Jews  believed,  as  well  as  the  Christians, 
in  the  prophecies  of  a  Redeemer  of  the  w-orld,  and  thus  differed 
from  them  only  in  that  they  still  expected  the  Messiah's  coming. 
But  then,  to  what  purpose  should  God  come  down  to  earth  at  all, 
or  send  another  down  ?  He  knows  beforehand  what  is  going  on 
among  men.     And  such  a  descent  involves  a  change,  a  transition 

ander,  in  the  conrse  of  which  (§  21)  he  praises  a  work  written  by  Celsus 
against  the  belief  in  magic.  Rut  in  the  book  against  Christianity,  Celsus 
stated  with  a])parent  approbation  the  opinion  of  the  Platonists,  that  en- 
chanters really  had  power  over  all  who  have  not  raised  themselves  above 
the  inHuence  of  sensuous  nature  (uAtj),  but  not  over  those  who  are  elevated 
to  communion  with  the  Deity  ;  the  whole  of  which  sentiment  is  inconsistent 
with  the  doctrine  of  Epicurus.  There  are  other  sentiments  which  seem  to 
mark  the  author  as  a  I'latonist  so  decidedly,  that  Origen  supposes  that  the 
author  chose  t(j  conceal  his  real  views,  because,  there  was  at  the  time  a  strong 
preju<lic'e  against  the  Ejucureans  as  the  deniers  of  all  religion,  and  there- 
fore unfit  to  be  the  judges  of  Christianity.  Some  critics  suppose  the  author 
of  the  'AXrjfl^jj  A6yos  to  be  a  diD'erent  person  from  the  Epicurean  Celsus. 

'  •'  UdfBrjp,  punthera,  here  and  in  the  Talmud  (where  Jesus  is  likewise 
called 'Jesu  ben  Paothera '),  is  used,  like  the  Latin  /u/xi,  as  a  type  of 
ravenous  lust." 


120  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY,  Cjjap.  V. 

from  the  good  to  the  evil,  from  the  lovely  to  the  hateful,  from  the 
happy  to  the  miserable,  which  is  undesirable,  and  indeed  impossible, 
for  the  divine  nature.  In  another  place  he  says,  '  God  troubles 
himself  no  more  about  men  than  about  monkeys  and  flies.' 

"  Celsus  thus  denies  the  whole  idea  of  revelation,  now  in  pan- 
tlieistic  style,  now  in  the  levity  of  Epicurean  deism ;  and'  thereby 
at  the  same  time  abandons  the  ground  of  the  popular  heathen 
religion.  Jn  his  view,  Christianity  has  no  rational  foundation  at 
all,  but  is  supported  by  the  imaginary  terrors  of  future  punishment. 
Particularly  oifensive  to  him  are  the  promises  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor  and  miserable,  and  the  doctrines  of  forgiveness  of  sins,  and 
regeneration,  and  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  This  last  he 
scoffingly  calls  a  hope  of  worms,  but  not  of  rational  souls.  The 
appeal  to  the  omnipotence  of  God,  he  thinks,  does  not  help  the 
matter,  because  God  can  do  nothing  improper  and  unnatural. 

"  He  reproaches  the  Christians  with  ignorance,  obstinacy,  agitation, 
innovation,  division,  and  sectarianism,  which  they  inherited  mostly 
from  their  fathers,  the  Jews.  They  are  all  uncultivated,  mean, 
superstitious  people,  mechanics,  slaves,  women,  and  children.  The 
great  mass  of  them  he  regarded  as  unquestionably  deceived.  But 
where  there  are  the  deceived,  there  must  also  be  deceivers,  and  this 
leads  us  to  the  last  result  of  this  polemical  sophistry.  Celsus 
declared  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus  to  be  deceivers  of  the  worst 
kind;  a  band  of  sorcerers,  who  fabricated  and  circulated  the 
miraculous  stories  of  the  Gospels,  particularly  that  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus ;  but  betrayed  themselves  by  contradictions.  The 
originator  of  the  imposture,  however,  is  Jesus  himself,  who  learned 
that  magical  art  in  Egypt,  and  afterwards  made  a  noise  with  it  in 
his  native  country.  But  here,  this  philosophical  and  critical 
sophistry  virtually  acknowledges  its  bankruptcy.  The  hyjwthesis 
of  deception  is  the  very  last  one  to  offer  in  explanation  of  a  phe- 
nomenon so  important  as  Christianity  was  even  in  that  day.  The 
greater  and  more  permanent  the  deception,  the  more  mysterious  and 
unaccountable  it  must  appear  to  reason."  * 

§  16.  Far  more  serious,  and  just  in  projwrtion  to  its  earnest  spirit 
the  more  dangerous,  was  the  philosophic  opposition  to  Christianity 
from  the  school  of  Neo-Platonism,  which  sprang  up  in  Alexandria 
ia  the  third  century.  Instead  of  treating  Christianitj'  as  a  con- 
temptible imposture,  this  philosophy  met  it  on  the  common 
ground  of  spiritual  religion  and  the  aim  to  regenerate  human 
nature  and  find  the  way  to  eternal  life  and  happiness.  The 
ideal,  supernatural,  and  mystic  elements  in  the  philosophy  of 
Plato  liad  always  opened  for  such  aspirations  a  refuge  from  the 

>  Schaft;  vol.  i.  pp.  187-189. 


Cent.  III.  CHARACTER  OF  NEO-PLATONISM.  121 

gross  materialism  of  the  popular  religion  of  Greece  and  Eome.  In 
this  point  of  view  the  Cliristian  revelation  oflered  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  highest  hopes  after  -which  Platonisra  vaguely  felt ; 
and  some  philosophic  minds  were  led  through  Platonism  to  Christi- 
anity. But  others  used  the  points  of  contact  between  the  two 
systems  as  a  means  of  reforming  and  strengthening  heathenism. 
As  Schaflf  observes,  "  Neo-Platonism  was  a  direct  attempt  of  the 
more  intelligent  and  earnest  heathenism  to  rally  all  its  nobler 
energies,  esi)ecially  tlie  forces  of  Hellenic  philosophy  and  Oriental 
mysticism,  and  to  found  a  universal  religion,  a  pagan  counterpart  to 
the  Christian."  Starting  from  Platonism  as  its  basis,  the  system 
embraced  tenets  adopted  from  the  other  Greek  philosophies,  as  Well 
as  from  the  religions  and  mysteries  of  the  East,  It  was  a  philo- 
sophical theology,  "  a  pantheistic  eclecticism,  which  souglit  to 
reconcile  Platonic  and  Aristotelian  philosophy  with  Oriental  religion 
and  theosophy,  polytheism  with  monotheism,'  superstition  with 
culture,  and  to  hold,  as  with  a  convulsive  grasp,  the  old  popular 
faith  in  a  refined  and  idealized  form."  ^  Some  Christian  ideas  were 
received  into  the  system,  and  Christ  himself  was  classed  witl-,  sages 
of  the  first  rank.  His  own  doctrine  was  claimed  as  Neo-Platonic, 
but  it  had  been  corrupted  by  tlie  liarbarism  of  his  vulgar  followers. 
The  religious  system  of  Nco-Platonism  was  based  on  the  doctrine 
of  one  supreme  God,  in  Avhom  was  joined  the  Platonic  trinity  of  his 
Essence  (ova-la),  his  Intelligence  {vovs),  o^  knowledge  of  himself, 
and  his  Soul  (ylrvxij),  or  power  manifested  in  activity;  the  two 
latter  notions  being  inferior  to  the  first.  Under  this  divine  trinity, 
the  care  of  the  world  was  entrusted  to  gods  of  an  inferior  race; 
and  below  them  again  to  many  dcemons  (^balfioves),'^  both  good  and 
bad,  but  all  the  ministers  of  the  supreme  God.  The  vulgar  poly- 
theism was  ascribed  to  a  corruption  of  this  view.  The  spiritual 
life  was  based  on  foith,  which  was  regarded  as  an  act  of  inward 
perception  ;  but  it  was  to  be  cultivated  by  an  ascetic  life,  as  the 
only  means  of  emancipation  from  the  bonds  of  sense  to  union  with 
tlie  Deity,  and  to  obtaining  power  over  the  spirits.  As  a  part  of 
this  power,  the  system  admitted  miraculous  and  magical  practices, 
besides  much  fanciful  suj^erstition.     "  Most  of  the  Neo-Platonists, 

>  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  191. 

-  The  proi)er  meanins;  of  this  word  (wliii^h  is  also  used  in  the  diminutive, 
Saifji6t'ta)  is  Jii-iders  (i.e.  of  good  and  evil  to  man).  The  (JUcmons  of  the 
Oreek  mytholo£jy  were  spirits,  inferior  to  the  gods,  sometimes  the  souls  of 
departed  heroes  and  others,  who  acted  as  ministers  of  weal  or  woe  to  men, 
each  of  whom  was  supposed  to  have  a  good  or  bad  dsmon,  or  both,  and 
according  as  the  one  or  the  other  prevailed  he  was  happy  (e^Saiuwc,  '"  with 
a  good  daemon  ")  or  unhappy  (jSvaha'ifiuv,  "  with  a  bad  d.Tuion  ").  Such  are 
the  "doctrines  about  drmons"  not  "devils"  (StSa<rKa\iaii  Sai/uofiwi'), 
against  which  Paul  warns  Timothy  (1  Tim.  iv.  1). 


122       THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.    Chap.  V. 

Jamblichus  in.  particular,  were  as  much  hierophants  and  theurgists 
as  philosophers,  devoted  themselves  to  divination  and  magic,  and 
boasted  of  divine  inspirations  and  visions." '  Hence  it  was  that 
they  were  so  eager  to  press  the  miracles  of  Apollonius  into  their 
service. 

The  close  relation  of  Nco-Platonism  to  Christianity  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  the  founder  of  the  new  philosophy,  Ammoxius  Saccas,^ 
of  Alexandria,  was  born  of  Christian  parents,  and  was  himself 
a  Christian  for  so  loi\g,  that  it  is  disputed  whether  he  ever  renounced 
his  religion.  Eusebius*  and  Jerome*  deny  the  statement  of  his 
heathen  disciple.  Porphyry,  that  he  ajjostatized  from  the  faith.®  At 
all  events,  his  teaching  does  not  appear  to  have  been  directly  hostile 
to  Christianity ;  and  among  his  disciples  was  the  Christian  leader, 
Origen,  as  well  as  the  heathen  Plotinus.  In  fact,  Neo-Platonism 
presented  two  different  aspects  towards  Christianity,  according  as 
its  spiritual  elements  led  the  mind,  as  in  the  case  of  Augustine, 
from  the  bondage  of  scepticism  to  an  eager  desire  for  higher  wisdom 
and  a  truer  faith,  or  were  adopted  as  an  antagonist  substitute  for 
that  faith,  in  the  pride  of  human  wisdom,^  or  as  a  refuge  from 
perplexity  amidst  the  controversies  of  the  heathen  sects,  the 
Christians,  and  the  heretics. 

Ammonius  Saccas  died  in  A.n.  243.  The  Neo-Platonic  jihilosophy 
was  developed  more  systematically  by  his  pupil  Plotinus,  who  was 
also  a  native  of  Egyjjt,  but  taught  at  Rome,  where  he  died  in  a.u. 
270.  The  capital  remained  the  chief  seat  of  the  new  pliilosophy 
under  Porphyry  of  Tyre,  the  pupil  of  Plotinus,  who  died  in  a.d. 
304.  Its  next  heads  were  Jamblichus,  of  Chalcis  in  Ccele-Syria, 
famous  for  his  Life  of  Pythagoras  (ob.  333),  and  Proclus  of  Con- 
stantinople, tlie  commentator  on  Plato  (ob.  485).  Nco-Platonism 
superseded  all  the  other  sects  of  heathen  jihilosophy,  and  supplanted 
the  popular  religion  among  the  educated  classes  of  heathens.  But  by 
the  sixth  century  it  shared  the  fate  of  the  old  dead  systems  to  which 
it  had  allied  itself;  a  fixte  which  its  attempts  at  refinement  only 

1  Sdiaff,  vol.  i.  p.  191. 

*  Ammonius  derived  his  surname  or  nickname  of  "  the  Sack,"  or  "Sack- 
bearer  "  ('A/x;uti«'io$  2a«»fas,  equivalent  to  2aKK6<popos)  from  his  original 
occuj)ation  as  a  public  porter  {saccarius)  of  corn  at  the  port  of  Alexandria. 

»  //.  K  vi.  19.  *    \u:  I/lust  §  o5. 

*  The  best  modern  critics  arc  greatly  divided  on  this  question  ;  some 
agreeing  with  Eusebius  and  .lerome,  others  supposini;  that  they  confounded 
Ammonius  Saccas  with  another  Ammonius,  the  author  of  various  works  on 
the  Scriptures  referred  to  by  Eusebius,  and  of  a  work  Dc  Cunsensu  Moysis 
ct  Jcsu,  which  is  praised  by  Jerome.  A  I)!<itessitron  by  Ammonius  is 
extant  in  a  Latin  version  by  Victor,  Bishop  of  Capua  in  the  sixth  century. 

*  In  this  respect  there  was  a  considerable  alfinity  between  Neo-Platonism- 
and  Gnosticism. 


A.D.  303,  f.  THE  TENTH  PERSECUTION.  1 23 

hastened.     Its  literature,  utterly  -wanting  in  originality,  had  no 
element  of  lasting  life. 

The  chief  opponent  of  Christianity  among  the  Neo-Platonists 
was  PoKi'HYUY,  whom  the  Fathers  regard  as  its  most  bitter  and 
dangerous  enemy.  Fragments  of  his  Discourses  against  the 
Christians,^  in  fifteen  books,  are  preserved  by  the  fathers  who 
wrote  refutations  of  the  work,  Methodius  of  Tyre,  Eusebius  of 
Ca'sarea,  and  AjwUinaris  of  Laodicea.  His  critical  attacks  on  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  sliow  more  knowledge  than  those  of 
Celsus,  and  he  found  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  allegorical  interpre- 
tations into  which  Origen  hud  been  led  by  the  sjiirit  of  Neo- 
Platonism  itself.  Porphyry  is  the  very  prototype  of  the  sceptics  of 
modern  times,  both  in  his  critical  objections  and  in  his  professions 
of  res{)ect  for  the  pure  teaching  of  Jesus,  as  contrasted  with  the  cor- 
rupted doctrines  of  the  Apostles.  "  We  must  not,"  he  says,  "  calum- 
niate Christ,  but  only  pity  those  who  worship  him  as  God."  The 
influence  of  Christianity,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  Neo- 
Platonists  repeated  its  doctrines  in  a  sense  of  their  own,  is  strikingly 
shown  in  the  letter  of  Porphyry  to  his  wife,  Marcella.^  He  says 
that  what  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh ;  that  by  faitli,  love,  and  liope 
we  raise  ourselves  to  the  Deity  ;  that  evil  is  the  iault  of  man  ;  that 
God  is  holy;  that  the  sacrifice  most  acceptable  to  Him  is  a  pure 
heart ;  that  the  wise  man  is  at  once  a  temple  of  God,  and  a  priest 
in  that  temple.' 

§  17.  The  outward  history  of  the  primitive  and  persecuted  Church 
of  the  first  three  centuries  culminates  in  that  last  great  storm  which 
ensued  on  the  forty  years  of  comparative  rest,  and  preceded  the 
adoption  of  Christianity  as  the  religion  of  the  empire.  This  Tenth 
Persecution  was  strictly  universal  through  the  empire.  We  have 
already  seen  (§  10),  the  causes  of  j)olifcical  suspicion  that  probably 
furnished  the  strongest  arguments  by  which  Galerius  prevailed  on 
Diocletian  to  depart  suddenly  from  his  nineteen  years'  fidelity  to 
the  tolerant  edicts  of  Gallienus.  Besides  special  alarm  for  the 
sanctity  of  the  military  oath,  tlic  Cassar  might  excite  the  aged 
emperor's  jealousy  at  the  number  of  Christians  who  had  risen  to 
fill  the  highest  civil  oflices  during  the  forty  years  of  toleration. 

The  two  emperors  of  the  East  were  residing  together  at  Nicomedia, 
near  the  end  of  the  year  302,  when,  at  a  council  of  the  chief  military 
and  civil  officers,  the  resolution  was  taken,  that  the  Christian  religion 
should  be  suppressed  throughout  the  empire.      The  first-fruit  of 

'   Kara  XpiffTiavQw  Aiyoi.     Tho  fragments  are  collected  by  Holstein, 
Dissert,  de  Vit.  et  Script.  J'orphyrii,  Rom.  1630. 
^  Published  bv  Cardinal  Mai,  Milan,  1816. 
'  Schatr,  vol.  'i.  p.  H>4. 


124  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.         Chap.  V. 

their  decision  was  the  demolition  of  the  splendid  church  at  Nicomedia 
by  the  imperial  guards  (P'ebruary  23,  303). 

Next  day  appeared  the  imperial  edict,  giving  orders  for  a  perse- 
cution such  as  no  former  emperor  had  conceived.  All  Christian 
churches  throughout  the  empire  were  to  be  destroyed  and  their  pro- 
perty confiscated,  and  all  copies  of  the  Scriptures  were  to  be  given 
up  to  be  burnt  in  public  by  the  rwagistrates  ;  all  who  practised 
Christian  worship  in  private  were  doomed  to  death.  Christians 
were  deprived  of  theij:  civil  rights ;  freemen  were  shut  out  from  all 
honours  and  public  employments,  slaves  from  the  hope  of  manumis- 
sion. Debarred  even  from  the  common  benefit  of  the  law,  they  were 
placed  at  the  mere}''  of  informers ;  for,  while  the  magistrates  were 
enjoined  to  hear  all  causes  against  tliem,  the  Christians  were  for- 
bidden to  bring  their  complaints  before  the  tribunals. 

No  sooner  was  the  edict  published  than  fresh  incidents  arose, 
as  in  previous  persecutions,  to  inflame  animosity  and  give  a  pretext 
for  new  violence.  A  Christian  (whose  name,  John,  is  preserved 
in  the  Greek  martyrology),  tore  down  the  edict,  with  bitter  ex- 
pressions of  abhorrence  for  such  "  Godless  and  tyrannical  rulers," 
and  he  was  roasted  to  death  over  a  slow  fire.  Fires  which  broke  out 
twice  in  the  palace  of  Nicomedia,  within  fifteen  days  after  the  edict, 
were  ascribed  to  tlie  Christians,  like  the  conflagration  of  Eome 
under  Nero.  The  Christian  officers  of  the  palace  were  examined 
Avith  exquisite  tortures  and  put  to  cruel  deaths,  and  Galerius 
departed  in  haste,  giving  out  that  his  life  was  in  danger.^ 

Even  after  these  causes  of  mutual  exasperation,  the  pmdence  of 
Diocletian  suff"ered  some  months  to  pass  before  the  general  publica- 
tion of  the  edict  through  the  provinces ;  and  it  was  at  first  enforced 
against  the  churches  and  Scriptures,  rather  than  the  persons  of  the 
Christians.  As  might  havc'fceen  expected  after  the  interval  of  rest 
and  prosperity,  the  "  lapsed  "  were  more  numerous  than  in  previous 
persecutions,  and  the  sjiecial  inquisition  after  the  Scriptures  gave  rise 
to  a  new  class  who,  for  giving  their  Bibles  up  for  destruction,  were 
branded  as  traditores.  In  this  search  many  other  books  doubtless 
perished,  which  would  have  been  invaluable  for  the  history  of  the 
Church  ;  wliile,  in  other  cases,  the  officers  were  imposed  on  by  the 
delivery  of  heretical  writings,  and  the  fraud  was  sometimes  con- 
nived at. 

§  18.  As  in  former  times  of  persecution,  every  public  disaster  was 
ascribed  to  the  anger  of  the  gods  against  their  impious  deniers ;  and 

'  The  recrimination  which  charged  the  arson  on  Galerius  himself  was 
probably  as  unfounded  as  the  accusation  of  the  Christians.  Any  Christian 
capable  of  such  a  deed  would  have  been  fanatic  enough  to  have  gloried  in 
it,  like  him  who  tore  down  the  edict. 


A.D.  305.  DIOCLETIAN'S  ABDICATION.  125 

some  new  troubles  on  the  eastern  frontiers  gave  a  pretext  for  fresh 
and  more  severe  decrees.  A  second  edict  ordered  that  all  Christian 
teachers  should  be  thrown  into  prison ;  a  tliird  directed  that  they 
should  be  required  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods  of  Home  and  be  put  to  the 
torture  if  they  refused  ;  and  s,  fourth,  in  the  following  year,  extended 
these  orders  to  all  Christians  (a.d.  304). 

The  magistrates  were  enjoined  to  invent  new  tortures  to  subdue 
the  firmness  whicli  had  been  so  often  proved.  As  if  to  make  a  show 
of  tlie  clemency  which  sought  rather  to  reclaim  than  destroy,  none 
of  the  edicts  imposed  the  penalty  of  death  ;  but  it  was  inflicted  by 
zealous  magistrates  on  unnumbered  victims ;  till,  in  the  rhetorical 
language  of  Eusebius,  the  swords  were  dull  and  shattered,  and  the 
wearied  executioners  had  to  relieve  each  other,  while  the  Christians 
sang  hymns  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  Cod  with  their  latest 
breath.  Even  the  wild  beasts  at  last  refused  to  attack  the  Chris- 
tians, as  if  they  had  assumed  the  part  of  men  in  place  of  the 
heathen  Romans. 

The  edicts  were  enforced  with  various  degrees  of  severity ;  most 
cruelly  by  Galerius  in  the  East,  and  most  mildly  in  the  western 
provinces  of  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Britain.  But  even  there  the  Ciesar, 
Constantius  Chlorus,  did  not  venture  on  disobedience;  and  among 
the  victims  we  have  to  reckon  the  British  proto-martyr  Albanus, 
who,  being  beheaded  at  Verulamium,  gave  his  name  to  St.  Albans, 
the  town  built  Ironi  its  remains  ;  besides  Aaron  and  Julius,  citizens 
of  Isca  Silurum  (Caerleon  on  the  Usk),  and,  adds  our  venerable 
native  historian,  very  many  others  of  either  sex  in  divers  places, 
who  were  put  to  death  with  cruel  tortures  and  mutilations.' 

§  19.  On  the  1st  of  May,  a.d.  305,  Diocletian  abdicated  the 
purple  at  Nicomedia,  and  Maximian  very  unwillingly  performed  the 
same  ceremony  at  Milan.  The  supreme  jiower  w-as  transferred  by 
them  to  the  two  Ca?sars,  Galeuius  and  Constantius,  as  Augusti, 
'Yhc  unwillingness  of  Constantius  to  leave  his  government  in  the 
West  caused  Italy  and  Africa  to  become  dependencies  of  the  East, 
•under  the  Caesar  Severus;  and  for  the  other  Ca3sai",  Galerius 
appointed  his  sister's  son,  Maximin,  to  the  government  of  Syria  and 
Egypt. 

This  savage  lUyrian  redoubled  in  those  provinces  the  fury  of  the 
persecution,  which  seems  to  have  ceased  in  the  western  regions 
under  the  mild  rule  of  Constantius.  All  subjects  of  the  empire, 
even  to  infants  at  the  breast,  were  ordered  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 
and  tlie  provisions  in  the  markets  were  sprinkled  with  the  libations, 
that  the  Christians  might  not  obtain  food  without  the  pollution  of 

'  liccda,  Hist.  Eccks.  lib.  i.  c.  vii. 


126 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.        Chap.  V. 


idolatry.  All  the  old  calumnies  against  them  were  not  only  revived, 
but  tauglit  in  the  lesson-books  used  in  schools. 

§  20.  Meanwhile  the  death  of  Constantius  at  York,  and  the  pro- 
clamation of  his  son  Const antine,  gave  the  signal  for  the  last  great 
contest  for  the  empire*  (a.d.  306).  Galerius,  shortly  before  his 
death,  issued  at  Nicomedia  an  edict  of  toleration,  in  his  own  name 
and  those  of  his  colleagues,  Licinius  and  Constantine  (a.d.  311). 
The  Christians  were  permitted  to  rebuild  their  churches  and  hold 
their  religious  assemblies,  jtrovided  they  did  nothing  to  disturb  the 
order  of  the  state.  The  motive  avowed  in  the  edict  itself  was  the 
failure  of  the  persecution  to  reclaim  the  Christians ;  but  the  remark- 
able request,  that  they  would  offer  prayers  to  their  God  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  emperors,  seems  to  betray  a  superstitious  remorse  in  the 
mind  of  the  emperor,  who  was  sinking  under  a  loathsome  disease, 
which  the  Christians  compared  to  the  fate  of  the  first  persecuting 
king,  Herod  Agrippa. 

In  the  next  year  Constantine  won  his  great  decisive  victory  over 
Maxentius,  near  Rome  (October  28th,  312)  ;  and  he  forthwith  pro- 
claimed toleration  for  the  Christians.  A  second  edict,  issued  from 
Milan  next  year,  in  conjunction  with  Licinius,  established  universal 
freedom  of  religion  throughout  the  empire  (June  313);  and  this 
marks  the  end  of  the  last  great  persecution,  the  Tenth  in  order,  and 
of  a  ten  years'  duration.* 

'  For  the  details  see  Gibbon,  and  the  present  author's  History  of  the 
Ancient  World,  vol.  iii.  chap.  xxiv. 

*  Respecting  Constantine  and  the  Edict  of  Milan,  see  farther  la  Chap- 
ter X. 


liiiHiliMin'^im'Wii'i'iMl 


Abdon  and  Sennen,  Martyrs  under  Declus.    (From  the  cemetery  of  Pontianns.) 


Crucifixlun.    (Diptych  of  Kambona.) 

CHAPTER    VI. 
CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

I.  Greek  Writers  of  the  Alexandrian  School. 

§  1.  The  Catechetical  School  of  Alexandria — Its  Founder,  Pant^NUS,  and  its 
succeeding  Teachers.  §  2.  Character  of  the  Alexandrian  Theology — Its 
Relation  to  Greek  Culture  and  Philosophy  and  to  the  Gnostic  Heresy — Its 


128        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.     Chap.  VI. 

Merits  and  Faults.  §  3.  Clement  of  Alexandria — His  Life  and  Works — 
§  4.  Origen  (Origenes  Adamantius)  —  His  Boyhood  —  Martyrdom  of 
his  father  Leonides.  §  5.  He  becomes  Head  of  the  Catechetitai  School 
— His  Ascetic  Life.  §  6,  His  Teaching  of  Literature,  and  Study  of  Philo- 
sophy— He  hears  Ammonius  Saccas.  §  7.  Origen  visits  Rome  —  His 
Study  of  Hebrew — Aid  to  his  Work  furnished  by  his  Convert  Ambrose. 
§  8.  His  Counsel  sought  by  Princes  and  Churches — Visits  to  Arabia, 
Antioch,  Palestine,  and  Greece  —  His  Ordination  in  Palestine  —  He  is 
.driven  from  Alexandria  by  Demetrius,  and  goes  to  Cwsarea — His  Deposi- 
tion and  Condemnation  as  a  Heretic.  §  9.  Origen's  Labours  at  Ca;sarea — 
His  Flight  to  Cappadocia,  and  important  discovery  thero — His  success  in 
reclaiming  Heretics.  §  10.  Origen  suffers  as  a  Confessor  under  Decius — 
His  Death — The  later  Origenist  Controversy — His  Teaching  condemned  as 
heretical  (a.d.  544) — His  Character  and  Influence — His  Merits  and  Errors. 
§  11.  Origen's  great  services  to  the  Interpretation  of  Scripture — His 
Threefold  Sense  of  Scripture,  and  Views  of  the  Letter — The  Moral  and  the 
Mystic  Sense,  allegorical  and  analogical.  §  12.  Origen's  Literary  Works. 
(I.)  Biblical — The  Hexapla,  Tetrapla,  and  Octapla — His  Exegetical  Works. 
(II.)  Apologetic  and  Polemical — His  Answer  to  Celsus.  (III.)  Dogmatic — 
The  De  Principiis — Origen's  Doctrinal  System — Controversy  upon  his 
Opinions:  Marcellus,  Pamphilus,  Rufinls,  and  Jerome.  (IV.)  His 
Practical  Works.  (V.)  Letters.  (VI.)  Supposititious  Works.  §  13.  Fol- 
lowers and  Opponents  of  Origen — Heraclas,  Pierius,  and  Tueogxostus 
— DiONYSius  of  Alexandria— Gregorius  Tuaumaturgus — Pamphilus 
of  Cajsarea— The  Cajsarean  School  and  Library — Hesvchius— Metiiodics 
of  Tyre. 

II.  Greek  Writers  of  the  School  of  Antioch. 

§  14.  Julius  Africanus — His  Chronoloi/^/  and  Cesti.  §  15.  Hippolytus, 
Bishop  of  Portus — Recent  Discoveries  respecting  him — His  Relations 
with  the  Eastern  and  Roman  Churches — Charge  of  Heresy  against  him — 
His  Martyrdom  and  Chapel.  §  IG.  Discovery  of  his  Statue,  with  a 
List  of  his  Works — His  Philosop/iumena,  or  work  Against  all  Heresies — 
Recent  Discovery  of  the  Missing  Books — Their  Contents — Autobio- 
graphical Notices  of  Hippolytus  — His  Opposition  to  the  Roman  Bishops 
— His  Literary  Character  and  his  Theology. 

III.  The  Western  Church  :  Laii.n  Writers  of  the  African  .School. 

§  17.  Tertullian  :  his  Early  Life  and  Conversion — His  Asceticism.  §18. 
His  Lai>se  into  Montanisin — Account  of  Montanus  and  his  Sect — 
Essential  Orthodoxy  of  Tertullian — His  Death  and  Character — His 
Theology  and  Style.  §  19.  His  Apologg  and  other  Works.  §  20. 
MiNUCius  Felix — His  Octavius.  §  21.  Cyprian,  Bishop  of  Carthage — 
His  Early  Life  and  Conversion — Wn  reverence  for  Tertullian.  §  22.  His 
irregular  election  as  Bishop— Controversy  about  the  Lapsed — Schism 
of  Novatus  and  Felicissimus.  §  2:i.  Controversy  about  Heretical  Baptism 
— Dispute  between  Cyprian  and  Firmilian  and  Stei)hen,  Bishop  of  Rome. 
§  24.  Character  of.Cyprian— His  high  views  of  the  Unity  of  the  Church, 
Episcopal  Authority,  and  the  Roman  See — His  devoted  Ministry  and 
.ascetic  Morality.     §  25.  Martyrdom  of  Cy|  rim.     §  20.  His  works. 


Cent.  III.  SCHOOL  OF  ALEXANDKIA.  129 


I.  Greek  Wbiters  of  the  Alexandrian  School. 

§  1.  From  the  literary  assailants  of  Cliristianity  to  the  most 
learned  and  philosophic  writers  Avho  taught  and  defended  it,  a 
natural  transition  is  suggested  by  the  common  scene  of  their 
activity  at  Alexandria.  From  the  very  beginning  of  Christianity, 
one  chief  care  of  its  teachers  was  to  instruct  new  converts  in  the 
Scriptures  and  in  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  faith.'  As  the 
Churches  became  organized,  such  instruction  formed  a  regular  part 
of  their  work  and  was  entrusted  to  appointed  teachers,  who  were 
usually  presbyters  or  deacons.  The  teachers  were  called  Catechisls, 
and  the  pupils  Catechumens.^  In  the  case  of  adult  converts,  the 
latter  name  denoted  the  stage  of  instruction  through  which  they 
were  required  to  pass  preparatory  to  baptism.  But  when  children 
were  born  to  Christian  parents  and  baptized  in  infancy,  the  catechu- 
menate  followed  instead  of  preceding  baptism.  As  philosophers 
and  learncil  men  became  converts  to  the  faith,  they  naturally 
became  the  heads  of  catechetical  schools,  and  gave  their  instruction 
a  Avider  range.  This  was  esix?cially  the  case  at  such  a  seat  of 
learning  as  Alexandria.  The  catechetical  scho<jl  of  that  city  existed 
so  early,  that  its  foundation  was  claimed  for  the  Evangelist  Mark, 
whom  tradition  made  the  first  bishop  of  the  Alexandrian  Church. 
"  In  that  home  of  the  Pliilonic  theology,  of  Gnostic  heresy,  and  of 
Neo-Platonic  philosophy,  it  soon  very  naturally  assumed  a  learned 
character,  and  became  at  the  same  time  a  sort  of  theological 
seminary,  which  exercised  a  powerful  influence  on  the  education  of 
many  bishops  and  Church  teachers,  and  on  the  development  of 
Christian  science.  It  had  at  first  but  a  single  teacher,  afterwards  two 
or  more,  but  no  fixed  salary  nor  special  buildings.  The  teachers 
gave  their  instructions  in  their  dwellings,  generally  after  the  style 
of  the  ancient  philosophers."  * 

The  real  history  of  the  catechetical  school  of  Alexandria  begins 
about  A.D.  180  with  its  first  known  superintendent,  Pant.enus,'*  a 

•  See  Luke  iv.  4 ;  where  the  process  is  described  by  the  very  word  from 
which  catechism,  cotcchist,  &c.,  were  derived  :  'iva.  iiriyv^s  irepl  wv  Karr\- 
XV 6 V^  ^6y(t!v  TTjf  a.CF<pd.X(iav. 

-  These  uiiinus  are  derived  from  Kaennxf<^i  to  sound  out,  and  hence  to  sound 
in  one's  cars,  and  (in  ecclesia.stical  Greek)  to  teach;  whence  KarrjxV'V^y  " 
teaclier  (also  ifaTTjx«rT7Jj,  catcc/tist,  from  the  derivative  verb  KaTTjx'Ci^),  ol 
KOTTJXoy^ej'oi  (^ciitcchumens),  those  instructed ;  KaTrjxvo''i,  instructiim,  educa- 
tion ;  and  the  adjective  (coTTJXifTKcc^y,  ctitechetical.  The  catechumens  were 
also  called  aitpoaral  (hearers),  and  ia  Latin,  auditorcs,  audientes ;  and  the 
teachers,  doctores  audientium. 

'  Schart;  vol.  i.  p.  49t".. 

*  The  school  under  his  presidency  is  called  Siarpt/S^  tuv  irKrrwv,  itphv 


130        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Chap.  VI 

converted  Stoic  philosopher,  who  was  also  a  missionary  to  India, 
though  at  what  part  of  his  career  is  doubtful.  His  disciple  Clement 
says  of  his  teaching  that  "  like  the  Sicilian  bee,  he  plucked  flowers 
from  the  apostelic  and  prophetic  meadow,  and  filled  the  souls  of  his 
disciples  with  genuine  pure  knowledge."  Jerome  mentions  hi.s 
many  commentaries  on  Scripture,  of  which  we  possess  only  a  few 
fragments.  The  school  rose  to  the  height  of  its  vigour  and  influence 
under  its  two  ne.\t  teachers,  Clement  (a.d.  189-202)  and  Origen 
(a.d.  202-232).  It  was  continued  under  Origen's  pupils,  IIeraclas 
(ob.  A.D.'  248)  and  Dionysius  (ob.  a.d.  205).  Among  its  latest 
famous  teachers  was  the  blind  Diuymus  (ob.  a.d.  395),  after  whom 
the  school  sank  amidst  the  troubles  of  the  Alexandrian  Church  at  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century.  , 

§  2.  The  fact  that  the  earliest  teachers,  Pantajnus  and  Clement,  were 
converts  from  heathen  philosophy,  combined  with  the  intellectual 
character  of  Alexandria  to  give  a  marked  complexion  both  to  the  theo- 
logy and  methods  of  study  of  the  Alexandrian  school.  The  city  was  the 
great  seat  both  of  Jewish  and  Greek  philosophy,  and  of  the  Gnostic 
heresy  ([iroperly  so  called),  which  reached  its  height  here  about  the 
middle  of  the  second  century.  "  The  Alexandrian  theology  aims  at 
the  reconciliation  of  Christianity  with  jihilosophy,  of  the  ttIotis  with 
the  -yi/wo-is  ;  but  it  seeks  this  union  upon  the  basis  of  the  Bible  and 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  Its  centre  therefore  is  the  Logos,  viewed 
as  the  sum  of  all  reason  and  all  truth,  before  and  after  the  incarna- 
tion. Clement  came  from  the  Hellenic  philosophy  to  the  Christian 
faith ;  Origen,  conversely,  was  led  by  faith  to  speculation.  As 
Philo,  long  before  them,  in  the  same  city,  had  combined  Judaism 
with  Grecian  culture,  so  now  they  carried  the  Grecian  culture  into 
Christianity.  Tliis,  indeed,  the  apologists  and  controversialists  of 
the  second  century  had  already  done,  so  far  back  as  Justin  the 
Philosopher.  But  the  Alexandrians  were  more  learned  and  liberal- 
minded,  and  made  much  freer  use  of  the  Greek  philosophy.  They 
saw  in  it,  not  sheer  error,  but  in  one  view  a  gift  of  God,  and  a 
theoretical  schoolmaster  for  Christ,  like  the  law  in  the  practical 
sphere.  Clement  compares  it  to  a  wild  olive-tree,  which  can  be 
ennobled  by  faith;  Origen  to  the  jewels  which  the  Israelites  took 
with  them  out  of  Egypt  and  turned  into  ornaments  for  their 
sanctuar}',  though  they  also  wrought  them  into  the  golden  calf. 
The  elements  of  truth  in  the  heathen  philosophy  they  attributed 
partly  to  the  secret  operation  of  the  Logos  in  the  world  of  reason, 

5(5a<r«o\€ro;'  ruv  Upwv  fiadi\fi(iTU>v  or  \6ywv,  ^iBaiTKaXtlov  Tijs  kottj- 
X'hcf<^s,  scho/a  KaTr\x'hff(ii>v  ecdcsiastica.  (Knscb.  //.  E.  v.  10,  vi.  3,  26; 
Hieron.   )7/-.  Illust.  38,  6'J  ;  Sozomen.  //.  E.  iii.  1  j.) 


A.D.  189-220.  CLEMENT  OF  ALEXANDRIA.  131 

partly  to  acquaintance  with  the  Jewish  philosophj^  the  writings  of 
Moses  and  the  propliets. 

"  So  with  the  Gnostic  heresy ;  the  Alexandrians  did  not  sweepingly 
condemn  it,  but  recognized  the  desire  for  deeper  religious  knowledge 
which  lay  at  its  root,  and  sought  to  meet  this  desire  with  a  whole- 
some supply  from  the  Bible  itself.  To  the  yvuan  yl/fv8u)vvfios  they 
opiX)Hed  a  yvoxns  dXrjdiuT].  Their  maxim  was,  in  the  words  of 
Clement,  'No  laith  without  knowledge:  no  knowledge  without 
faith:'  or,  '  Unless  you  believe,  you  will  not  understand.'^  Faith 
and  knowledge  have  the  same  substance,  the  saving  truth  of  God, 
revealed  in  the  Iluly  Scriptures,  and  faithfully  handed  down  by  the 
Church  :  they  diifer  only  in  form.  Knowledge  is  our  consciousness 
of  the  deeixT  ground  and  consistency  of  faith.  The  Christian 
knowledge,  however,  is  also  a  gift  of  grace,  and  has  its  condition  in 
a  holy  life.  The  ideal  of  a  Christian  Gnostic  includes  the  perfect 
love,  as  well  as  the  perfect  knowledge,  of  God.  Clement  describes 
him  as  one  'who,  growing  grey  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
preserving  the  orthodoxy  of  the  A^wstles  and  the  Church,  lives 
strictly  according  to  the  Gospel.' 

"  The  Alexandrian  theology  is  intellectual,  profound,  stirring,  and 
full  of  fruitful  germs  of  thought,  but  rather  unduly  idealistic  and 
spiritualistic;  and,  in  exegesis,  loses  itself  in  arbitrary  allegorical 
fancies.  In  its  eflbrts  to  reconcile  revelation  and  philosophy,  it 
took  up,  like  Philo,  many  foreign  elements,  especially  of  the 
Platonic  and  Gnostic  stamp,  and  wandered  into  views  which  a  later 
and  more  orthodox,  but  moi'e  narrow-minded  and  less  productive 
age  condemned  as  heresies,  not  appreciating  the  immortal  service 
of  this  school  to  its  own  and  after  times."  - 

§  3.  TiTDS  Fi.Avius  Clemens,  commonly  called  Clement  of 
Alexandria,'  was  born  in  heathenism,  probably  at  Athens.  Like 
Justin,  he  was  led  by  dissatisfaction  with  the  Greek  philosophy,  in 
which  he  was  deeply  versed,  to  seek  a  purer  truth.  After  long 
journeys  through  the  East  and  "West,  to  hear  the  most  eminent 
Christian  teachers,  he  was  c;iptivated  by  the  teaching  of  Pantasnus, 
and  became  a  ])resbj»ter  at  Alexandria.  Having  succeeded  Panta'nus 
in  the  school,  about  a.d.  189,  he  laboured  in  the  work  of  Christian 
education  and  heathen  conversion,  till  he  fled  from  his  post,  during 
the  persecution  of  Severus,  from  a  motive  of  Christian  duty  (a.d. 
202).  After  this  we  have  merely  traces  of  his  presence  in  Cappa- 
docia,  at  Antioch,  and  at  Jerusalem ;  and  he  appears  to  have 
returned  finally  to  Alexandria.    He  died  about  the  same  time  as 

'  Isaiah  vii.  9,  according  to  the  LXX. :  'Eav  firj  iriaT(V(niTf,  ovSe  fii) 
ffwriTf.  '  Schaff,  vol.  i.  pp.  4^6-498. 

••  KA^jUTjy  'A\f^avSp(vs,  Clemens  Alexandrinus. 


132        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.     Chap.  VI. 

Tertullian,  the  great  light  of  the  Western  Church,  before  a.d.  220. 
Though  ancient  writers  often  give  Clement  the  title  of  Saint,  he 
was  not  enrolled  in  the  calendar  of  the  Roman  Church.  Though 
never  branded  with  heresy  (like  Origen),  his  sjjeculations  were 
regarded  (to  use  the  modern  phrase)  as  "  latitudinarian," 

The  sum  of  Clement's  teaching  is  embodied  in  his  three  chief 
works,  which  form  a  progressive  series,  representing  "  the  three 
stages  in  the  discipline  of  the  human  race  by  the  divine  Logos, 
corresponding  to  the  three  degrees  of  knowledge  required  by  the 
ancient  mystagogiies,^  and  are  related  to  one  another  very  much  as 
apologetics,  ethics,  and  dogmatics,  or  as  I'aith,  love,  and  mystic 
vision."^  In  the  Exhortation  io  the  Greeks,^  like  the  earlier 
Apologists,  he  exposes  the  absurdity  and  immorality  of  heathenism, 
with  superfluous  learning;  but,  in  the  higher  spirit  of  the  Alex- 
andrian school,  he  recognizes  the  prophetic  spirit  in  Hellenic  poetry 
and  philosophy.  The  call,  in  this  first  work,  to  repentance  and 
faith,  is  followed  up,  in  the  second,  entitled  Tutor*  or  Educator,' 
by  an  exposition  and  inculcation  of  Christian  morality,  in  contrast 
with  heathen  practices.  The  very  title  of  the  third,  Stromata 
(that  is,  Ta2)estry  or  Patchivork),^  suggests  the  bolder  aims  and 
characteristic  faults  of  Clement  and  his  school.  This  collection, 
in  seven  books,  "  furnishes  a  guide  to  the  deeper  knowledge  of 
Christianity,  but  it  is  without  any  methodical  arrangement — a 
heterogeneous  mixture  of  curiosities  of  history,  beauties  of  poetry, 
reveries  of  philosophy.  Christian  truths,  and  heretical  errors.  He 
himself  compares  it  to  a  thick-grown,  shady  mountain  or  garden, 
where  fruitful  and  barren  trees  of  all  kinds — the  cypress,  the  laurel, 
the  ivy,  the  apple,  the  olive,  the  fig — stand  confusedly  grouped 
together,  that  so  many  may  remain  hidden  from  the  eye  of  the 
plunderer  without  escaping  the  notice  of  the  labourer,  who  might 
transplant  and  arrange  them  in  pleasing  order.  It  was,  probably, 
only  a  prelude  to  a  more  comprehensive  theology.  At  the  close, 
the  author  portrays  the  ideal  of  the  true  Gnostic,  that  is,  the 
perfect  Christian,  assigning  to  him,  among  other  traits,  a  stoical 
elevation  above  all  sensuous  affections."*  Clcnll^nt  has  also  left  us  a 
treatise  on  the  right  use  of  wealth,''  and  the  oldest  Christian  hymn,' 

'  The  airoKaBapais,  the  /xuijo-is,  and  the  iirSvreia. 

«  Schali;  vol.  i.  p.  499-500. 

*  Adyos  irpoTpexTtKhs  ■7rphs"E\\r]vas,  Cohortatio  ad  Graecos. 
■•  naiSaywyos. 

*  "  2Tp«juaT€?s,  Stromata,  or  pieces  of  tapestry,  which,  when  curiously 
woven,  and  in  divers  colours,  present  an  apt  picture  of  such  miscellaneous 
composition  "  (SchaflT).  *  Schali',  ibid. 

'  This  work  is  a  commentary  on  Mark  x.  17,  foil.,  under  the  title, 
Ti'j  6  ffw(6fXfvos  irXovcrios  ;  Quis  dives  salvus,  or  salveturi  It  combijes  the 
spirit  of  self-denial  and  liberality. 


A.D.  185-254.  ORIGENES  ADAMANTIUS.  133 

a  song  of  i^raise  to  the  divine  Word.*  Tlie  whole  teaching  of  the 
Alexandrian  school  was  based  on  the  exposition  of  Scripture ;  and 
Clement  Avrote  a  condensed  survey  of  the  contents  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  under  the  title  of  IJypotijposes,-  which  is  un- 
fortunatel}'  lost.  But  the  few  fragments  of  the  work  confirm  what  the 
very  title  suggests,  that  the  exegesis  of  Clement  was  cast  in  the  same 
fantastic  allegorical  mould  as  that  of  Oiigen,  which  will  claim  our 
notice  presently.*  Other  lost  works  of  Clement  were,  a  Treatise  on 
Prophecy,  against  the  Montanists,  and  another  on  the  PasFover,  di- 
rected against  the  Judaizing  practice  that  prevailed  in  Asia  Minor.* 

§  4.  The  greatest  name  of  the  Eastern  Church,  in  this  and 
perhaps  in  any  other  age,  is  that  of  Origenes  (commonly  called 
Origen)  surnamed  Adamaktius*  for  his  iron  industry  and  his 
ascetic  life.  The  most  eminent  of  Christian  teachers  since  the 
days  of  the  Apostles,  the  most  laborious  of  Christian  writers  perhaps 
in  any  age,  he  had  to  bear  the  opposition  of  the  powers  in  the 
Church  as  well  as  persecution  from  the  rulers  of  the  State ;  his 
body  was  mangled  by  the  one,  while  by  the  other  his  name  was 
branded  with  hcres}^  and  his  soul  doomed  to  perdition  :  but  his 
f;ime  survives  for  all  time  as  the  father  of  that  biblical'criticism 
which  is  the  scientific  foundation  of  ('hristian  truth. 

Origen  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  great  Christian  teachers  (for 
orthodox  canons  have  denied  him  the  name  of  "  Father")  who  were 
born  of  Christian  parents  and  baptized  in  infancy.  He  was  born  at 
Alexandria  in  the  year  185,  during  the  respite  which  Commodus 
granted  to  the  Church  from  the  Aurelian  persecution.     His  father 

'  The  hymn  occurs  in  the  Pccdagog.  iii.  12  (p.  311,  Potter).  It  is 
printed  in  Daniel's  Thesaurus  Ifymnologicus  (vol.  iii.  p.  5),  and  has  been 
frequently  translated  into  German  and  English. 

*  "tiTorviruffils,  Aduinhratkmcs.  See  Photius,  BibUoth.  109.  Bunsen 
supposes  ihat  parts  of  the  Ilypoti/poses  are  preserved  in  the  so-called  8th 
book  which  has  been  added  to  the  b'tromata,  and  in  the  Kxccrpta  ex 
Theodoto  (^Anaiecta  AnteniciTiia,  vol.  i.;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  01). 

^  Canon  Robertson  (i.  p.  110)  points  out  the  distinction  that  Clement  spoke 
with  fear  of  divulging  his  mystical  interpretations,  and  gave  them  as  tra- 
ditional, but  Origen's  are  otTered  merely  as  the  ottspring  of  his  own  mind. 

*  Editions  of  Clement's  works  :  Clementis  Alex.  Opera  omnia,  Gr.  et 
Lat.,  ed.  .Toh.  Potter  (Bishop  of  Oxford,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury),  Oxon.  1715,  2  vols.;  reprinted  Venet.  1757.  The  small 
edition  of  Klotz,  Leipz.  1831— 1-,  4-  vols.,  is  very  incorrect. 

^  'ASa/iaiTios,  also  XoAKeVrepoy,  i.e.  icith  bowels  of  brass.  The 
name  'Clpiyfvris,  "  sj)rung  from  Horus,"  seems  to  point  to  a  native 
Egyptian  extraction,  and  perhaps  to  a  descent  from  the  priestl}'  caste. 
The  name  has  been  taken  for  a  sign  that  Leonides  was  not  converted  when 
his  son  was  born ;  but  names  were  then  given  without  reference  to  their 
significance,  just  as  we  still  use  names  of  heathen  origin,  both  classical  and 
Teutonic. 


134        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.     Chap.  VI. 

• 
Leonides,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  rhetorician,  taught  him  both 
secular  and  sacred  learning;  and  the  daily  learning  by  heart  of  a 
portion  of  the  Bible  at  once  prepared  him  for  his  future  special 
work,  and  supplied  a  check  on  the  faults  by  Avhich  that  work  was 
marred.  Already  as  a  child  he  began  to  i)ut  questions  to  his  father 
about  the  deeper  sense  of  Scripture,  which  Leonides  reproved  as  a 
curiosity  unsuited  to  his  years,  while  he  thanked  God  for  his  son's 
rare  gifts,  and  often,  as  the  child  slept,  kissed  his  breast  Avith 
reverence,  as  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.^  Origen  attended  the 
lessons  of  Clement  in  the  catechetical  school,  with  Alexander,  who 
was  afterwards  his  protector  as  Bishop  of  Jerusalem. 

In  A.D.  202  the  persecution  of  Septimius  Severus  fell  with  special 
fury  upon  Alexandria,  as  a  seat  of  Jewish  fanaticism  (see  Chap.  V., 
§1).  Leonides  suffered  martyr  J  >m,  and  Origen  would  have  offered 
himself  to  death,  but  his  mother  frustrated  his  zeal  by  hiding  his 
clothes.  He  wrote  a  fervent  letter  to  his  father  in  prison,  exhorting 
him  not  to  be  shaken  in  his  constancy  by  regard  for  the  wife  and  seven 
children  whom  the  forfeiture  of  his  property  left  destitute,  Origen, 
the  eldest  of  the  seven,  was  taken  for  a  time  into  the  house  of  a  wealthy 
matron,  and  he  then  supported  himself,  and  helped  his  family,  by 
giving  lessons  in  Greek  literature  and  by  copying  manuscripts. 

§  5.  Though  Origen  was  now  but  eighteen  years  old,  the  fame 
of  his  learning  caused  him  to  be  sought  as  a  teacher  by  some 
educated  heathens,  who  desired  Christian  instruction.  His  teaching 
marked  him  as  the  fit  person  to  restore  the  school  which  had  been 
broken  up  by  the  flight  of  Clement ;  and  he  was  appointed  as  its 
head  by  the  bishop  Demetrius,  liis  later  enemy.  When  some  of 
his  earliest  pupils  were  martyred,  Origen  stood  by  to  strengthen 
them,  and  was  himself  maltreated  by  the  populace.  He  pursued  his 
work  in  the  spirit  of  ascetic  self-denial,  supported  by  that  literal 
acceptance  of  Christian  pi'ecepts,  which  his  simple  faith  combined 
with  the  widest  range  of  speculative  interpretation.  In  order  to  teach 
without  fees — according  to  the  command,  "  Freely  ye  have  received, 
freelygive  " — he  sold  a  collection  of  valuable  manuscripts  fora  pension 
of  four  obols  (about  G^d.)  a  day,  which  he  made  enough  to  live  on. 
He  drank  no  wine  and  seldom  ate  flesh,  had  but  one  coat,  and  no 
shoes  to  his  feet ;  and  the  bare  floor  was  his  bed  for  that  small 
part  of  the  night  which  was  not  given  to  study  and  prayer.  His 
strangest  act  of  obedience  to  the  letter  of  Scripture  is  explained, 
not  only  by  the  desire  for  supernatural  purity,  but  as  a  safeguard 
against  the  temptations  and  scandal  which  might  arise  from  the 
presence  of  Tnany  female  pupils  in  his  school ;  and  thus  he  "  made 

'  Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  2,  the  chief  authority  for  Origen's  life. 


A.D.  202,  f.  ORIGEN  AS  A  TEACHER.  135 

himself  an  eunuch  for  tlie  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake." '  When  the 
act,  which  Origen  endeavoured  to  conceal,  became  known  to  Deme- 
trius, the  bishop  at  first  commended  the  zeul  which  he  afterwards 
made  tlie  ground  of  censure  and  clerical  disability. 

§  6.  Wliatever  may  have  been  the  case  before,  the  catechetical 
school  became  under  Origen  a  seminary  of  secular  as  well  as  sacred 
learning.  We  are  expressly  told  that  he  lectured  on  Grammar — 
a  term  then  (as  in  the  old  days  of  our  own  schools  and  univer- 
sities) equivalent,  according  to  its  literal  sense,  to  letters,  the  whole 
culture  of  literature.  In  pursuit  of  this  learning,  Jews,  heathens, 
and  Gnostic  heretics  frequented  the  school,  and  were  led  to  embrace 
the  Gospel.^  To  qualify  himself  the  better  for  this  wide  range  of 
teaching,  Origen  pursued  a  fresh  course  of  study  in  heathen  litera- 
ture and  philosophy,  and  became  a  hearer  of  Ammonius  Saccas. 
To  that  teacher's  influence  we  may  certainly  trace  the  large 
development  of  Origen's  natural  leaning  to  speculative  thought  and 
allegorical  interpretation.  To  see  the  divinely  implanted  germs  of 
truth  and  goodness  in  the  universal  mind  and  heart  of  man ;  to  trace 
the  inspiration  of  the  divine  AVord  in  those  words  which  embody 
the  best  thoughts  and  feelings  of  every  age;  and  to  discover  in  the 
successive  revelations  of  God's  will  meanings  which  should  include 
the  whole  mysteries  of  the  natural  and  spiritual  creation,  their 
source,  their  purpose,  and  their  final  end ; — such  was  the  aim  of 
Origen's  philosophy,  and  the  spirit  which  guided  his  interpretation 
of  Scripture.  Both  for  good  and  evil — for  the  result  shows  a  won- 
derful mixture  of  the  two — this  contact  of  the  most  earnest  Christian 
study  with  Neo-Platonism  is  one  of  the  most  momentous  facts  in 
the  history  of  Christian  doctrine. 

§  7.  The  respite  from  persecution  under  Caracalla  enabled  Origen 
to  visit  Rome,  where,  probably,  he  heard  the  preaching  of  Hippolitus 
(a.d.  21iy  lieturningto  the  school  at  Alexandria,  he  devoted  him- 
self, to  the  training  of  those  who  could  follow  him  into  the  depths  of 
interpretation,  leaving  the  instruction  of  the  less  advanced  classes  to 
his  pui  il  Heraclas.  In  short,  he  seems  now  to  have  given  himself  more 
entirely  to  those  biblical  studies  which  made  his  lasting  work  and 
fame.  lie  sought  the  fountain-head  of  scriptural  knowledge  in  the 
study  of  Hebrew,  which  had  been  much  neglected  by  the  Christian 
teachers  at  Alexandria.  To  Origen  it  was  especially  attractive  for 
the  mysteries  which  he  found  in  Old  Testament  names.* 

»  ]\ratt.  xix.  12  ;  Euseb.  //.  E.  vi.  U.  The  rule  of  the  Church,  which 
Demetrius  afterwards  enforced  against  Origen,  seems  to  prove  that  his  was 
no  solitary  case  of  this  fanaticism.  Origen  himself  (in  his  Commentary  on 
Matthew)  condemns  the  act  as  an  example  of  the  too  litei-al  interpretation  of 
Scripture.       ^  Euseb.  I.  c.       ^  See  below,  §  15.       *  Hieron.  Vir.IUust.  54. 


136        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.     Chap.  VI. 

To  his  vast  literary  labours  for  the  settlement  and  exposition  of  the 
Facred  text  Origen  is  said  to  have  been  urged  on  by  Ambrose,  a  rich 
man  whom  his  teaching  had  converted  from  Gnosticism,  and  who 
devoted  his  wealth  to  his  master's  great  work.  Ambrose  furnished 
Origen  with  a  costly  library,  seven  short-hand  writers^  to  take  down 
his  lectures  and  dictations,  and  a  number  of  copyists  (some  of  whom 
were  young  Christian  women)  to  transcribe  the  great  work,  which  was 
the  first  complete, exposition  of  the  whole  Bible,  all  jirevious  com- 
mentaries having  been  confined  to  separate  books." 

§  8.  Origen  was  more  than  once  called  from  his  jwst  by  high 
personages,  who  sought  his  instruction.  Julia  Mama^a,  the  mother 
of  Alexander  Severus,  invited  him  to  Antioch,  that  she  might 
confer  with  him  nixin  religion.^  Some  years  earlier  he  had  been 
sent  for  by  the  Roman  governor  of  Arabia  (as  it  seems),  for  a  like 
purpose.*  Shortly  afterwards,  he  was  driven  from  Alexandria  by 
one  of  the  massacres  which  were  not  unfrequent  in  that  tiu-bulent 
city.°  But  the  seeds  of  a  greater  trouble  were  sown  by  the  very 
welcome  he  received  in  Palestine  from  his  old  fellow-student, 
Alexander,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  and  from  Theoctistns,  Bishop  of 
Ctesarca.  They  desired  Origen,  who  was  not  yet  ordained,  to  preach 
in  their  churches ;  and,  though  they  showed  examples  of  a  layman 
preaching  with  the  sanction  and  in  the  presence  of  a  bishop, 
Demetrius,  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  summoned  Origen  back  in 
anger.  Some  years  later  the  breach  became  complete.  Origen, 
having  been  invited  to  Greece  to  confute  some  heretics  who  were 
troubling  the  churches,  passed  again  through  Palestine,  and  was 
there  ordained  a  presbyter,  at  the  age  of  43,  by  the  same  Bishops  o 
Jerusalem  and  Ca^sarea  (a.d.  228).'' 

'  Photius  describes  them  as  raxvypa<poi,  which  means  literally  only 
swift  writers  (or  rather,  writers  on  .i  swift  method);  but  we  have  other 
evidence  of  the  ancient  use  of  stenographic  abbreviations.  The  tntn- 
scribers  fire  called  ypa<povTfs  eisrb  KaWos,  a  phrase  implying  that  exquisite 
regard  for  calligraphy  in  the  earliest  MSS.  of  the  Bible,  for  which  the  critic 
has  still  to  be  thankful.  -  Euseb.  //.  K.  vi.  23. 

*  Euseb.  //.  K.  \\.  21.  Some  writers  place  this  visit  in  A.n.  217  or  218, 
before  Alexander  was  emperor;  others  after  his  accession.  Clinton's  date 
is  A.D.  220. 

*  Euseb.  II. E.  vi.  19  :  irapa  toC  tijs  'Apa/3'os  ijyovfifyov  :  but  some  suppose 
this  personage  to  have  been  a  native  prince.  Clinton  ])laces  the  visit  in 
A.n.  215.  *  See  Gibbon,  vol.  i.  p.  144. 

*  Euseb.  lI.E.  vi.  23.  "  In  explanation  of  this  it  has  been  supposed  that  the 
bishops  wished  him  to  address  their  flocks,  as  on  the  former  visit ;  that 
Origen  reminded  them  of  the  objections  then  made  by  Demetrius  ;  that  liy 
wa}'  of  guarding  against  further  complaints,  they  otiered  to  ordain  him  ; 
and  that  he  accepted  the  ofi'er,  in  the  belief  that  Demetrius,  thoigh  de- 
termined not  to  raise  him  to  the  presbvterate,  like  his  predecessors,  Pan- 
tanus  and   Clement,  would   allow   him   to   rank  among  the  Alexandrian 


A.D.  231.  ORIGEN  EXCOMMUNICATED.  137 

Upon  this,  Demetrius  not  only  remonstrated,  bi;t  informed  the 
Toishops  of   the  rash  act  of  self-nmtihition  by  which  Origen  was 
disqualified  for  ordination.     The  conduct  of  Demetrius  is  plamly 
ascribed  by  Jerome  to  envy  of  Origen's  genius  and  fame  ;  and  even 
the  bishop's  defenders  admit  his  unjustifiable  violence  and  liarsh- 
ness.     Besides  the  irregularity  of  his  ordination,  Origen  was  charged 
with  corrupting  Christianity  by  foreign  speculations.    His  two  years 
absence  would  of  course  strengthen  his  adversaries— "  the  absent  are 
always  in  the  wrong"— and,  on  his  return  from  the  successful  accom- 
plishment of  his  mission  to  restore  peace  in  the  Greek  churches,  he 
found  none  for  himself  at  home  (230).     His  withdrawal  to  Cssarca 
was  followed  by   two  synods,   summoned   by   Demetrius,   which 
deiioscdhim  from  his  oflices  of  catechist  and  presbyter,  and  excom- 
municated him  as  a  heretic  (a.d.  231-232).     A^  the  decision  of  one 
church,  in  such  cases,  was  usually  accepted  by  the  rest,  the  sentence 
was  ratified  at  Rome  and  through  the  West;  but  it  was  rejected  by 
the  churches  where  Origen  was  better  known  and  valued,  in  1  ales- 
tine,  Arabia,  Phoenicia,  and  Achaia.'     Though   Demetnus  died  a 
year  later  (a.d.  233),  and  was  succeeded  by  Origen's  pupil,  Heraclas, 
the  sentence  was  not  only  left  to  stand,  but  there  is  even  a  story 
that,  on  Origen's  revisiting   Alexandria,   the   unsoundness  of  his 
teaching  obliged  the  bishop  to  eject  him.^ 

S  9  Oricren  himself  bore  the  persecution  with  Christian  meekness, 
writin-  thus  of  his  adversaries:  "We  must  pity  them  rather  than 
hate  them  ;  pray  for  them  rather  than  curse  them  ;  for  we  are  made 
for  blessin-,  and  not  for  cursing."  Under  the  protection  of  the 
friendly  bishops  of  Palestine,  he  pursued  his  studies  and  gave 
instruction  as  an  independent  teacher  at  CcTsarea,  where  there  was 
no  established  school  like  that  of  Alexandria.  Among  the  many 
heathens  who  attended  his  lectures  and  became  his  converts,  was 
Theodore,  a  native  of  Pontus,  who  took  at  his  baptism  the  name  of 
Gre<rory,  and  laboured  with  such  success,  as  Bishop  of  ^eocresarea  m 
Pontus,  that  he  was  said  to  have  found  there  only  seventeen  Christians 
and  to  have  left  at  his  death  only  seventeen  heathens.  From  the 
miracles  attributed   to  him,  Gregory  is   famous    in   ecclesiastical 

nresbvters,  if  the  order  wore  conferred  on  him  elsewhere  by  bishops  of 
eminent  station  and  character."  (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p  lOo).  Ihe  state  ot 
Ori.'en  is  pronounced  a  bar  to  ordination  by  one  ot  the  so-called  ApostoUc 
Canons  (C^xn.  21 ;  Hard.  i.  13),  and  it  was  afterwards  condemned  by  the  hrst 
Nicene  Canon ;  but  it  mav  be  doubted  whether  sueh  a  canon  yet  existed,  at 
least  as  a  written  rule',  and,  even  if  it  did,  whether  it  was  known  to 
Orisjen.  . 

''  Phot.  Bi'jlioth.  Cod.  118  ;  Hieron.  Epist.  33.  ^ 

2  Photius,    cited    by    Fontani.    Xonv  Eniditorum   DcUcia:,    i.    oy-M, 
Florent.  1785.     Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  100. 


138        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Cuap.  VI. 

literature  by  the  surname  of  Thaumaturgus,  the  ''wonder- 
worker." ' 

After  five  or  six  years  of  such  labour  at  Cassarea,  Origen  soufjht 
refuge  from  the  persecution  of  Maximin  with  his  pupil,  Firmiliau, 
Bishop  of  Ctesarea  in  Cappadocia  (about  236).  When  the  per- 
secution reached  that  city,  he  was  sheltered  in  the  house  of  a 
rich  Christian  maiden,  named  Juliana ;  and  there  Origen  found  a 
new  treasure  for  his  biblical  work  in  the  Greek  version  of  the  Old 
Testament  by  Symmachus,  an  Ebionite,  whose  library  had  come 
by  inheritance  to  Juliana.^ 

On  the  death  of  Maximin  (238),  Origen  returned  to  his  home  in 
Palestine,  after  paying  a  visit  to  Greece.  His  religious  counsel  was 
sought  by  the  Emperor  Philip  and  his  wife,  with  whom  Origen 
exchanged  letters.  Though  he  had  been  driven  out  as  a  heretic,  he  was 
invited  to  a  synod  held  at  Bostra  in  Arabia,  to  judge  the  heresy  of 
Beryllus,  the  bishopof  that  city,  whom  the  synod  could  only  condemn, 
while  Origen  convinced  and  reclaimed  him.^  All  this  time  be  was 
steadily  prosecuting  his  great  biblical  work,  a  large  part  of  which 
was  written  during  his  journeys,  besides  many  other  tracts  and 
treatises. 

§  10.  In  the  furious  persecution  of  Decius,  Origen's  stedfast  friend 
Alexander  of  Jerusalem  suffered  martyrdom,  and  he  himself  was 
thrown  into  prison,  cruelly  tortured,  and  condemned  to  the  stake. 
The  fall  of  the  emperor  in  battle  restored  Origen  to  life  and  liberty 
(a.d.  251),  but  with  his  emaciated  body  so  shattered  by  his  cruel 
sufierings,  that  he  died  a  few  years  later  at  Tyre,  about  the  age  of 
sixty-nine,*  obtaining  the  honours  of  a  confessor,  and  almost  of  a 
martyr.  But  the  opinions,  for  which  he  was  branded  with  heresy  while 
he  lived,  were  solemnly  condemned  by  a  local  council  at  Constanti- 
nople, in  A.D.  544,  after  a  long  "  Origenist  Controversy,"  which  proved 
his  abiding  influence  in  the  churches  of  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor. 
The  Church  of  Rome  has  refused  to  him,  as  to  his  great  contempo- 
raries, Clement  and  Tertullian,  the  titles  of  Saint  and  Father ;  but  her 
best  divines  have  shown  deep  respect  for  the  sinccritj'  and  modesty 
with  which  he  put  forth  the  views  which  he  honestly  deduced  from 
Scripture,  in  an  age  when  the  standard  of  Church  doctrine  was  still 
far  from  definite  on  all  points — an  age  when,  it  has  been  well  said, 

*  Gregory  wrote  a  Panegyric  of  Origen,  and  his  own  life  was  written  by 
his  namesake,  Gregory  of  Nvssa. 

-  Euseb.  //.  E.  vi.  17. 

'  Euseb.  //.  E.  vi.  33  ;  Hieron.  Vir.  Illust.  60.  For  another  instance,  in 
which  he  was  summoned  to  combat  the  opinions  of  an  Arabian  sect  of 
heretics,  see  Euseb.  vi.  37. 

*  Euseb.  //.  E.  vi.  39  ;  vii.  1.  His  death  is  placed  variously  from  A.D.  253 
to  25G.     Clinton's  date  is  a.d.  254. 


A.D.  254.  CHARACTER  OF  ORIGEN.  139 

"such  a  man  might  hold  heretical  opinions  without  being  a  heretic." 
His  character  is  thus  summed  up  by  Professor  Schati' : ' — 

"  Origeu  was  the  greatest  scholar  of  his  age,  and  the  most  learned 
and  genial  of  all  the  ante-Niceue  Fathers.  Even  heathens  and 
heretics  admired  or  feared  his  brilliant  talents.  His  knowledge 
embraced  all  departments  of  the  philology,  philosophy,  and  theology 
of  his  day.  With  this  he  united  profound  and  fertile  thought,  keen 
penetration,  and  glowing  imagination.  As  a  true  divine,  he  conse- 
crated all  his  studies  by  prayer,  and  turned  them,  according  to  his 
best  convictions,  to  the  service  of  truth  and  piety.  He  was  a  guide 
from  the  heathen  jihilosophy  and  the  heretical  Gnosis  to  the  Christian 
Faith.  He  exerted  au  immeasurable  influence  in  stimulating  the 
development  of  the  Catholic  theology  and  forming  the  great  Nicene 
Fathers,  Atlianasius,  Basil,  the  two  Gregories,  Hilary  and  Ambrose, 
Avho,  consequently,  in  spite  of  all  his  deviations,  set  great  value  on 
his  services.  But  his  leaning  to  idealism,  his  predilection  for  Plato, 
and  his  noble  eflbrt  to  reconcile  Christianity  Avith  reason,  and  to 
commend  it  even  to  educated  heathens  and  Gnostics,  led  him  into 
many  grand  and  fascinating  errors.  Among  these  are  his  extremely 
ascetic  and  almost  Docetic  conception  of  corporeity,  his  doctrine  of 
the  pre-existeuce  and  pre-temporal  fall  of  souls,  of  eternal  creation, 
of  the  extension  of  the  work  of  redemption  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
stars  and  to  all  creatures,  and  of  the  final  restoration  of  all  men  and 
angels,  including  Satan  himself.  Also  in  regard  to  the  dogma  of  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  though  he  powerfully  supported  it,  and  was  the 
first  to  teach  expressly  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son,  yet  he 
may  be  almost  as  justly  considered  a  forerunner  of  the  Ariau 
heterousion,  or  at  least  of  the  semi-Arian  homoiousion,  as  of  the 
Athanasian  homoousion."  "^ 

§  11.  But  his  errors  of  opinion  are  altogether  insignificant  in 
comparison  with  his  one  great  service  as  the  founder  of  a  scientific 
treatment  and  exegesis  of  the  sacred  text.  As  his  pupil  Gregory 
Thaumaturgus  said,  "  He  had  received  from  God  the  greatest  gift, 
to  be  an  interpreter  of  the  Word  of  God  to  man."  This  praise  is 
justified  by  Origen's  comprehensive  and  systematic  exposition  of 
the  whole  Bible,  in  spite  of  his  errors  in  the  two  opposite  extremes, 
now  of  a   capricious  fancy  for  mystic  and  allegorical  senses,  and 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  505,  with  some  abbreviations.  Schaff  draws  a  close  parallel 
between  Origen  and  Schleiennacher,  as  deeply  Christian,  though  unorthodox, 
philosophers  and  teachers. 

-  Such  a  tcmlcnc;/  (at  least)  cannot  be  denied ;  yet,  when  the  Arians 
claimed  Origen  as  their  forerunner,  Athanasius  spoke  of  him  with  respect, 
explained  his  language,  and  vindicated  him  from  misconstruction.  (Robert- 
son, vol.  i.  p.  110.) 


140         CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.     Chap.  VI. 

again,  of  a  carnal  literalism  in  support  of  his  ascetic  standard 
of  morality  ;  in  spite  also  of  the  errors  involved,  at  least  in  the 
universal  ajiplication  of  his  principle,  that  Scripture  has  a  threefold 
.sense,  the  literal,  the  moral,  and  the  mystical,  answering  respectively 
to  the  body,  soul,  and  spirit  in  man.^  Of  these  three,  he  gave  to 
the  literal  sense  the  lowest  and  least  essential  place,  as  the  usual, 
but  not  indispensable,  and  often  even  the  unreal,  vehicle  of  the 
other  two.  "As  at  the  marriage  of  Caua  some  waterpots  contained 
two  firkins,  and  some  three,  so  (he  tauglit)  Scripture,  in  every  jot 
and  tittle,  has  the  moral  and  the  mystical  senses,  and  in  most  parts 
it  has  tlie  literal  sense  also.^  The  Holy  Spirit,  it  was  said,  made 
use  of  the  literal  history  where  it  was  suitable  for  conveying  the 
mystic  sense ;  where  this  was  not  the  case.  He  invented  the  story 
with  a  view  to  that  purpose  ;  and  in  the  Law,  while  He  laid  down 
some  things  to  be  literally  observed,  other  precepts  were  in  their 
letter  impossible  or  absurd.  Thus,  much  of  the  letter  of  Scripture 
was  rejected ;  but  such  passages,  both  in  the  Old  and  in  the  New 
Testament,  were, -according  to  Origen,  set  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as 
stumbling-blocks  in  the  way,  that  the  discerning  reader,  by  seeing 
the  insufficiency  of  the  letter,  might  be  incited  to  seek  after  the 
understanding  of  their  spiritual  meaning.^  Such  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture were  not  the  less  divine  for  their  '  mean  and  despicable  form ;' 
it  was  the  fault  of  human  weakness  if  men  would  not  penetrate 
through  this  veil  to  the  treasure  which  was  hidden  below.  As, 
therefore,  Origen  denounced  the  Gnostic  impiety  of  supposing  the 
various  parts  of  the  Bible  tohave  come  from  different  sources,  so  he  held 
it  no  less  necessary  to  guard  against  the  error  of  many  Christians,  who, 
while  they  acknowledged  the  same  God  in  tiie  Old  and  in  the  New 
Testament,  yet  ascribed  to  Him  actions  unworthy  of  the  most  cruel 
and  unjust  of  men.  It  was  (he  said)  through  a  carnal  understanding 
of  the  letter  that  the  Jews  were  led  to  crucify  our  Lord,  and  still 
to  continue  in  their  unbelief.  Those  who  would  insist  on  the  letter 
were  like  the  Philistines,  who  filled  up  with  earth  the  wells  which 
Abraham's  servants  had  digged  ;  the  mystical  interpreter  was,  like 
Isaac,  to  open  the  wells.  In  justice  to  Origen,  we  must  remember 
that  the  literal  system  of  interpretation,  as  understood  in  his  day, 
was-  something  very  different  from  the  grammatical  and  historical 
exposition  of  modern  times.  It  made  no  attempt  to  overcome 
difficulties  or  to  liarmonize  seeming  discrepancies ;  and,  when 
applied  to  the  explanation  of  jirojihecy,  it  embarrassed  the  advocates 
of  orthodox  Christianity,  and  gave  great  advantages  to  their  oppo- 
nents.    To  get  rill  of  it  was  therefore  desirable,  with  a  view  to  the 

*  De  Principiis,  iv.  11 ;  in  Levitic.  Horn.  v.  5. 

*  De  I'rincip.  iv.  12,  20  ;  in  Exod.  Horn.  i.  4.         ^  De  Frincip.  iv.  lor-18. 


Cent.  III.  THE  '  HEXAPLA  '  OF  ORIGEN.  141 

• 

controversies  with  Jews  and  Montanists Tiie  literal  sense 

might  be  understood  by  any  attentive  reader ;  the  moral  required 
higher  intelligence ;  the  mystical  was  only  to  be  apprehended 
through  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  was  to  be  obtained  by 
prayer;  nor  did  Origen  himself  ])retend  to  possess  this  grace  in 
such  a  degree  as  would  entitle  him  to  claim  any  authority  for  his 
comments. 

"  Of  the  mystical  sense  he  held  that  there  were  two  kinds, — the 
allegorical,  where  the  Old  Testament  prefigured  the  history  of 
Clirist  and  His  Church,  and  the  analogical,  where  the  naiTative 
typified  the  things  of  a  higher  world.  For,  as  St.  Paul  speaks  of  a 
'Jerusalem  which  is  above,'  Origen  held  the  existence  of  a  spiritual 
world,  in  which  everything  of  this  earth  has  its  antitype.  And 
tlius  passages  of  Scripture,  which  in  their  letter  he  supposed  to  be 
fictitious,  were  to  be  regarded  as  shadowing  forth  realities  of  the 
higher  world  which  earthly  things  could  not  sufficiently  typify."  * 

§  12.  Origen's  literary  work  embraced  not  only  Scripture  criticism 
and  exposition,  but  all  the  theology  of  his  day ;  and  its  amount 
was  marvellous.  Jerome  says  that  he  wrote  more  than  other  men 
could;  and  his  opponent  Ejiijihanius  states  the  aumber  of  his 
works  at  6000,  doubtless  reckoning  separately  all  his  tracts, 
homilies,  and  letters.  Many  of  liis  lectures  were  published  (as  in 
later  ages)  by  reporters  on  their  own  account,  and  even  against  his 
will.  Besides  his  works  in  Greek,  several  are  extant  only  in  a 
Latin  version,  amended  and  interpolated  in  Aivour  of  orthodoxy. 
They  may  be  described  under  the  following  heads: 

I.  First  in  number  and  value  are  the  Biblical  works,  which 
are  critical,  cxegetical,  and  hortatory.  1.  At  the  head  of  these 
stands  the  first  Pohjglott  Bible  ever  compiled,  called,  from  the 
number  of  the  ]iarallel  texts,  Uexapla  (to.  i^airXd  sc.  /Si'/SXta),  that 
is,  "sixfold."  Origen  undertook  this  great  work,  not  in  the  purely 
scientific  spirit  of  modern  textual  critics,  but  with  the  practical 
object  of  maintaining  the  authority  of  the  Septuagint  version  of  the 
Old  Testament  against  the  Jews,  who  had  disparaged  this  ancient 
standard  of  their  own  since  its  a'doption  by  the  Christians,  and  set 
up  later  versions  against  it.  These  later  versions  were  shown  in 
paraller  columns  beside   tlie   Septuagint   and   the   original,    tlnis : 

'  Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  108-110.  There  is  manifestly  much  truth  in 
the  charge,  that  Origen's  principles  of  expositiorp,  though  put  forth  by 
himself  in  a  devout  spirit  and  with  many  cautions  and  safeguards  as  to 
their  ap|)lication,  have  a  tendency  to  subvert  belief  in  th«  historical  truth 
of  Scripture.  But  a  true  judgment  can  only  be  formed  by  the  sfudy 
of  his  own  writings,  with  special  regard  to  the  sense  in  which  he  uses  the 
terms  literal  ni\d  Jict  it  ions.  This  book  is  meant  as  an  introduction  to,  not 
a  substitute  for,  such  studv  of  Christian  antiquity. 
8* 


142        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.     Chap.  VI. 

• 
(Col.  1).  The  Hebreiv  text.  (2).  The  same  in  Greek  letters.  (3).  The 
LXX.  (4).  The  Greek  version  of  Aquila.  (5).  That  of  Symmachus. 
(6).  That  of  Theodotion.  ^  Other  copies,  -without  the  two  columns 
of  the  Hebrew  text,  were  called  Tetrapla  (to.  rerpuTrXa),  "  fourfold ;" 
and  othersjin  which  Origen  added  portions  of  two  or  three  imperfect 
anonymous  versions,  were  called  Octapla  (rti  oxraTrXa),  "  eightfold." 

Origen  was  engaged  on  the  work  for  twenty-eight  years ;  and  it 
was  only  finished  shortly  before  his  death.^  The  great  collection  was 
laid  up  in  the  Library  at  Ca^sarea,  and  it  was  still  used  in  Jerome's 
time.  The  part  containing  the  LXX.  was  transcribed  by  Pamphilus, 
Eusebius,  and  others,  and  this  became  the  standard  recension  of 
the  Greek  Old  Testament ;  and  copies  were  made  of  the  other  Greek 
versions.  But  no  transcript  seems  to  have  been  made  of  the 
Bexapla  as  a  whole ;  and  we  possess  only  some  fragments  of  the 
great  work,  which  appears  to  have  perished  in  the  burning  of  the 
great  Library  of  Ctesarea  by  the  Saracens  in  653."  The  great 
Complutensian  Fohjylott  of  Cardinal  Ximenes,  and  the  Polygloit  of 
our  countryman  Walton,  apply  the  arrangement  of  the  Hexapla  to 
a  greater  variety  of  versions ;  and  from  them  we  can  form  some 
idea  of  what  must  have  been  Origen's  labour  when  printing  was 
unknown.* 

2.  Origen's  Exegetical  works  consisted  of  expositions  of  almost  all 
the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  in  the  threefold  form 
of  Scholia  (oTj/ieiwo-ets),  or  short  notes  on  difficult  passages  for 
beginners ;  Commentaries  (to/xoi),  or  whole  books  explained  for  higher 
study ;  and  Homilies  (6/ii\iat),  or  practical  applications  of  Scripture 

'  The  history,  description,  and  critical  estimate  of  these  versions  belongs 
to  the  province  of  biblical  criticism.  (See  the  article  "Versions"  in  the 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible.)  To  aid  the  comparison,  Origen  marked  the  words 
and  phrases,  in  which  the  later  versions  diflered  from  the  LXX.  by  the 
sign  of  an  asterisk  (t^t)  ^'nd  obelos  (~). 

^  It  is  to  be  observed  that,  even  when  all  the  three  minor  versions  appear, 
making  nine  columns,  the  work  is  still  called  ra  oKTOTrAa,  never  fvveairXa. 

'  This  carries  back  its  beginning  to  between  a.d.  225  and  230,  while 
Origen  was  still  at  Alexandria.  It  should  have  been  said  that  the  death 
of  his  friend  Ambrose  deprived  Origen  of  his  aid  for  the  work,  besides 
reducing  him  to  poverty  in  his  later  years. 

*  The  most  complete  edition  of  these  fragments  is  that  of  the  learned 
Benedictine,  Jlontfaucon,  Hexaplorum  Origenis  qua;  s>ipcrsu7it,  Paris, 
1714,  2  vols.  fol.  A  new  edition,  by  Mr.  Field,  has  lately  issued  from  the 
Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  2  vols.  4to.  1875. 

"  Closely  connected  with  Origen's  biblical  labours  is  the  Lexicon  of 
Hebrew  2\'ames  of  PiULO  JuD/t;us  (^Hebraicorum  Nominuin  S.  Scripturw  ct 
Mensurarum  interpretation,  which  Origen  revised,  and  enlarged  by  the 
addition  of  the  New  Testament  names.  When  Origen's  name  fell  under 
the  ban  of  heresy,  that  of  Cyril  of  Alexandria  was  prefixed  in  some  MSS. 
to  this  work,  which  we  possess  in  a  Latin  translation  by  .leronie. 


Cent.  III.  ORIGEN'S  OTHER  WORKS.  143 

for  the  congregation.  TIi  3  Scholia  are  entirely  lost ;  we  have  xnany  of 
the  Commentaries  in  the  original  Greek ;  but  the  Homilies,  which 
would  have  been  most  interesting  for  the  history  of  pulpit  oratory, 
are  only  extant  in  part  in  the  greatly  altered  translations  of  Jerome 
and  Rufinus. 

II.  Of  Origen's  Apologetic  and  Polemical  writings  w'e  possess  only 
one,  his  Answer  to  Cclsus,^  in  eight  books ;  but  this  is  among  the 
best,  both  of  Origen's  works,  and  of  the  whole  mass  of  Christian 
apologetic  literature.  It  was  written  towards  the  close  of  his  life, 
when  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Philip  held  out  a  hope  of  the  public 
recognition  of  Christianity  (about  a.d.  249).-  We  have  the  book 
in  the  original,  besides  large  extracts  in  the  work  entitled  Fhilocalia 
(OiXoKoXia)  a  sort  of  '  Elegant  Extracts,'  compiled  by  Basil  the 
Great  and  Gregory  Nazianzen,  chiefly  from  the  writings  of  Origen.' 
The  great  mass  of  jwlemical  works,  which  Origen  wrote  against 
heretics,  are  wholly  lost. 

III.  Of  Origen's  Dogmatic  writings  we  only  possess  the  inaccurate 
translation  by  Kufmus  *  of  the  work  on  the  First  Principles  of  the 
Christian  Faith,  commonly  called  T>e  Principiis  (nepl  dpxa>p),  the 
earliest  attempt  in  Christian  literature  towards  a  complete  ex- 
position of  religious  doctrines.  It  was  written  at  Alexandria  in  his 
earlier  years,'  and  exhibits  the  Platonic  and  semi-Gnostic  views  for 
which  he  Avas  charged  with  heresy.  It  is  most  necessary  to 
remember  that  the  work  was  a  juvenile  jiroduction,  and  that  many 
views  put  forth  in  it  were  retracted  by  Origen  in  later  years.  It 
was  divided  into -four  books:  the  first  treats  of  God,  of  Christ,  and 
of  the  Holy  S[)irit ;  of  the  Fall,  of  rational  natures  and  their  final 
restoration  to  happiness ;  of  corporeal  and  incorporeal  beings,  and 
of  angels.  The  second  book  treats  of  the  world  and  the  things  in 
it,  of  the  identity  of  the  God  of  the  Old  Dispensation  and  of  the 
New,  of  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  of  the  resurrection,  and  of  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked.  The  third  book  treats  of  the  freedom 
of  the  will,  of  the  agency  of  Satan,  of  the  temptations  of  man,  of  the 
origin  of  the  world  in  time,  and  of  its  end ;  the  fourth,  of  the 

'  Koto  KeAaou  t6/j.oi  77',  Contra  Celsum  Libr.  VIIL,  first  printed  in  the 
Latin  version  of  Christophoviis  Persona,  Rome,  1481,  fol.,  and  in  Greek  by 
David  Haeschelius,  4to.  Augsb.  1605. 

-  Euseb.  //.  E.  vi.  3G. 

'  The  PhUocalia,  in  twenty-seven  books,  is  often  wrongly  reckoned  as 
Origen's  own  work.  It  was  first  pi'iuted  in  Latin  in  the  edition  of  Origen 
bv  Gilbertus  Genebrai'dus,  Paris.  1754,  and  in  Greek  bv  Joannes  Tarinus, 
4to.  Paris,  1G18. 

*  But  some  important  extracts  from  the  original  Greek  are  preserved 
in  the  Philocalui  and  elsewhere.  Respecting  the  wilful  unfiiithfulness  of 
Rufinus's  version,  see  the  next  paragraph.  '  Euseb.  //.  E.  vi.  24. 


144        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURV.    Chap.  VI. 

divine  origin  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  proper  way  to  study 
them.  This  outline  shows  the  comprehensive  scheme  framed  by 
Origen,  tlius  enrly  in  the  third  century,  of  those  deep  subjects  of 
enquiry,  which  have  ever  since  formed  tlie  sphere  and  the  battle- 
ground of  dogmatic  theology. 

The  discussion  of  Origen's  theological  views  would  be  out  of  place 
here;  and  any  attempt  even  to  state  them  would  be  unsatisfac- 
tory :  they  must  be  jead  in  the  book  itself.  But  from  the  strictly 
historical  point  of  view,  we  must  mark  the  fact,  that  this  first  attempt 
to  frame  a  theological  system  caused  an  outbreak  of  controversy 
and  charges  of  heresy.  In  the  next  generation,  Marcellus  of 
Ancyra  traced  the  errors  of  Origen  to  the  influence  of  Greek  philo- 
sophy, and  especially  uf  Plato.  Eusebius^  replied  by  denying 
Origen's  Platonism,  and  Pamphilus  defended  Origen's  orthodoxy  in 
a  special  treatise.-  Didymus  of  Alexandria  wrote  Scholia  upon  the 
De  Principiis,  to  I'cpel  the  charge  which  fathered  Arianism  ii^wn 
Origen ;  but,  when  the  orthodox  view  on  the  question  of  the 
Trinity  was  more  strictly  defined,  Piufinus  abandoned  this  ground, 
and  excluded  the  passages  objected  to  from  his  translation,  as  being 
interpolations  made  by  heretics,  Avhile  he  is  said  to  have  rather 
exaggerated  the  questionable  views  of  Origen  as  to  other  doctrines.' 
Jerome  therefore  made  a  new  and  more  exact  translation,  with  the 
twofold  purpose  (as  he  himself  tells  us)  of  exposing  both  the 
heterodoxy  of  the  writer  and  the  unfaithfulness  of  the  translator.* 
All  this  shows  how  imperfectly  Origen's  opinions  can  be  judged  from 
the  version  of  Ilufinus. 

Among  the  lost  theological  works  of  Origen  was  a  juvenile  essay 
On  the  Resurrection,  quoted  by  himself  in  the  De  Principiis 
and  by  other  Avriters;  and  a  treatise  on  Free  Will,  mentioned  in 
his  Commentary  on  the  Romans.  His  ten  books  of  Stromata 
(2rpa)/Lia7-ety,  ^TpafjiuTeuv  Xoyoi  t')  in  imitation  of  the  work  of 
Clement,  were  philosophical,  doctrinal,  exegetical,  and  miscellaneous. 

IV.  Of  his  extant  Practical  works,  the  most  important  are  the 
treatise  On  Prayer  (Ilept  Eu^^?,  De  Oi-atioyie),''  and  the  Exhortation 
to  31artyrdom/'  addressed  to  his  friend  Ambrose  and  to  Protoctetus 
of  Ccesarea,  during  the  persecution  of  Maximin  (a.d.  235-238). 

•  Contra  MarccUwn.  -  A]x>logia  pro  Origene. 

*  HiiTon.  c.  li'ifin.  i.  7.  Tillemont  observes  that  Rufinus  inii^ht  have 
spared  himself  the  alteration,  had  he  known  how  much  less  we  should  care 
about  his  views  than  those  of  the  original. 

■*  Only  a  few  frasrments  of  Jerome's  version  are  extant. 

^  The  C(i>nmcnt<iri/  on  the  Lord's  Frji/cr  (Sxo^'o  f'^  «i'X^*'  ioipiaKr]v)  is 
ran  kod  by  the  Benedictine  editors  among  the  works  wrongly  ascribed  to  Ori£;en. 

"  El's  fxapTvpiov  irpoTpenriKhs  \6yos,  Exhortatio  ad  Martijrium,  or  rifpi 
fj.apTvpiov,  I)c  Marti/rio. 


Cent.  III.  FOLLOWERS  OF  ORIGEN.  145 

V.  Of  his  Letters,  of  which  Eusebius  collected  all  that  he  could 
find,  to  the  number  of  above  100,  we  possess  only  a  few  entire,  and 
some  fragments.' 

VI.  Two  important  works  have  been  wrongly  ascribed  to  Origen  : 
1.  A  Dialogue  (Kjainst  the  Marcionites  was  accepted  as  his  within  a 
century  after  his  death,  apparently  through  a  confusion  of  the  name 
of  the  chief  speaker  (and  probably  the  author),  Adamantias,  with 
the  title  given  to  Origen. 

2.  The  Fhilosojihumena,  formerly  included  among  the  works  of 
Origen,  in  spite  of  decisive  internal  evidence,^  is  known  from  a 
recent  discovery  to  be  the  work  of  Hipjjolytus,  Bishop  of  Portus 
(see  below,  §  IG). 

•  §  13.  The  Greek  churches  of  the  third  century  possessed  several 
eminent  teachers,  the  disciples  or  followers  of  Origen,  who  are  classed 
with  him  in  the  Alexandrian  school.  Such  were  his  pupil  and 
successor  Hekaclas  (spoken  of  above),  who  like  his  master  studied 
under  Ammonius  Sacciis,  and  died  Bishop  of  Alexandria  in  a.d.  248; 
and  his  other  successors  in  the  catechetical  school,  I'ierius  (called 
"  the  younger  Origen")  and  Tiieogxostus.*  But  the  most  eminent, 
rather  in  doctrine  than  exegesis,  was  Dioxvsius  of  Alexandria, 
surnamed  the  Great,  a  rhetorician  converted  by  Origen,  and  suc- 
cessively catechist  (233)  and  Bishop  of  Alexandria  (248-265,  when 
he  died),  in  which  office  he  wrote  to  comfort  Origen  under  his 
suflerings  as  a  confessor.  Dionysius  was  emineut  for  the  moderate 
and  conciliatory  part  he  took  in  all  the  great  controversies  of  the 
age;  and  he  carefully  studied  the  writings  of  the  heretics  that  he 
might  be  the  better  fitted  to  reclaim  them.  Valuable  fragments  cif 
his  numerous  writings  are  preserved  by  Eusebius  and  Atlianasiiis.* 
GuEGORius  TuAUMATURGUS  (already  spoken  of)  was  Bishop  of 
Neoca3sarea  in  Pontus  from  244  to  his  death  in  270.     It  was  in  the 

*  The  most  important  editions  of  Origan's  collected  works  are — (1)  The 
beginning  of  a  projected  complete  edition  by  Huet  (afterwards  Bishop  of 
Avranches),  Oru/enis  Opera  L'xegctica,  Kouen,  16(38,  2  vols,  fob,  with  a 
valuable  dissertation  on  Origen's  Life,  Works,  and  Opinions,  entitled 
Orii/cniana  ;  ('2)  The  standard  edition  by  the  Benedictines  Delarue  (uncle 
and  nephew),  Paris,  173o-17o9,  4  vols.  fol. ;  (o)  A  reprint  from  Delarue's 
edition,  without  notes,  by  Oberthiir,  Wiirzburg,  1785  and  foil.,  15  vols. 
8vo. ;  (4)  Another  reprint  by  Lammatzsch,  Berlin,  1831-46,  24  vols.  8vo. ; 
(5)  Additions  from  MSS.  discovered  subsequently  are  printed  in  Gallandi's 
Bihliothcca  Pat  rum,  and  Cardinal  Mai's  Script.  Yet.  A'ora  Collect  io,  Rome, 
1825,  Sic,  and  Class.  Aiwt.  e  Vatican.  Codd.  edit.  Roma;,  1837. 

-  In  the  Procnmium,  the  author  claims  the  dignity  of  a  bishop,  which 
Origen  never  held.  The  arguments  in  defence  of  Origen's  authorship  by 
Jac.  Gronovius,  who  first  printed  the  work  (in  his  Thesaurus  Antiq.  Grcec. 
vol.  X.  pp.  249,  seq  I.)  are  now  quite  out  of  date.     '    Kuseb.  H.E.  vii.  32. 

*  Printed  in  Gallandi's  BiWoth.  Patr.  vol.  iii.  pp.  481,  seqq. 


146        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Chap.  VI. 

6th  century  that  he  was  first  made  a  worker  of  miracles,  like  those 
of  Moses,  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen. 

The  worthiest  follower  of  Origeu's  exegetical  labours  was  Pam- 
piiiLUS,  a  presbyter  of  Cajsarea  in  Palestine.  In  that  city,  where 
Origen  liad  taught  during  his  last  years,  Pamphilus  founded  a 
school  which  rivalled  that  of  Alexandria,  and  he  collected  the 
earliest  great  Christian  library  (though  its  nucleus  may  have  been 
iormed  by  Origen),  which  supplied  the  materials  of  study  to 
Eusebius,  Jerome,  and  other  lights  of  Christian  learning.^  His 
gratuitous  distribution  of  the  Bible  proved  him  equally  zealous  to 
enlighten  the  unlearned.  He  died  a  martyr  in  the  last  great  perse- 
cution (309),  having  begun  in  his  prison  the  Defence  of  Origen, 
which  was  completed  by  his  friend,  Eusebius,^  with  whose  aid, 
also,  Pamphilus  transcribed  the  LXX.  version  fromOrigen's  Hexapla. 
The  close  union  of  these  friends  is  commemorated  by  the  surname 
borne  by  the  famous  survivor,  Eusebius  Pamphili. 

Anotlier  follower  of  Origen  in  the  same  field  was  Hesychius,  an 
Egyptian  bishop,  martyred  in  311,  who  led  the  way  in  the  critical  dis- 
cussion of  the  Septuagint  text ;  for  such  discussion  had  formed  no  part 
of  Origen's  labours,  though  his  work  brought  together  the  materials. 

Among  the  doctrinal  adversaries  of  Origen  in  this  century  (for 
the  opposition  of  Demetrius  must  be  regarded  as  personal)  was 
Methodius,  Bishop  of  Tyre,  martyred  in  or  before  the  year  311.  He 
showed  learning  and  ability  in  attacking  Origen's  views  of  the  creation 
and  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  in  three  dialogues.^  He  adopted  also 
the  title,  as  well  as  the  form,  of  a  fomous  work  of  Plato,  in  his  Banquet 
of  the  Vmjins*  aw  inflated  and  not  always  delicate  eulogy  of  virginity. 
Methodius  also  wrote  the  earliest  reply  to  Porphyry ;  but  this  is  lost. 

'  A  library  of  smaller  extent  was  founded  at  Jerusalem  by  Origen's  friend, 
the  bishop  Alexander.     (Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  20.) 

-  Only  the  first  six  books  are  extant.    (For  Eusebius,  see  Ch.  XII.  §  22.) 

'  Tlipl  ToD  avTe^ovcrlov,  Dc  lihero  Arbitrio  ;  irtpi  rwv  ^ei/ercSj',  De  Creafis ; 
Trepl  'AvaffToicrews,  Dc  Rcsnrrcctione. 

*  2vfj.Tr6ffiuv  Twu  SfKa  irapBivwv  irepl  ayvelas.  This  work  is  still  extant, 
and  I'ragnients  of  it  and  of  the  other  dialogues  are  preserved  by  Epiphanius 
and  Photius.  Eusebius  does  not  deign  to  mention  this  opponent  of  Origen. 
The  remains  of  Jlethodius  are  jirinted  by  Combefisius,  Par.  1644,  fol. ;  in 
Gallandi's  Bihlioth.  Pair.  iii.  G70-832,  and  Mai's  Nova  Col/ectlo  VII.  i.  49,  92, 
102.  Some  writers  reckoned  to  the  Alexandrian  school,  in  a  wider  sense,  are  : 
Anatolius,  Bishop  of  Laodicoa  in  Syria  (from  A.n.  270),  one  of  the  earliest 
Christian  teachers  of  the  Aristotelian  jihilosophy  (Euseb.  //.  U.  vii.  32); 
Alexander,  Bishop  of  Lycopolis  in  Egyjit  (about  280),  one  of  the  earliest 
ojyponents  of  Manicheism  (in  his  Tlphs  ras  Mavixa^ov  5(i|aj,'Combefis.  ii.  3; 
(Jalland.  iv.  7.'!);  and  Hieuax  (or  Hieracas),  of  Leontopolis  in  Egypt,  be- 
tween the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  whom  Epiphanius  reckons  as  a  Mani- 
chean — a  singular  phenomenon  of  varied  learning,  allegorical  exegesis,  and 
eccentric  asceticism.  (Ejiiphan.  Ihvrcs.  07  :  SchalK,  vol.  i.  p.  510.) 


Cent.  III.-IV,  SCHOOL  OF  ANTIOCH.  147 


II. — Greek  Writers  op  the  School  of  Antioch. 

§  14.  The  divines  of  the  Eastern  Church,  who  are  classed  as 
the  School  of  Antioch,  exliibit  a  marked  distinction  from  the  theo- 
logy and  exegetical  methodsof  the  Alexandrian  school.  To  this  school 
belongs  Sextus  Julius  Africanus,  an  older  friend  of  Origen 
(probably  a  presbyter  (though  late  writers  say  bishop)  of  Emmaus 
(Nicopolis)  in  Palestine  (ob.-A.D.  232).^  Africanus  travelled  to 
Alexandria,  and  attended  the  lectures  of  Ileraclas.  He  is  classed  with 
Clement  and  Origen,^  and  was  esteemed  the  most  learned  of  the  early 
Christian  writers.  His  knowledge  of  Hebrew  may  be  inferred  from 
his  letter  to  Origen  against  the  authority  of  the  Book  of  Susannah, 
which  is  still  extant,  with  Origen's  answer  in  defence  of  the  book. 
We  have  also  some  extracts  of  his  letter  to  Aristides  on  the  genealo- 
gies of  Christ  in  Matthew  and  Luke  f  but  the  rest  of  his  highly 
esteemed  Scripture  criticisms  are  lost.  He  is  still  famous  as  the 
compiler  of  the  first  of  those  chronological  works  by  which  Christian 
scholars  aimed  at  exhibiting  the  annals  of  the  world  in  a  connected 
series,  parallel  with  the  Scripture  history.  His  Five  Books  of 
Chronolocjy,  from  the  Creation,  which  he  placed  at  b.c.  5499,  to  the 
fourth  year  of  Elagabalus  (a.d.  221),  formed  the  basis  of  the  Chronicon 
of  Eusebius.*  There  is  also  attributed  to  Africanus  a  sort  of  common- 
])Iace  book  of  his  varied  learning  on  all  manner  of  subjects,  to  which 
he  gave  the  fanciful  title  oi KecrTol {Cesti),  "Embroidered  Girdles," 
from  Homer's  famous  cestus  of  Aphrodite,  in  imitation  of  the  Stromata 
of  Clement  and  Origen.  Extracts  from  it  have  been  published, 
relating  to  mathematics,  agriculture,  and  the  art  of  war;  and  other 
I'arts  are  said  to  exist  in  manusciipt.  Such  an  example  proves  that 
the  time  had  come  when  the  widest  range  of  knowledge  was  embraced 
in  the  studies  of  Christian  teachers. 

The  school  of  Antioch  is  considered  to  have  received  its  final 
distinctive  character  from  tlie  jiresbyters  Dokotheus  (died  about  a.d. 
290)  and  Lucian  (martyred  a.d.  311)  :  the  latter  prepared  a  critical 
edition  of  the  Septuagint,  and  perha]is  also  of  the  Greek  Testament. 
The  sober  and  careful  biblical  criticism  of  this  school  reached  its 

'  Jerome  names  Emmaus  as  his  birthplace  (Fir.  Tllmt.  63);  but  Suidus 
calls  him  a  Libyan.  It  was  through  his  intercession,  as  ambassador  to 
Elagabalus,  that  Emmaus  was  restored,  after  being  burnt  down,  and 
named  Nicopolis. 

*  Socrates,  If.  E.  ii.  35.  "■  Euscb.  II.  E.  vi.  23  ;  Phot.  Bihl.  34. 

*  As  the  work  of  Africanus  was  incoi-porated  with  that  of  Eusebius,  it 
was  not  preserved  as  a  whole  ;  but  many  fragments  of  it  are  quoted  in  the 
Chronicles  of  Syncellus  and  Cedrenus,  antl  the  Chronicon  Pasc/uile.  They 
are  collected  in  Gallandi's  Bibliotheca  and  Kouth's  licliquice  Sacrco. 


us         CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Chap.  YI. 

cVimax  in  Chr^'sostom  and  Theodoret ;  but  the  same  scbool  produced 
the  heresiarciis  Arius  and  Nestorius. 

§  15.  Connected  by  origin  with  the  school  of  Antioch,  but  by  his 
labours  with  the  Western  Church,  is  an  eminent  writer,  whose 
place  in  Christian  literature,  and  even  his  personal  identitj%  have 
only  been  established  in  our  own  time,  though  his  name  is  still  beset 
with  doubtful  questions.  The  name  of  Hippolytus,  Bishop  of 
Portus,^  may  be  introduced  by  the  words  of  I'rofessor  Schaff  : — 
"  The  life  and  labours  of  Hippolytus  had  long  been  shrouded  in  a 
mysterious  twilight,  until  a  happy  literary  discovery  in  1851  shed 
clearer  light  upon  them.  Hippolytus  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
most  learned  and  eminent  scholars  and  theologians  of  his  time. 
The  Ttoman  Cliurch  placed  him  in  the  number  of  her  saints  and 
martyrs,  little  suspecting  that  he  would  come  forward  in  the 
nineteenth  century  as  an  accuser  against  her." 

Hippolytus  is  first  mentioned  by  Eusebius^  simply  as  a  bishop ; 
the  Paschal  Chronicle  (about  306)  adds  that  his  see  was  the  Portus 
Pomanus ;  while,  in  an  old  catalogue  of  the  Popes,*  he  is  named  as 
a  presbyter.  His  own  statement,  in  a  fragment  preserved  by  Photius, 
that  he  was  a  bearer  of  Irena^us  at  Lyon,  connects  him  with  that 
branch  of  the  Eastern  Church*  which  was  settled  in  Gaul,  and  we 
shall  see  that  bis  relation  to  the  Poniau  Church  was  that  of  strong 
antagonism.  His  zeal  for  strict  discipline  in  opposition  to  the  laxity 
of  the  Roman  bishops,  Zejihyrinus  and  Callistus,  seems  to  have  been 
the  ground  of  the  cliarge  that  he  followed  the  heresy  of  Novatian,^ 
who  did  not  appear  at  Piomc  till  Hippolytus  had  been  dead  ten  years, 

*  That  is,  the  Portus  Eomanus  (now  Porto),  the  new  port  of  Rome,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Tiber,  opposite  to  the  old  port  of  Ostia.  The  mention  of  Hippo- 
lytus in  connection  with  Beryllus,  Bishop  of  Bostra  (Euseb.  //.  1].  vi.  50)  has 
led  Cave  and  others  into  the  manifest  error  of  making  his  see  the  Arabian 
Portus  Romanus  (now  Aden).  *  //.  E.  vi.  20,  22;  Hieron.  J  7/-.  ///.  61. 

*  The  Calalogns  Liberianus,  about  a.d.  3.54-.  Perhaps  the  Roman  sub- 
urban bishops  {cardinales  episcopi)  were  also  members  of  the  Roman  college 
of  presbyters ;  but  another  explanation  is  that  he  was  a  schismatic  bishop, 
set  up  in  opposition  to  Callistus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  against  whom  Hippolytus 
bears  very  strong  testimony.  (DoUinger,  Jlippobjtos  und  Kallistos,  pp.  73, 
101-4.) 

*  It  is  stated  by  Jerome,  on  the  authority  of  Hippolytus  himself,  that  he 
had  Origen  among  his  hearers  when  preaching;  but  this  may  have  been 
when  Origen  visited  Rome.  The  assertion  of  Peter  Damiani,  Bishop  of 
Ostia  in  the  eleventh  century,  that  Hippolytus  was  at  first  a  bishop  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Antioch,  his  birthphice,  whence  he  removed  to  Rome, 
may  preserve  a  true  tradition  respecting  his  native  country  ;  and  this  is 
conlirmed  by  the  honours  paid  to  him,  as  a  martyr,  in  the  East.  (Pet. 
Damian.  Epist.  ad  Nicolnum,  2.) 

*  So  says  the  Spanish  Christian  poet,  Prudentius  (about  a.d.  400), 
adding  that  Hippolytus,  in  prospect  of  deatii,  repented  of  his  schism,  and 
exhorted  his  followers  to  return  to  the  Catholic  Church.  See  the  poem 
on  his  martyrdom  in  the  WtpX  HTfcpavwu  {De  Curonis),  Hymn  ix. 


A.D.  220  {circ.)  IIIPPOLYTUS,  BISHOP  OF  PORTUS.  149 

According  to  the  Papal  Catalogue  quoted  above,  Hii^polytus  was 
banished  in  the  persecution  of  Maximin  (about  a.d.  235)  to  the 
unhealthy  Island  of  Sardinia,  where  it  seems  to  be  implied  that  he 
died.  But  I'rudentius  says  that  he  was  martyred  near  Rome,  being 
torn  to  pieces  by  wild  horses,  in  mockery  of  his  name  and  of  the  fate 
of  his  mythical  namesake,  the  son  of  Theseus.^  His  death  at  or  near 
Eome,  whether  i)receded  by  a  banishment  or  not,  seems  certain,  as 
Prudentius  saw  there  his  subterranean  grave-chai)el,  where  his  mar- 
tyrdom was  I'epresented. 

§  IG.  We  now  come  to  the  first  of  the  two  modern  discoveries 
which,  at  an  interval  of  three  centuries,  have  set  the  memory  of 
Hippolytus  in  a  new  light.  In  1551,  there  was  dug  up,  from  the 
ruins  of  a  chapel  in  the  cemetery  of  the  basilica  of  St.  Lawrence 
(whose  name  is  connected  with  that  of  St.  Hippolytus  in  the  Martyr- 
ologies)  a  mutilated  marble  statue,  now  in  the  Vatican.  It  repre- 
sents a  venerable  man  seated  in  a  chair,  and  clothed  with  the  Greek 
pallium  and  Roman  toga.  It  matters  little  whether  it  was  carved  as 
a  likeness  of  Hippolytus  (a  thing  highly  improbable  in  that  age),  or 
whether  it  was  a  statue  converted  to  his  honour.^  The  identification 
is  distinctly  made  by  the  inscription  on  the  back  of  the  chair  of  the 
name  of  Hippolytus,  with  his  Faschal  Canon  for  seven  cycles  of 
sixteen  years,  from  the  first  year  of  Alexander  Severus  (222),  and 
a  list  of  his  writings.  Among  these  is  a  treatise  On  the  All 
(Ilept  Tov  IlavTos),  which  the  author  of  the  Philosophumena 
(wrongly  ascribed  to  Origen)  refers  to  as  his  own  work.  The 
inference  as  to  the  axithorship  of  the  Pkilosophumena  has  been 
recently  confirmed  by  a  second  discoverj\ 

That  work,  as  handed  down  from  ancient  times,  bore  a  manifestly 
imperlect  title,  which  marked  it  as  only  the  first  book  of  a  refuta- 
tion of  all  heresies,  to  which  its  subject — an  account  of  the  system 
of  heathen  philosophy — was   clearly  but   an    introduction.^      The 

'  'Iirn-($AuTos  signifies  "  torn  asuntUn-,  oi-  broken  to  pieces,  by  horses." 
We  might  suspect  that  the  fate  of  the  bishoj)  (in  the  mouth  of  a  poet) 
was  as  much  an  etymological  myth  as  that  of  the  hero,  but  the  olficers  of 
the  savage  Thracian  usurper  may  have  indulged  in  such  a  cruel  mockery 
on  the  martyr's  name.  In  either  case,  Prudentius  may  be  glancing  at  a 
retribution  for  a  schismatic  life.  Another  tradition  made  his  martyr- 
dom by  drowning  in  a  ditch,  or  in  a  pit  full  of  water,  or  in  the  mouth  of  the 
Tiber  (Pet.  Damian.  /.  c).  Hippolytus  is  enrolled  as  a  saint  and  martyr  in 
the  Marti/rologtes  of  the  Roman,  Greek.  Coptic  and  Abyssinian  churches. 

-  As  to  this  practice  (for  example,  the  adaptation  of  a  statue  of,  and 
inscribed  to,  Apollo,  as  that  of  Apollos)  see  Conyers  Jliddleton's  Letter 
from  Koine. 

1  he  title  is  ^iXoffotpovfieva,  ^  rou  Kara  iraffSiv  aipdffeiiiv  4\4yxov, 
fii^Kioi/  a'  (Philosophumcna,  s.  Aih-ersus  omnes  Ilccirses,  Liher  primns).  It  is 
easily  seen  how  this  book  would  be  preserved  as  a  contribution,  complete 
in  itself,  to  the  history  of  philosophy.    It  was  first  published,  with  a  Latin 


150        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY,    Chap.  V]. 

work  as  a  whole,  though  still  incomplete  (for  the  second  and  third 
books  are  unfortunately  lost)  was  discovered  by  M.  Emmanuel  Miller, 
of  Paris,  among  a  treasure  of  MSS.  broujj;ht  from  the  Greek  convent 
of  Mount  Athos  in  1842,  and  it  was  published  at  Oxford  in  1851.^ 
Abundant  internal  evidence  marks  this  work  as  the  treatise  J^atns^  all 
Heresies,  which  the  ancient  writers  ascribe  to  Hippolytus.^ 

The  contents  of  the  work,  which  is  still  called  Philosophumena, 
though  the  wider  title  Against  all  Heretics  is  more  accurate,  are 
thus  described  by  I'rofessor  Schaff: — "The  Fhilosophumena,  at 
least  next  to  the  anti-Gnostic  work  of  Irenajus,  is  the  leading 
polemical  theological  production  of  the  aute-Nicene  Church,  and 
sheds  much  new  light,  not  only  upon  the  ancient  heresies  and  the 
development  of  the  Church  doctrine,  but  also  upon  the  history  of 
philosophy,  and  the  condition  of  the  Roman  Church  in  the  beginning 
of  the  third  century.  It  furthermore  affords  valuable  testimony  to 
the  genuineness  of  the  Gospel  of  John,  both  from  the  mouth  of  the 
author  himself,  and  through  his  quotations  from  the  much  earlier 
Gnostic  Basilides,  who  was  a  later  contemporary  of  John  (about 
A.D.  125).  The  first  of  the  ten  books  gives  an  outline  of  the 
heathen  philosophies.  The  second  and  tliird  books,  which  are 
wanting,  treated  probably  of  the  heathen  mysteries,  and  mathe- 
matical and  astrological  theories.  The  fourth  is  occupied  likewise 
with  the  heathen  astrology  an<l  magic,  which  must  have  exercised 
great  influence,  particularly  in  Home.  In  the  fifth  book,  the  author 
comes  to  his  proper  theme,  the  refutation  of  all  the  heresies  from 
the  times  of  the  Apostles  to  his  own.  He  takes  up  thirty-two  in 
all,   most   of  which,   however,   are  merely,  dift'erent    branches  of 

translation,  and  notes  vindicatins;  Origen's  title  to  the  authorship,  by  Jac. 
Gronovius,  in  his  Thesaurus  Antiqnitatum  Grwcarum,  vol.  x.  pp.  249  ct  scqq. 

'  "  ^i\offo<j>ovfifi'a,  r)  Kara  iraaoiv  alpeffewv  fKcyxos,  c.  Cod.  Parisino, 
nunc  primum  edidit  Emmanuel  Miller,  O.xon.  1851."  There  is  a  later 
and  improved  edition  :  "Hippolyti  Ei)iscopi  Refutationis  omnium  Ha;re- 
sium  Litjrorum  dceem  qua;  supersunt,"  with  a  Latin  version  and  "notes 
by  Duncker  and  Schneidewin  :  (Jotting.  18oG-59. 

-  The  work  of  Hippolytus, ^rTp^s  airatras  ras  alpefffts,  Adrersns  omnes 
Jfiercses,  is  mentioned  by  Euscbius  and  .Jerome,  and  is  described  by  Photius 
as  directed  against  thirty-two  heresies,  beginning  with  the  Dositheans,  and 
ending  with  Noetus,  the  contemporary  of  Hi])polytus.  The  fragments  quoted 
from  his  various  books  against  particuh\r  heresies  were  probably  derived 
from  this  great  work.  The  objection,  that  the  r/iilosophuinena  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  list  inscribed  on  the  statue,  cannot  outweigh  the  evidence 
for  the  authorship  of  Hii)polytus,  oven  though  the  reply  may  be  scai'cely 
satisfactory,  that  it  is  the  work  "  Against  the  Greeks  "  named  in  that  list 
as  ripbs  "EWrivas  Kal  ir/>bs  TlKarwva,  I)  (cot  irtpl  toD  iravTos.  A  fragment 
of  his  work  against  the  Jews  ('Airo5ei(CTi/c^  irphs  'lovSaiovs,  Dcmonstratio 
adrersHS  Jndiros)  is  also  extant.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  his 
apologetic  and  polemical  books  were  gathered  into  one  work,  and  received 
their  collective  title  after  the  inscription  of  the  list  on  the  statue. 


A.D.  220  (ciVc.)  POSITION  OF  IIIPPOLYTUS.  151 

Gnosticism  and  Ebionism.  He  simply  states  the  heretical  opinions 
from  writings  now  lost,  without  introducing^  his  own  reflections  ;  and 
refers  them  to  the  Greek  philosophj'^,  mysticism,  and  magic — thinking 
them  sullicieiitly  refuted  by  being  traced  to  those  heathen  sources. 
The  ninth  book,  in  refuting  the  doctrine  of  the  Noetians  and 
Callistians,  makes  remarkable  disclosures  of  events  in  the  Koman 
Church.  The  tenth  book,  made  use  of  by  Theodoret,  contains  a  brief 
recapitulation  and  the  author's  own  confession  of  laith,  as  a  positive 
refutation  of  the  heresies.  Tlie  composition  falls  some  years  after  the 
death  of  Callistus ;  therefore,  between  the  years  223  and  22")." ' 

The  autobiographical  statements  in  the  ninth  book  give  us  the 
following  interesting  information  about  Hipjjolytus  : — "  The  author 
api)ears  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  clergy  in  or  near  Eome 
in  the  beginning  of  the  third  century ;  probably  a  bishop,  since 
he  reckons  himself  among  the  successors  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
guardians  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church.  He  took  an  active  part 
in  all  the  doctrinal  and  ritual  controversies  of  his  time,  but  fell  into 
ill  savour  with  the  lioman  bishops  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  on 
account  of  their  I'atripassian  leanings  and  their  loose  penitential 
discipline.  The  latter  especially,  who  had  given  public  olfeuce  by 
his  former  mode  of  life,  he  attacked  with  earnestness  and  not 
without  passion.  He  was,  therefore,  though  not  exactly  a  schis- 
matical  counter-pope  (as  DoUingcr  supposes),  yet  the  head  of  a 
disafiected  parly,  orthodox  in  doctrine,  rigorous  in  discipline,  and 
thus  very  nearly  allied  to  the  Montanists  before  him,  and  to  the 
later  schism  of  Novatian.'^  ....  llippolytus  is  ratlier  a  learned 
and  judicious  compiler,  than  an  original  author.  In  the  philoso- 
phical parts  of  his  work,  he  borrows  largely  from  Sextus  Empiricus, 
word  for  word,  without  acknowledgment,  and  in  the  theological 
part  from  Irenajus.  In  doctrine,  he  agrees,  for  the  most  part,  with 
Irena^us,  even  to  his  Cliiliasm,  but  he  is  not  that  father's  equal  in 
discernment,  depth,  and  moderation.  He  repudiates  jihilosophy, 
almost  with  Tertullian's  vehemence,  as  the  source  of  all  heresies ; 
yet  he  emj^loj's  it  to  establish  his  own  views.  On  the  subject  of 
the  Trinity,  he  assails  Monarchianism,*  and  advocates  the  Hypo- 
stasian  theory  with  a  zeal  which  brought  down  upon  him  the  charge 
of  di-theism."'*  In  exegesis,  like  Origen,  he  pursued  the  allegorical 
method.  Judging  from  the  time  when  he  was  a  hearer  of  Irenaius, 
liis  active  life  must  have  extended  from  the  last  years  of  the  second 
century  to  about  b.c.  236.'' 

'  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  494. 

^  Though  in  this  respect  quite  of  the  same  spirit  as  Tertullian,  he 
places  the  Montanists  among  the  heretics,  with  only  a  brief  notice. 

*  The  view,  in  substance,  now  called  Unitaruin.  *  Schaff,  /.  c. 

*  On  the  main  questions  of  the  life  of  Hippolytus  and  the  authorship  of 


152         CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY     Chap  VI. 

III.— THE  WESTERN  CHURCH. 

Latin  Writers  of  the  African  Scuool.' 

§  17.  "We  have  seea  that  the  earliest  Fathers  of  the  Western 
Church  were  rather  of  tlie  Greek  than  the  Latin  type — Clement  of 
Home  by  the  language  in  which  he  wrote,  Irenanis  both  by  his  Greek 
language  and  his  Eastern  origin.  But  at  the  end  of  the  second 
century  there  sprang  up  a  vigorous  Latin  Christian  literature, 
which,  like  that  of  the  East  in  Egypt,  had  its  chief  home  on 
the  continent  of  Africa,  in  the  flourishing  Roman  province  specially 
so  called,  which  had  been  of  old  the  territory  of  Carthage.  From 
tliat  city  sprang  the  two  great  lights  of  the  early  Western  Church, 
Tertullian  and  Cyprian,  and  the  succession  was  afterwards 
continued  in  the  great  Augustine.  As  Professor  Schaff  remarks, 
the  literary  career  of  the  Western  Church  begins  very  character- 
istically, not  with  a  converted  philosopher,  but  with  two  vigorous 
practical  lawyers  and  i^oliticians.  It  does  not  gradually  unfold 
itself,  but  appears  at  once  under  a  fixed,  clear  stamp,  and  with  a 
strong  realistic  tendency. 

Tertullian,  or,  to  give  his  name  in.  full,  Quintus  Septimius 
Florens  TertuUianus,  the  father  of  Latin  theology,  was  born  about 
the  year  160,  at  Carthage,  where  his  father  was  commander  of  a 
liomau  legion.  His  works  show  the  fruit  of  his  education,  both  in 
Greek  and  Roman  learning,  and  the  training  of  a  forensic  advocate, 
a  profession  which  he  seems  to  have  followed  either  at  Rome  or 
Carthage.  His  "accurate  acquaintance  with  the  Roman  laws,"  to 
which  Eusobius  testifies,  helped  to  qualify  him  fur  his  future  work 
as  an  Apologist.- 

the  Philosophumcm,  see  Bunsen,  Ifippoli/tus  and  his  Age,  in  his  Christi- 
anity and  Man'iind,  vol.  i.  ;  Wordsworth's  i{>^.  ILppol;/tiis  and  his  Age, 
Lend.  IS"),'};  Diillinger's  Hippolytos  tind  luillistos,  Regensbiirs;,  1853; 
Cruice,  Etudes  sur  do  nouveaux  Documents  htstorii/ucs,  Paris,  1853  ;  Mil- 
man's  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  i.  p.  41  ;  Churton's  Preface  to  Pearson's 
VindiciiJC  Jgnatianoe,  p.  .x.\vii.  (in  the  Anglo-Catholic  Library)  ;  Pressense, 
Iliitoire  des  trois  premiers  Siecles  de  I'  Eglise  Chretienne,  vol.  iii.  pp.  498- 
504. — Many  exegetical  and  controversial  works  of  Hi])polvtus  are  men- 
tioned by  Eusebius,  Jerome,  and  others.  The  most  important,  of  which 
fragments  have  been  jtrcsorved,  are:  Tlfpl  rov  Vidcrx^-'-  '  Ttt?^  tou  Kara 
'ludvvriv  Evayy(\iov  koI  'AiroKa\v\i/ews :  Uepl  tQiv  xop'f'M*''''^*''  'l"^ 
fragments,  and  the  works  still  extant  which  are  very  doubtfully  ascribed 
to  Hippolytus,  were  collected  by  J.  A.  Fabricius,  iS.  Ifi/>ixili/ti  Kpiscopi  et 
Mtrtyris  Opera,  Hamb.  171G-18,  2  vols,  folio,  and  reprinted  bv  Gallandi, 
labl.  Patr.  vol.  ii.  Venot.  1766,  fol. 

'  The  word  "  African  "  here  refers  to  the  Roman  Province  of  Africa  or 
Africa  Propria. 

•  Some  suppose  him  to  be  the  TertuUianus,  or  Tertyllus,  who  was  the 
author  of  several  fragments  in  the  Pandects. 


A.D.  160,  f.  TERTL'LLIAX.  .  153 

The  saying  of  TertuUian,  "  Fiunt,  non  nascuntur  Christiani," 
was  true  at  least  in  his  own  case.  It  was  not  till  his  thirtieth  or 
fortieth  year  that  he  embraced  Christianity,  casting  off  a  dissolute 
life,  the  reaction  from  which  is  seen  in  his  stern  ascetism.  The 
deep  conviction  which  produced  the  change  was  proved  by  the  ardent 
zeal  with  which  he  devoted  his  life  to  the  defence  of  the  faith 
against  heathens,  Jews,  and  heretics.  He  was  already  married,  and 
we  owe  to  him  one  of  the  most  glowing  pictures  of  family  life,  "  the 
happiness  of  a  marriage  which  the  Church  ratifies,  the  oblation  (of 
the  Lord's  supper)  confirms,  the  benediction  seals,  angels  announce, 
the  Father  declares  valid."'  But  while  distinctly  opposing  the 
Gnostics  for  "  forbidding  to  marry,"  he  praised  celibacy  as  a  higher 
grade  of  holiness,-  and  in-ged  his  wife,  if  he  should  die  before  her, 
to  remain  a  widow,  or  at  least  not  to  marry  a  heathen.  Afterwards, 
when  he  had  joined  the  Montanists,  TertuUian  became  the  vehement 
o^jpouent  of  second  marriage,  as  only  a  specious  form  of  adulterj'.* 
Jerome*  says  that  TertuUian  was  a  presbyter,  though  his  own 
writings  are  silent  on  the  point.  His  labours  Avere  divided  between 
Carthage  and  Rome,  where  he  spent  some  time.* 

§  18.  It  is  to  the  envy  and  insult  with  which  ho  was  treated  by 
the  l!oman  clergy,  tliat  Jerome  ascribes  Tertullian's  falling  away  to 
the  heresy  of  the  Montanists,**  about  a.d.  202.  But  to  refer  the 
change  to  personal  resentment  would  show  an  ignorant  want  of 
sympathy  with  the  ardent  nature  of  TertuUian.  The  disgust 
which  he  felt  towards  the  Boman  Church  is  explained  by  the 
revelations  of  Hippolytus  respecting  the  characters  of  Zephyrinus 
and  Callistus,  the  lax  discipline  observed  at  Borne,  and  the  favour 
shown  there  for  a  time  to  the  Fatripassian  error,  which  had  been 
brought  to  Rome  by  Praxeas,  an  opponent  of  the  ilontanists.  Of 
this  man  TertuUian  says  :  "  He  has  executed  in  Bome  two  works  of 
the  devil  :  he  has  driven  out  prophecy  (the  jNIontanistic)  and  brought 
in  error  (the  Fatripassian)  ;  he  has  turned  ofl"  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
crucified  the  Father."^  The  opposition  of  this  party  at  Bome 
towards  the  Montanists  would  dispose  Tertullian's  ardent  and  just 
nature  to  take  their  part;  and  there  was  much  to  attract  his  sym- 
pathy in  their  contempt  for  the  world,  their  asceticism  and  severe 
disci])line,  their  spirit  of  martyrdom,  and  their  millennarian  enthu- 
siasm.    They  were  not  at  variance  with  the  Catholic  Church  on 

*  Ad  l'.rorem,  ii.  8.  •  On  the  ground  of  1  Cor.  vii.  9. 

'  'O  SfiTf pos  yd/xos  (vir pcirf)t  iari  fiotxela,  Legal.  33  ;  and  so  in  his  De 
JJoncKjomii  and  A-  Kxhortitione  Gistitatis.  *    Vir.  Jllust.  53. 

*  Tertull.  I>c  Citltu  Fanm.  7  ;  Eusi-b.  If.  E.  ii.  2. 

*  ]'ir.  r/lust.  I.  c.  Jerome  wrote  feelingly,  from  the  treatment  which 
he  had  himself  received  at  Rome.    See  Chap.  XIII.  §  16. 

'  Adv.  Praxean,  1  ;  Schaft',  vol.  i.  p.  514. 


154        CHRISTIAN.  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Chap.  VI, 

those  great  Christian  doctrines  which  TertuUian  firmly  held  ;  and 
his  acceptance  of  the  prophetic  powers,  the  claim  to  which  consti- 
tuted their  heresy,  was  the  honest  belief  of  a  spiritual  mind  in  the 
continuance  of  the  voice  of  prophecy,  which  the  Church  seemed  to 
him  much  to  need.  His  enthusiastic  sense  of  the  supernatural  life 
made  TertuUian  the  dupe  of  an  imposture  in  which  he  had  no 
conscious  part.^ 

Ilontanism,  though  branded  by  the  orthodox  Church  as  a  heresy, 
on  account  of  its  fanatical  spirit,  exclusive  pretensions,  and  practical 
evils,  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  heresies  which  were  so  called 
in  the  more  usual  sense  of  false  doctrine.  As  Schafif  observes,  it 
"was  not  originally  a  departure  from  the  Faith,  but  a  morbid 
overstraining  of  the  practical  morality  of  the  early  Church."  Like 
most  of  the  early  corruptions  of  Christianity,  it  had  its  roots  in 
heathenism,  and  in  its  severe  asceticism  we  may  trace  a  reaction  from 
those  Eastern  orgies,  which  were  at  the  same  time  the  source  of  its 
extravagant  enthusiasm.  For  its  first  home  was  in  Phrygia,  the 
seat  of  the  sensuous  and  mystic  worship  of  the  Mother  of  the 
Gods  ;  and  Montanus  is  said  to  have  been  at  first  a  priest  of 
Cybele.  In  the  ecstasies  of  somnambulism,  he  believed  or  pretended 
to  believe  himself  the  organ  of  the  promised  Paraclete,  sent  accord- 
ing to  Christ's  promise  to  comfort  His  Church  in  her  time  of 
distress.^  For  it  was  in  the  persecution  of  Marcus  Aurelius  that 
Montanus  and  his  two  attendant  prophetesses,  Priscilla  and  Maxi- 
milla,  came  forward  to  proclaim  the  instant  coming  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  the  millennial  reign  of  Christ.  The  chosen  scene  was 
to  be  at  the  Phrygian  village  of  Pepuza,  where  men  would  soon 
see  in  reality,  as  John  had  seen  in  vision,  the  New  Jerusalem 
coming  down  from  heaven.  Their  enthusiasm  infected  many 
followers,  who  were  called  by  the  various  names  of  Montanists, 
PriscilUanists,  Cataphrygians,  and  Pepuzians. 

The  course  of  such  an  outbreak  would  depend  much  on  the  wisdom 
or  unwise  zeal  shown  in  dealing  with  it.  The  Christians  of  that  age 
had  the  exaggerated  belief  in  Satanic  power  over  men's  minds,  which 
led  them  to  regard  these  manifestations,  like  the  heathen  orgies,  as 
the  promptings  of  demons.  The  Montanists  were  excommunicated 
by  most  of  the  churches  of  Asia,  and  were  opposed  by  writers  such 
as  Claudius  ApoUinaris,  Miltiades,  and  Clement  of  Alexandria.  In 
the  Roman  Church — for  Montanism  soon  spread  to  the  West — it 

'  Among  parallel  cases  in  the  history  of  the  Church  there  is  none  more 
striking  than  that  of  the  late  Edward  Irving,  whose  fervent  piety  and 
unrivalled  gift  of  preaching  did  not  save  him  also  from  e.Kcommunication 
as  a  heretic. 

*  His  use  of  the  first  person  led  some  of  the  Fathers  to  suppose  that 
Llontanus  claimed  to  be  the  Paraclete  himself,  or  even  God  the  Father. 


A.D.  220.  DEATH  OF  TERTULLIAN.  155 

was  received  with  some  favour,  till  its  condemnation  was  obtained 
by  the  presbyter  Caius,  and  by  Praxeas,  who  came  from  Asia 
Minor  with  the  fame  of  a  confessor,  and  spread  the  Patripassian 
heresy  at  Rome,  under  the  bishops  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus  (177- 
202).  Hence  we  have  seen  TertuUian  tlie  defender  at  once  of  the 
Montanist  heresy  and  of  doctrinal  orthodoxy  against  Praxeas  and 
the  Komans.^  On  the  other  hand,  Irena?us  and  the  Gallic  churches 
had  a  decided  sympathy  with  the  millenarian  views  of  the  Mon- 
tanists  and  their  eagerness  for  martyrdom,  and  that  sympathy  was 
still  stronger  in  Africa,  where  even  the  Roman  settlers  had  imbibed 
much  of  the  old  Punic  gravity  and  moroscness.^ 

TertuUian  joined  the  sect  in  a.d.  202,  and  strenuously  defended 
their  views  as  alone  truly  sjnritual,  against  the  p'^ycJncaJs,  as 
he  calls  the  Catholic  party.  He  is,  in  fact,  their  only  theo- 
logical exponent ;  and  his  powerful  mind  and  writings  gave  them 
an  influence  in  the  Church  far  beji'ond  their  own  importance. 
He  reduced  their  extravagant  pretensions  to  a  more  rational 
form;  and  he  may  be  regarded  as  occupying  a  middle  place 
between  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  fanaticism  of  the  first 
Montanists.  Hence  his  followers  (though  still  called  also  Mon- 
tanists)  were  distinguished  by  the  special  name  of  TertulUanists 
for  two  centuries  after  his  death.  That  his  divergence  on  this 
point  rather  quickened  than  impaired  his  zeal  for  essential 
Christian  truth,  is  proved  by  his  strenuous  opposition  to  the 
Gnostic  and  other  heresies,  as  well  as  by  his  great  apologetic 
work,  written  just  at  the  time  of  his  lapse  into  Montanism.  He 
laboured  as  a  Montanist  presbyter  at  Carthage  till  he  died,  worn  out 
by  old  age,  about  a.d.  220,  though  some  place  his  death  as  late  as 
240.  It  is  remarkable  how,  in  times  of  persecution,  some  of  the 
greatest  enthusiasts  for  martyrdom,  whose  courage  even  challenged 
it,  were  appointed  by  Divine  Providence  to  a  natural  death,  while 
those  who  have  shrunk  from  the  trial  are  called  to  give  this  last 
proof  of  their  faith.  A  TertuUian  and  a  Luther  die  in  their  beds, 
while  a  Cyprian  and  a  Cranmer  seal  their  testimony  on  the  scaffold 
and  at  the  stake. 

The  character  and  views  of  the  great  African  are  admirably 
delineated  by  Professor  Schaff:^ — "TertuUian  was  a  rare  genius, 
perfectly  original  and  fresh,  but  angular,  boisterous,  and  eccentric ; 

'  The  doctrinal  orthodoxy  of  the  Montanists  is  distinctly  testified  by  the 
Fathers.  "The  Cataphrygians  (says  Epiphanius)  receive  the  entire  Scrip- 
ture of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  agree  with  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church  in  their  views  on  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit." 

-  The  -fiQoi  iriKpov,  crKv9panr6i>,  aK\7]p6v,  which  Plutarch  contrasts  with 
the  cheerfulness  and  excitability  of  the  Athenians. 

*  Vol.  i.  pp.  515-517. 


156        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Ciiai-.  VI. 

full  of  glowing  fantasy,  pointed  wit,  keen  discernment,  polemic 
dexterity,  and  moral  earnestness ;  but  wanting  in  logical  clearness, 
calm  consideration,  and  symmetrical  development.  His  vehement 
temper  was  never  fully  subdued,  although  he  struggled  sincerely 
against  it.'  He  reminds  one  in  many  respects  of  Luther,  though 
the  reformer  had  nothing  of  the  ascetic  gloom  and  rigour  of  the 
African  father.  TertuUian  dwells  enthusiastically  on  the  divine 
foolishness  of  the  Gospel,  and  has  a  noble  contempt  for  the  world, 
for  its  science  and  its  art,  and  for  his  own ;  and  yet  are  his  writings 
a  mine  of  antiquarian  knowledge,  and  novel,  striking,  and  fruitful 
ideas.  He  calls  the  Grecian  philosophers  the  patriarchs  of  all 
heresies,  and  scornfull}'^  asks,  '  What  has  the  Academy  to  do  with 
the  Church  ?  "What  has  Ciirist  to  do  with  Plato — Jerusalem  with 
Athens?'  And  yet  reason  does  him  invaluable  service  against  his 
antagonists.  He  vindicates  the  principle  of  Church  authority  and 
tradition  Avith  great  force  and  ingenuity  against  all  heresy;  yet, 
when  a  ^Montanist,  he  claimed  the  right  of  private  judgment  and  of 
individual  protest.  He  has  a  vivid  sense  of  the  corruption  of 
human  nature  and  of  the  absolute  need  of  moral  regeneration  ;  yet 
he  declares  the  soul  to  be  born  Christian,  and  unable  to  find  rest 
except  in  faith.  '  The  testimonies  of  the  soul,'  says  he,  are  as  true 
as  they  are  simple;  as  simple  as  they  are  popular;  as  popular  as 
they  are  natural ;  as  natural  as  they  are  divine.'  He  is  just  the 
opposite  of  the  equally  genial,  less  vigorous,  but  more  learned  and 
comprehensive  Origen.  He  adopts  the  strictest  supernatural 
principles,  and  shrinks  not  from  the  'credo  quia  absurdum  est.' 
At  the  same  time  he  is  a  most  decided  realist,  and  attributes  body, 
that  is,  as  it  were,  a  corporeal  tangible  substantiality,  even  to  God 
and  to  the  soul ;  while  the  idealist  Alexandrian  cannot  speak 
spiritually  enough  of  God,  and  can  conceive  the  human  soul 
without  and  before  the  existence  of  the  body.  Tertullian's  theology 
revolves  about  the  great  Pauline  antithesis  of  sin  and  grace,  and 
breaks  the  road  to  the  Latin  anthropologj'-  and  soteriology,  after- 
wards developed  by  his  like-minded,  but  clearer,  calmer,  and  more 
considerate  countryman,  Augustine.  For  his  opjxjnents,  be  they 
heathens,  Jews,  heretics,  or  Catholics,  he  has  as  little  indulgence 
and  regard  as  Luther.  With  the  adroitness  of  a  sjx'cial  pleader  he 
entangles  them  in  self-contradictions,  pursues  them  into  every 
nook  and  corner,  overwhelms  them  with  arguments,  sophisms,  apo- 
jjlitlicgms,  and  sarcasms,  drives  them  before  him  with  unmercilul 
lashings,  and  almost  always  makes  them  ridiculous  and  con- 
temptible.     His  style  is  exceedingly  characteristic,  and  corresponds 

'  Compare  his  own  painful  confession,  in  De  Patient,  c.  1 :  "  Misf  rrimus 
•'go  semper  ,Tger  raloribiis  impatientia^." 


A.n.  220.  WORKS  OF  TEKTULLIAN.  157 

with  his  thought.  It  is  extremely  condensed,  ahnipt,  laconic,  senten- 
tious, nervous,  figurative  ;  full  of  hyperbole,  sudden  turns,  legal  tech- 
nicalities, African  provincialisms,  or  rather  antiquated  Latinisms, 
Latinised  Greek  words,  and  new  expressions ;  therefore  abounding 
also  in  roughnesses,  angles,  and  obscurities;  sometimes,  like  a  great 
volcanic  eruption,  belching  precious  stones  and  dross  in  strange 
confusion;  or  like  the  foaming  torrent  tumbling  over  .the  precipice 
of  rocks,  and  sweeping  all  before  it.  His  mighty  spirit  wrestles 
with  the  form,  and  breaks  its  way  through  the  primeval  forest  of 
nature's  thinking.  He  had  to  create  the  Churcli  language  of  the 
Latin  tongue." 

§  19.  The  writings  of  Tertullian  were  very  numerous,  and 
related  to  nearly  every  department  of  the  Christian  life.  Most  of 
them  were  short  treatises,  evidently  designed  for  popular  reading; 
and  they  give  a  vivid  picture  of  the  Cliurch  in  his  time.  Nearly 
all  of  them  were  written  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  third  century ; 
and  by  far  the  greater  number  after  he  fell  away  to  Montanism. 
His  earliest  works,  which  were  in  Greek,  are  either  lost,  or  are 
extant  only  in  Latin  versions.  The  whole  may  be  divided  into 
four  classes:— the  first,  apologetic;  the  second,  polemical,  against 
various  heresies;  the  third,  ethical  or  jyractical ;  in  the  fourth  are 
placed  apart  his  Montanistic  tracts  against  the  Catholics.  Their 
chronological  order  is  very  difficult  to  determine.' 

L  Supreme  among  the  works  of  the  first  class,  of  other  writers  as 
well  as  his  own,  is  the  Apolofjeticus,  in  which  Tertullian  defends  tlie 
religion  of  Christ  against  its  heathen  adversaries,  and  demands  for 
Christians  both  liberty  of  worship  and  equal  rights  with  tlieir 
fcUow-citizens.  This  noble  work  is  the  earliest  plea  for  universal 
toleration.     It  abounds  in  varied  learning  and  powerful  argument, 

'  Bishop  Kaye  has  framed  a  rough  chronological  arrangement  of  Tertul- 
lian's  works  in  four  classes,  in  their  relation  to  his  adoption  of  Mon- 
tanism : — 

I.  Those  written  while  he  was  a  Catholic  : — De  Poenitcntia;  Be  Oratione; 
Dc  Daptismo ;  Ad  Uxorcm ;  Ad  Martijras  or  Martyres  ;  De  I'atientia ; 
Adrcrstis  Jiuhros  ;  Dc  J^rwscriptione  Ilcrrcticorum. 

II.  Those  certainly  written  after  he  became  a  Montanist : — Adv.  3lar- 
cioncm,  lib.  v.;  Dc  Anima  ;  De  Came  C/irisfi ;  Dc  Rcsurrcctione  Carnis ; 
Adi\  Pnijcean ;  Scorpiace  (i.e.  an  antidote  to  the  poison  of  the  Gnostic 
heresy);  J'e  Corona  Militis ;  Dc  Vinjmibus  Vclaiidis ;  Dc  E.chortatkme 
Ca^itatis ;  De  Fuga  in  J'ersecutionc ;  De  Monogamia  ;  De  Jcjtiniis ;  De 
Pudicitiit. 

III.  Those  probably  belonging  to  the  Montanistic  period. — Adv.  Valen- 
ti7iianos  ;  Ad  Scapulain  ;  De  Spectaculis  ;  De  Jdololatria  ;  De  Cultu  Feini- 
tujnim,  I.ih.  II. 

IV.  Those  (if  which  it  is  doubtful  to  which  period  they  belong. — The 
ArOLOGKTiciS  (probably  to  the  Catholic  period)  ;  Ad  Nationes  ;  De  Testi- 
monio  AniincE ;  De  Pallio  (probably  Montanistic)  ;  Adv.  Hermogenem. 

9 


158        CHKISTiAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Chap.  VI, 

set  forth  with  a  rhetorical  skill  which  is  sometimes  over-ingenious 
and  refined,  and  with  a  fervid  enthusiasm  often  lacking  in  sound 
judgment.  This  Apology  was  probably  written  in  the  time  of  the 
persecution  of  Alexander  Sevenis  (about  a.d.  200-202). 

IF.  TertuUian's  Polemic  Works  are  chiefly  against  the  Gnostic 
heresies,  and  in  particular  those  of  Marcion  and  Valentiuian.  One 
of  his  tracts  is  remarkable  for  the  high  ground  of  Catholic  ortho- 
doxy which  he  takes  up  against  all  heretics.^  They  have  no  right, 
he  argues,  to  appeal  to  the  Scriptures,  which  belong  to  the  Catholic 
Church  alone,  as  the  legitimate  guardian  of  Christianity.  He  puts 
this,  by  the  very  title  of  the  tract,  as  a  forensic  plea,  derived  from 
the  legal  doctrine  of  prescriptive  custom  and  possession.  But  when 
liis  lapse  into  Montanisra  laid  him  open  to  the  same  disability,  he 
renounces  the  doctrine  and  claims  an  unbarred  appeal  to  Scripture 
and  truth  alone.^ 

HI.  TertuUian's  Pradica?  Works  set  forth,  in  an  interesting  light, 
the  morality  of  the  primitive  Church  in  contrast  with  the  vices  of 
the  heathen  world ;  while  the  need  for  warning  the  Christians  against 
participation  in  heathen  licence  is  proved  by  his  admonitions  to 
keep  free  from  all  share  in  the  worship  of  idols,^  and  to  abstain 
from  theatrical  entertainments,  which  he  classes  among  the  pomps 
of  the  devil.*  This  antagonism  is  less  seen  in  his  tracts  on  the 
Christian  practices  of  "  Prayer,"  "  Penance,"  and  "  Patience,"  and  in 
his  consolations  addressed  to  the  martyrs  and  confessors  in  prison.^ 

IV.  The  stern  asceticism  which  breathes  more  or  less  through  all 
his  practical,  as  also  through  his  other  works,  passes  into  fanatical 
rigour  in  those  belonging  to  his  Montanistic  period.  Thus  he 
vehemently  condemns  flight  in  persecutions,"  the  restoration  of  the 
lapsed,'^  second  marriage,*  the  display  of  dress  by  Christian  women," 
and  other  customs  of  the  "  psychicals,"  as  he  calls  the  Catholics ;  and 
he  enjoins  severe  fasts,'"  and  other  ascetic  practices.  One  interesting 
tract  discusses  the  diflicult  question  of  military  service  under  a 
heathen  emperor,  justifying  a  Christian  soldier  who  had  been 
discharged  for  refusing  to  crov.-n  liis  head." 

•  De  Prascnptione  ITareticorum.  The  legal  term  prascriptio  signifies  a 
sort  of  "demurrer,"  a  plea  put  in  before  entering  on  the  merits  of  a  case, 
against  the  right  of  the  adverse  party  to  be  heard. 

*  To  this  j)olemic  class  belong  most  of  the  tracts  on  special  points  of 
doctrine  enumerated  in  the  above  list ;  such  as  those  on  Baptism,  'the 
Soul,  the  Resurrection,  and  the  Person  of  Christ. 

^  De  Tdololatria.  *  Be  Spcctaculis. 

^  Ad  Martijrcs.  '  De  Fuga. 

'  De  Fudicitia.  *  De  Monogamia  and  De  Exhortatione  Castitatis. 

®  De  Citltti  Feminnrum.  "  De  Jejuniis. 

*'  De  Corona  Militis.     TertuUian's  works  have  beea  edited  by  Beatu6 


Cent.  III.  MINUCIUS  FELIX.  lo9 

§  20.  Jerome  assigns  a  prominent  place,  between  Tertulliau  ttud 
Cyprian,^  to  the  jurist  Maucus  Minuciis  Felix,  who,  like  them, 
embraced  Christianity  in  mature  life ;  but  lie  seems  to  have 
belonged  to  the  Koman  rather  than  the  African  Church.  His 
Octauius  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  works  in  Christian  apologetic 
literature.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  two  friends, 
Caicilius  Natalis  and  Januarius  Octavius,  who  are  both  jurists. 
Each  pleads  the  case,  the  one  for  heathenism  and  the  other  for 
Christianity,  with  able  and  interesting  arguments,  enlivened  with 
pungent  raillery ;  but  at  last  the  Christian  Octavius  convinces 
and  converts  his  heathen  friend.  This  attractive  dialogiic  well 
repays  perusal.  We  trace  in  it  the  influence  of  TertuUian's 
Apology,  and  its  influence,  in  turn,  in  Cyjirian's  work  against 
Idolatry.2 

§  21.  The  second  great  master  of  the  African  school,  though  in 
many  points,  a  great  contrast  to  the  first,  is  still  his  true  successor 
and  complement.  Cyprian  supplied  the  organizing  and  administra- 
tive talent,  which  added  order  to  the  enthusiasm  roused  by  Tcr- 
tullian.  Perhaps  we  may  call  the  one  the  prophet,  and  the  other 
the  priest,  of  the  early  Latin  Church.  Tertullian  was  the 
moving  genius  which  could  not  be  confined  within  the  bounds  of 
ecclesiastical  order;  Cyprian  is  well  described  as  "  the  impersonation 
of  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  middle  of  the  third  century."  He 
had  the  same  pre-eminence  as  a  bishop,  that  Origen  held  as  a 
teacher. 

Thascius,  afterwards  called  (from  his  spiritual  father)  C^cilius, 

Khenanus,  Basil.  1521;  Pamelius,  Antverp.  1579;  Rigaitius,  Paris, 
1G34-,  and  Venct.  174-f;  Seniler,  Halle,  1770-73'  6  vols.;  Oberthiir, 
1784;  Leopold,  in  Gersdorfs  Bihlioth.  Pat  rum  Latin,  selccta  (vols,  iv.- 
vii.),  Lips.  1839-41 ;  Migne,  Paris,  1844.  The  best  edition  is  that  of 
Franc.  Oehlcr,  Lips.  1853-4,  3  vols.  There  are  numerous  separate  editions 
and  translations  of  the  Apo/wjcticus. 

The  most  important  works  on  TertuUian's  life  and  writings  are : 
Neandcr,  Antu/nosticns  Gcist  dcs  Tertailianus  unci  Einleitumj  in  (lessen 
Schriften,  Berlin,  1825  ;  2nd  edit.  1849  ;  Bishop  Kaye,  The  L'cclesiastical 
History  of  tlie  Second  and  Third  Centuries,  illustrated  from  the  Writings  of 
Tertullian,  3rd  cd.  Lond.  1845  ;  Hesselberg,  Tertnllinns  Lehre  aus  seinen 
Schriften  entwickelt,  Dorpat,  1848  ;  Uhlhorn,  Fundamcnta  Chronologiw  Ter- 
tuUianw,  Gottg.  1852  ;  'iil\xnViiY,  Primordia  Ecclcsicc  Africanw,  Havn.  1829. 

'  He  is  so  placed  by  Jerome,  Vir.  III.  58.  Some,  however,  put  him 
earlier, as  the  first  Christian  writer  in  Latin;  while  others  make  him  later 
than  Cyprian.  On  the  whole  question  of  his  age  and  nationality,  see  the 
Introduction  to  Dr.  HoUlen's  Mitincius  Felix,  1855. 

-  The  Octarius  has  been  edited  by  Balduinus,  1660;  Gronovius,  1709; 
Davis,  Cambrid;j;o,  1712  ;  Lindner,  Langensalza,  1773  ;  Liibkert,  1836  ;  De 
Muralto  (with  literary  and  historical  essays  by  ab  Hoven),  Ziirich,  1836; 
Oehler,  in  Gersdorl's  Bihlioth.  Pat.  Latin.  voL  xiii.  Lips.  1847;  and  Dr. 
H.  H.  Holden,  London,  1853 :  see  also  Meier,  De  Minucio  I'elice,  Ziirich,  1824, 


160         CHRISTIAN  LITKIUTURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    CifAP.  VI. 

Cyprianus,^  was  born  at  Carthage  about  a.d.  200.  Sprung  from  a 
noble  and  wealthy  family,  he  lived  to  mature  age  in  splendid 
luxury,  and,  as  he  confesses,  in  the  vicious  licence  of  heathenism.^ 
But  he  was  a  man  of  great  intellectual  culture  and  legal  knowledge, 
and  he  reached  the  highest  fame  as  a  teacher  of  rhetoric*  A 
presbyter,  named  Ca^cilius,  persuaded  Cyprian  to  read  the  Bible, 
and  convinced  him,  after  long  resistance,  of  the  truth  of  Christianity. 
He  at  once  proved  his  faith,  while  he  was  still  a  catechumen,  by 
selling  his  estates  Tor  the  benefit  of  the  poor,*  and  his  full  devotion 
by  taking  a  vow  of  chastity.  He  was  baptized  (a.d.  245  or  246)  by 
the  name  of  Ca^cilius,  to  whom  he  gave  a  home  in  his  own  house,  and 
who  at  his  death  committed  his  wife  and  children  to  Cyprian's  care. 

In  retirement  and  ascetic  discipline,  Cyprian  pursued  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures  and  of  the  Christian  writers,  amongst  whom  he 
used  daily  to  call  for  Tertullian,  saying,  "Da  magistrum"  "Give 
me  the  master."  ^  Professor  Schaff  remarks  that  "  the  influence  of 
Tertullian  on  Cyprian's  theological  formation  is  unmistakable,  and 
appears  at  once,  for  example,  on  comparing  the  tracts  of  the  two  on 
Prayer  and  on  Patience,  or  the  work  of  the  one  on  the  Vanity  of 
Idols  with  the  Apology  of  the  other.  It  is  therefore  rather  strange 
that  in  his  own  writings  we  find  no  acknowledgment  of  his 
indebtedness,  and,  as  far  as  I  recollect,  no  express  allusion  whatever 
to  Tertullian  and  the  Montanists." 

§  22.  Cyi)rian's  retirement  could  not  conceal,  but  rather  added 
to  the  fame  of  his  piety  ;  and  within  three  years  from  his  baptism, 
the  acclamations  of  the  people  called  him  to  the  bishopric  of 
Carthage  (about  a.d.  248).     This  hasty  election  of  a  neophyte,  who 

*  Both  his  names  seem  to  point  to  an  Eastern  rather  than  a  Roman 
origin  ;  and  the  cognomen  suggests  (though  of  course  it  is  only  a  verbal 
hint)  the  island  of  Cyprus  as  the  origin  of  the  family. 

'  The  story  that  he  had  practised  magic  is  very  doubtful.  The  belief 
in  dreams  and  visions,  which  Cyprian  shared  with  Tertullian,  after  his 
conversion,  was  far  too  common  in  that  age  to  be  regarded  as  a  remnant  of 
magical  superstition. 

*  Hieron.  Vir.  III.  67.  "Cyprianus  Afer  primum  gloriose  rhctoricam 
docuit."  Pontius,  a  deacon  under  Cj-prian,  and  the  author  of  an  unsatis- 
factory life  of  the  bishop,  preti.xed  to  the  editions  of  Cyprian's  works, 
dismisses  his  early  life  as  unworthy  of  notice  in  comparison  with  his 
subsequent  eminence  in  the  Church. 

■•  "  Inter  fidei  prima  rudimenta  "  (Pontius)  :  according  to  Matthew  xix. 
21.  "Cyprian's  gardens,  however,  together  with  a  villa,  were  afterwards 
restored  to  him,  'Dei  indulgentia,'  that  is,  very  probably,  through  the 
liberality  of  his  Christian  friends."     (Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  520.) 

*  .Jerome  (  V'jV.  ///.  c.  53)  had  heard  the  story  from  an  old  man,  who 
receivcil  it  in  his  youth  from  the  "  notarius  beati  (.'yi)riani."  As  Tertul- 
lian lived  to  A.D.  220  (some  say  240)  he  might  very  well  have  been  known 
personally  to  Cyprian. 


A.D.  248.  CYPRIAN  BISHOP  OF  CARTHAGE.  161 

was  still  a  layman,  was  not  only  made  in  spite  of  Cyprian's  own 
remonstrance,  but  it  was  contrary  to  the  letter  of  the  ecclesiastical 
law.^  Five  presbyters  objected  to  Cyprian's  election,  and  some  reckon 
this  protest  as  the  beginning  of  the  Novatian  schism;  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Novatus  was  one  of  the  five.  Cyprian  himself 
tells  us  that,  among  his  efforts  to  reform  the  licence  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  Church,  proceedings  had  been  begun  against  Novatus, 
when  the  Decian  persecution  broke  out. 

»  We  have  seen  that  the  leaders  of  the  Church  were  marked  as  the 
special  victims  of  the  Emj)eror's  policy,  as  well  as  of  the  fury  of  the 
heatlien  populace,  who  demanded  that  Cyprian  should  be  thrown 
to  the  lions.  He  tied,  not  through  fear  of  mar^jrdom,  but  that  his 
life  might  be  preserved  for  his  flock,  and  (as  he  believed)  in 
obedience  to  a  Divine  warning.^  He  was  concealed  for  fourteen 
months,  not  far  from  the  city,  and  kept  up  a  constant  communi- 
cation with  Lis  flock,  which  was  agitated  by  the  controversy, 
which  arose  during  the  persecution,  about  the  restoration  of  penitents 
who  had  lapsed  into  idolatry  through  fear  of  death,  to  the  fellowshiji 
of  the  Church.  Cyprian  had  originally  held  the  stern  views  of 
Tertulliau  against  any  such  lestoration ;  but  when  he  saw  the 
great  multitude  of  those  who  had  fallen  away  in  the  persecu- 
tion, he  thought  it  right  to  allow  the  restoration  of  penitents  on 
the  point  of  death.  Init  even  this  modified  severity  was  condemned 
by  his  opponents,  who  taunted  him  with  his  own  flight  from  the 
persecution.  They  were  supported  by  the  powerful  voice  of  the- 
confessors;  and  one  of  these,  named  Luciau,  wrote  to  Cyprian,  in 
the  name  of  the  rest,  declaring  that  they  granted  restoration  to  all 
the  apostates.  This  privilege  was  claimed  by  Luciau  as  the 
bequest  of  a  martyr  named  Paul ;  for  a  custom  had  grown  up  for 
some  time  in  th^i  Church  of  showing  reverence  for  martyrs  by 
allowing  them,  while  in  prison  under  sentence  of  death,  to  recom- 
mend the  restoration  of  persons  who  were  under  ecclesiastical 
censure.*  The  privilege  was  now  abused  to  such  a  degree,  that 
indulgences  were  granted  to  the  lapsed,  in  the  form  of  tickets, 
available  not  only  for  the  person  named,  but  for  an  iudefiuite 
number  of  others.  As  a  natural  result,  the  disorderly  party  in  the 
Church  was  reinforced  by  a  multitude  of  the  lapsed,  whose  peni- 

•  In  the  Apostolic  Canons,  based  on  1  Tim.  iii.  6  ("  A  bishop  must  be  ...  . 
not  a  novice  " — a  neophyte,  vedipvros,  "  newly  planted"  in  the  Church).  The 
same  law  was  again  set  aside  in  the  elections  of  Ambrose,  as  Bishop  of 
Milan,  and  of  Ausjustine,  as  Bishop  of  Hippo,  by  a  sort  of  popular  ins])i- 
ration,  which  was  justified  by  the  result.    (See  Ch.  XI.  §  8,  Ch.  XIV.  §  5.) 

-  Feb.  A.D.  "250.     See  Chap.  V.  §  6. 

'  Tertull.  ad  Jfurt^res,  6  ;  de  Pudicit.  22. 


162         CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.    Chap.  VI. 

tence  was  more  than  doubtful.  Cyprian,  on  his  return  (April  251), 
called  a  council  of  African  bishops  at  Carthage,  which  decided  in 
favour  of  restoring  those  of  the  lihellatici  (those  named  in  the  tickets) 
who  were  truly  penitent,  but  postponing  the  restoration  of  those  who 
had  sacrificed  under  fear  of  death.  Even  this  limitation  was  removed 
by  Cyiirian  himself  during  the  persecution  of  Gallus,  in  the  next 
year,  on  the  twofold  ground  of  necessity  taught  by  exiierience,  that 
the  la2)sed  might  not  be  driven  to  despair,  and  of  conformity  to  the 
practice  of  the  Eoman  Church.  ' 

The  i-eseutment  of  the  lapsed  added  strength  to  the  schism  which 
was  stirred  up  by  a  turbulent  presbyter  Novatus  (whom  Cyprian 
accuses  of  robbery,  and  of  cruelty  to  his  wife  and  father),  on  tlie 
ground  of  the  bishop's  irregular  election.  Novatus  associated  with 
himself  a  wealthy  but  disreputable  member  of  the  Church,  named 
Felicissimus,  whom  he  either  took  on  himself  to  apjioint,  or  induced 
some  bishop  to  ordain,  as  a  deacon.  After  some  time,  Novatus 
went  to  Rome,  where  he  supported  the  schism  of  Novatian,  though 
on  directly  opposite  principles  to  those  which  he  had  maintained  at 
Carthage  respecting  the  lapsed.'  Felicissimus  set  up  Fortunatus, 
one  of  the  five  protesting  presbyters,  as  Bishop  of  Carthage,  and 
obtained  his  ordination  by  five  bishops,  all  of  whom  had  been 
deposed,  either  as  heretics  or  lapsed  (May  252).  But  Felicissimus 
attempted  in  vain  to  obtain  the  recognition  of  Fortunatus  by  the 
Iioman  Church,  and  the  schism  soon  died  out. 

§  23.  Another  controversy  in  which  Cyprian  took  a  decided 
part,  and  whicli  brought  liim  into  conflict  with  tlie  claims  of  the 
Bishop  of  liome,  was  that  respecting  the  validity  of  heretical 
baptism.  In  this,  as  in  the  former  dispute,  his  course  was  based  on 
the  doctrine,  that  the  Catholic  Church  was  the  sole  depositary  and 
medium  of  spiritual  life  and  power,  that  salvation  is  only  found  in 
her  fellowship,  and  sacramental  grace  can  onlj''  be  given  through 
her  ordained  ministry.  Hence  he  held,  with  Tertullian,  that  no 
valid  baptism  could  be  given  by  heretics,  and  that  those  who  came 
from  them  into  the  Catholic  Church  must  be  bajitized  (not  re- 
baptized,  for  their  first  baptism  was  none).  But  Cyprian  also  held 
the  doctrine,  that  the  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  depended  on  the 
personal  holiness,  as  well  as  the  valid  ordination,  of  the  minister. 
"How,"  he  asks,  "can  one  consecrate  water  who  is  himself  unholy 
and  has  not  the  Holy  Ghost?"  Councils  held  by  him  at  Carthage, 
in  255  and  250,  rejected  heretical  baptism.  The  same  position  was 
taken  by  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor;  and  one  of  their  bishojis, 
Firrailian  of  Cappadocia,  a  disciple  of  Origen,  joined  with  C^'priau 
in  defending  it  against  the  opjiosite  practice  of  the  Roman  Church. 

'  See  note  (A),  Xovatiati  and  his  Schism, 


A.D.  255  f.  QUESTION  OF  HEKKTICAL  liAlTlSM.  163 

That  practice  was  maintained  by  Stephen,  the  Bislioi)  of  Rome 
(253-257),  as  a  point  of  authority,  and  on  the  ground  tliat  the 
efficacy  of  the  sacrament  depends  on  its  institution  by  Christ,  not 
on  the  spiritual  state  of  either  the  mimster  or  the  recipient.  It  was 
valid  if  only  it  were  administered  in  proper  form,  in  the  name  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  or  of  Christ  alone ;  and  hence,  those  who  had 
been  baptized  by  heretics  needed  only  confirmation  (the  baptism  by 
the  Holy  Ghost)  in  order  to  their  admission  into  the  Catholic 
Church.  "  Heresy,"  he  said,  "  brings  forth  children,  and  exposes 
them ;  the  Church  takes  up  the  exposed  children,  and  nourishes 
them  as  her  own,  though  she  herself  has  not  brought  them  forth."    • 

"J'his  more  liberal  view,  however,  was  upheld  by  Stephen  in  a 
spirit  of  arrogance,  in  which  we  trace  the  growing  germs  of  the 
claim  to  papal  supremacy.  He  refused  to  receive  the  envoys  who 
brought  him  the  decrees  of  the  African  synod ;  he  applied  to  the  great 
and  pious  Cyprian  the  solemn  denunciations  of  Christ  and  his  Apostle, 
as  a  "  false  Christ,  false  apostle,  and  deceitful  worker  ;"^  and  broke  ofl" 
communion  both  with  the  African  and  Asiatic  churches.  The  quarrel 
was  only  ended  by  the  martyrdom  of  both  bishops  in  the  A'"alerian 
persecution.  The  Homan  practice  graduallj'  prevailed  and  was 
made  the  law  of  the  Church  by  the  Council  of  Nicaaa  (a.d.  325).^ 

§  24.  In  these  controversies  we  see  Cyprian  in  the  twofold  aspect 
of  the  firm  assertcr  of  Church  cxclusiveness  and  e4)iscopal  authority, 
from  a  conviction  of  their  divine  appointment,  and  the  equally 
firm  opponent  of  the  like  claims  when  made  in  the  spirit  of  personal 
arrogance.  His  conduct  expressed  both  his  principles  and  his 
character.  "  He  was  born  to  be  a  prince  in  the  Church,  and  in 
executive  talent  he  even  surpassed  all  the  popes  of  his  time ;  and  lie 
bore  himself  towards  them  as  '  frater '  and  '  collega,'  in  the  spirit  of 
full  equality.  Augustine  calls  him,  by  eminence,  '  the  Catholic 
bishop  and  Catholic  martyr;'  and  Vincentius  of  Liriiium,  'the 
light  of  all  saints,  all  martyrs,  and  all  bishops.'  His  stamp  of 
character  was  more  that  of  Peter  than  either  of  Paul  or  John. 
His  peculiar  importance  lies  not  so  much  in  the  field  of  theology, 
where  he  lacks  originality  and  depth,  as  in  church  organization  and 
discipline.  While  TertuUian  dealt  mainly  with  heretics,  Cyprian 
directed  his  polemics  against  schismatics,  among  whom  he  liad  to 
condemn,  though  he  never  does  so  in  fact,  his  venerated  teacher, 
who  died  a  Montanist.  Yet  his  own  conduct  was  not  perfectly 
consistent  with  his  position ;  for  in  the  controversy  on  heretical 

'  "  Pseudo-christum,  psemlo-apostohim,  dolosum  operarium "  (from 
Matt.  xxiv.  '24,  and  2  Cor.  xi.  I.'?),  Finnil.  Ad  Ci/pn'an.  sub  fin. 

-  It  was  confirmed,  for  the  Konian  Catholic  Church,  by  a  decree  of  the 
Council  of  Trent. 


1G4        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTURA.    Chap,  VI. 

baptism  lie  himself  exhibited  his  masters  spirit  of  opposition  to 
Home,  lie  set  a  limit  to  his  own  exclusive  Catholic  principle  of 
tradition  by  the  truly  Protestant  maxims,  'Consuetudo  sine  veritate 
vetustas  erroris  est,'  and,  'Non  est  de  consuetudine  pra^scribendum, 
Sed  ratione  vincendum,'  In  him  the  idea  of  the  old  Catholic 
hierarchy  and  episcopal  autocracy,  both  in  its  affinity  and  in  its 
conflict  with  the' idea  of  the  papacy,  was  personally  embodied,  so  to 
speak,  and  became  tiesh  and  blood.  The  unity  of  the  Church,  as 
the  vehicle  and  medium  of  all  salvation,  was  the  thought  of  his  life 
and  the  passion  of  his  heart.  But  he  contended  with  the  same  zeal 
for  an  independent  episcopate  as  for  a  lloman  primacy;  and  the 
anthority  of  his  name  has  been  therefore  as  often  employed  against 
the  Papacy  as  in  its  favour.  On  both  sides  he  is  the  faithful  organ 
of  the  churchly  spirit  of  his  age, 

"It  were  great  injustice  to  attribute  his  high  churchly  principles 
to  pride  and  ambition.  It  was  the  deep  conviction  of  the  divine 
authority  and  the  heavy  responsibility  of  the  episcopate,  which  lay 
at  the  bottom  both  of  his  first  '  nolo  episcopari '  and  of  his  sub- 
sequent hierarchical  feelings.  He  was  as  conscientious  in  dis- 
charging the  duties,  as  he  was  jealous  in  maintaining  the  rights,  of 
his  office.  Notwithstanding  his  high  conception  of  the  dignity  of  a 
bishop,  he  took  counsel  of  his  presbyters  in  everything,  and 
resiiected  the  rights  of  his  people.  He  knew  how  to  combine 
strictness  and  moderation,  dignity  and  gentleness,  and  to  inspire 
love  and  confidence  as  well  as  esteem  and  veneration.  He  took 
upon  liimself,  like  a  father,  the  care  of  the  widows  and  orphans,  the 
poor  and  the  sick.  During  the  great  pestilence  of  a.d.  252,  he 
showed  the  most  self-sacrificing  fidelity  to  his  flock,  and  love  for 
his  enemies.  He  forsook  his  congregation,  indeed,  in  the  Decian 
persecution,  but  only,  as  he  expressly  assured  them,  in  pursuance 
of  a  divine  admonition,  and  in  order  to  direct  them  during  his 
fourteen  months  of  exile  by  pastoral  epistles.  In  the  Valerian 
persecution,  he  completely  washed  away  the  stain  of  that  flight 
with  the  blood  of  his  dignified  and  cheerful  martyrdom.  He 
exercised  rigid  discipline,  though  at  a  later  period — not  in  perfect 
consistency — he  moderated  his  disciplinary  ]^rinciples  in  prudent 
accommodation  to  the  exigencies  of  the  times.  With  TertuUian, 
he  )irohibited  all  display  of  female  dress,  which  only  deformed  the 
work  of  the  Creator,  and  he  warmly  opposed  all  particijiation  in 
heathen  amusements — even  refusing  a  converted  play-actor  jjer- 
mission  to  give  instruction  in  declamation  and  pantomime.  He 
lived  in  a  simple  ascetic  way,  under  a  sense  of  the  perishableness  of 
all  earthly  tilings,  and  in  view  of  the  solemn  eternity  in  which 
alone  the  questions  and  strifes  of  the  Church   militant  would  be 


A.D.  258.  MARTVRDOM  OF  CYPRIAN.  165 

perfectly  settled.  'Only  above,'  says  he,'  'arc  true  peace,  sure 
repose,  constant,  firm,  and  eternal  security;  there  is  our  dwelling, 
there  our  home.  Who  would  not  foin  hasten  to  reach  it?  Tliereli 
great  multitude  of  beloved  awaits  us ;  the  numerous  liost  of  fathers, 
brethren,  and  children.  There  is  the  glorious  choir  of  Apostles ; 
there  the  number  of  exulting  prophets ;  there  the  countless  multi- 
tude of  martyrs,  crowned  with  victory  after  warfare  and  suflering ; 
there  triumjjhing  virgins ;  there  the  merciful  enjoying  their  reward. 
Thither  let  us  hasten  with  longing  desire ;  let  us  wish  to  be  soon 
with  them,  with  Christ.  After  the  earthly  comes  the  heavenly  ; 
after  the  small,  follows  the  great ;  after  perishableness,  eternity,' 

"As  an  author  Cyprian  is  far  less  original,  fertile,  and  vigorous, 
than  TertuUian  ;  but  he  is  clearer,  more  moderate,  and  more  elegant 
and  rhetorical  in  his  style."  ^ 

§  25.  Whatever  doubts  may  have  been  raised  by  Cyprian's  flight 
from  the  Decian  ]  eisecution,  his  constancy  was  proved  by  his 
martyrdom  under  Valerian.  The  submission  of  so  eminent  a  leader 
seems  to  have  been  desired  more  than  his  death.  When  brought 
before  the  proconsul,  Paternus,  Cyprian  made  a  plain  confession 
in  answer  to  the  questions  whether  he  was  a  Christian  and  a  bishop. 
(Aug.  30,  A.D.  257.)  But  when  asked  the  names  of  his  clergy,  he 
appealed  to  the  laws  against  informeis,  and  said  that  his  brethren 
would  be  found  in  tlieir  places.  He  declared  that  the  Christians 
served  one  only  God,  and  tliat  they  prayed  daily  for  themselves,  for 
all  men,  and  for  the  emperors.  As  no  persuasion  could  make  him- 
sacrifice,he  was  banished  to  Curubis,about  forty  miles  from  Carthage. 
From  the  Life,  of  Cyprian  by  Pontius,  his  deacon  and  companion  in 
exile,  we  learn  that  he  had  a  pleasant  abotie,  and  was  cheered  by  the 
visits  of  his  friends;  and  he  retained  the  means  of  sending  relief, 
besides  his  letters  of  sympathy,  to  the  confessors  who  were  kept  in 
cruel  slavery  in  the  mines.^ 

At  the  end  of  a  year,  Galerius,  the  new  proconsul  of  Africa, 
recalled  Cyprian,  ordering  him  to  remain  at  his  gardens  near  Car- 
thage. This  was  only  a  preface  to  his  execution  under  the  second 
and  severer  edict  of  Valerian.     On  the  13tli  of  September,  258,*  he 

In  his  tract  Dc  Mortalitttc,  which  he  composed  during  the  pestilence. 

-  Sihatt',  vol.  i.  pp.  52-2-4. 

3  CJiljlmn's  eulogy  of  Cyprian's  mild  treatment  (vol.  i.  \>.  558-560)  is 
well  answered  by  Mackintosh  ami  C.iiizot.  (Note,  Ibid).  Besides,  as 
Canon  Robertson  observes  (vol.  i.  p.  128),  '-It  is  very  clear,  even  from  the 
narrative  of  Pontius,  that  the  case  of  Cyprian  was  not  what  Gibbon 
professes  to  consider  it — an  average  specimen  of  the  treatment  of  the 
victims," 

*  The  mistake  by  which  "St.  Cyprian,  Archbishop  of  Carthage  and 
Martyr,"  is  placed  at  Sept.  2G  in  our  Calendar^  is  explained  by  Robertson, 
vol.  i.  p.  117,  note  o. 

9* 


166        CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  OF  THIRD  CENTLTIU'.     Chap.  Yl. 

was  arrested  and  taken  to  the  residence  of  the  proconsul,  about  four 
miles  from  Carthage,  whither  he  was  followed  by  numbers  of  his 
people.  On  the  next  day  the  Bishop  was  brought  before  the  Pro- 
consul, who  called  on  him  to  sacrifice  in  the  name  of  the  Emi^erors. 
Cyprian  refused,  and  when  the  Proconsul  urged  him  to  comply  from 
regard  for  his  safety,  he  only  answered: — "Do  as  thou  art  commanded : 
in  so  righteous  a  cause  there  is  no  room  for  consideration."  Galerius 
reluctantly  i^ronouuced  the  sentence  of  decapitation,  which  Cyprian 
received  with  thanks  to  God,  while  the  Christian  spectators  cried, — 
"  Let  us  go  and  be  beheaded  with  him  !"  He  was  at  once  led  forth 
to  a  level  space  surmounted  by  trees,  the  branches  of  which  were  soon 
laden  with  Christians,  who  climbed  up  (says  his  biographer)  like 
Zacchaeus,  to  witness  their  bishop's  triumph  over  death.  He  knelt 
down,  and,  after  praying  for  a  short  time,  bound  his  own  eyes,  and 
ordered  a  present  to  be  given  to  the  executioner.  As  the  sword 
struck  off  his  head,  his  blood  was  caught  in  handkerchiefs,  which 
were  kept  as  relics.  His  body  was  laid,  for  the  time,  in  a  neigh- 
bouring spot,  "  because  of  the  curiosity  of  the  heathen,"  but  it  was 
afterwards  removed  by  torch-light  and  buried  with  great  ceremony. 
§  26.  Cyprian's  chief  works  relate  to  church  discipline  and  govern- 
ment. His  views  on  these  subjects  are  set  forth,  reiterated,  and  ajv 
plied  to  the  varying  conditionsand  controversies  of  the  churches  of  his 
time,  inhis Eighty-one  £p«s<?e.s (several  being  of  great  length)  to  the 
bishops,  clergy,  and  churches  of  Africa  and  Rome,  to  the  confessors, 
to  the  lapsed,  and  to  various  others.  With  these  wo  bave  several 
letters  to  Cyprian,  such  as  those  from  Firmilian  of  Ca^sarea  and 
Cornelius  of  Rome.  The  familiar  epistolary  form  throws  a  far  more 
clear  and  vivid  light  on  the  ecclesiastical  questions  of  the  age  than 
any  formal  treatise.  But  Cyprian  has  also  left  us  such  a  work,  in  his 
tract  On  the  Unity  of  the  Church,^  which  has  been  called  the  Magna 
Charta  of  the  old  Catholic  high-church  spirit.  It  was  ^\Titten  about 
A.D.  251,  when  the  Novatian  schism  was  at  its  height,  and  is  the 
full  exjxjnent  of  that  striving  after  Catholic  unity  about  a  visible 
centre,  which  was  felt  to  be  the  only  refuge  from  the  heresies  and 
schisms  that  distracted  the  Church,  Cyprian  teaches  that  "the 
Church  was  founded  from  the  first  by  Christ  on  Peter  alone,  that, 
with  all  the  equality  of  power  among  the  Apostles,  unity  might 
still  be  kept  prominent  as  essential  to  her  being.  She  has  ever 
since  remained  one,  in  unbroken  episcopal  succession ;  as  there  is 
only  one  sun,  though  his  rays  are  everywhere  diffused.  Try  once 
to  separate  the  ray  from  the  sun :  the  unity  of  the  light  allows  no 
division.      Break  the  branch  from  the  tree,  it  can  bear  no  fruit. 

*  Be  Unitate  Ecclesice. 


A.D.  258.  WORKS  OF  CYPRIAN.  167 

Cut  off  the  brook  from  the  fountain,  it  dries  up.  Out  of  this 
orthodox  Church,  episcopally  organized  and  centralized  at  Rome, 
Cyprian  can  imagine  no  Christianity  at  all  ;i  not  only  among  the 
Gnostics  and  other  radical  heretics,  but  even  among  the  Novatians, 
who  differed  from  the  Catholics  in  no  essential  jwint  of  doctrine, 
but  only  elected  an  opposition  bishop  in  the  interest  of  their 
rigorous  penitential  discipline.  Whoever  separates  himself  from 
the  Church  is  a  foreigner,  a  profane  jaerson,  an  enemy ;  he  condemns 
himself,  and  must  be  shunned.  No  one  can  have  God  for  his 
Father  who  has  not  her  for  his  mother.  As  well  might  one  out  of 
the  ark  of  Noah  have  escaped  the  Flood,  as  one  out  of  the  Church 
be  saved ;  because  she  alone  is  the  bearer  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
of  all  grace.  Extra  Ecclesiam  nulla  salus."^  To  this  class  of 
works  belongs  also  Cyprian's  treatise  On  the  Lapsed  (a.d,  250). 

To  the  department  of  practical  religion,  morality,  and  ascetic 
discipline,  belong  his  tracts  on  the  Grace  of  God  (24G) ;  on  the 
Lords  Prayer  (252) ;  on  Mortality  (252)  ;  against  worldly-minded- 
ness  and  pride  of  dress  in  consecrated  virgins ;'  a  glowing  call  to 
martyrdom  ;  an  exhortation  to  liberality  ;*  and  two  tracts,  written 
in  a  noble  spirit  of  moderation  and  peace-making,  during  his  con- 
troversy with  Bishop  Stephen.^  Cyprian's  two  ai^logetic  works 
were  the  earliest  essays  of  his  Christianity,  and  are  far  inferior  to 
those  of  TertuUian  and  Minucius  Felix,  from  both  of  whom  he  has 
borrowed  largely  in  his  refutation  of  heathen  idolatry.''  His  Evi- 
dences a(jainst  the  Jews  is  a  collection  of  scriptural  proofs  of  the 
Divinity  and  Messiahship  of  Jesus  Christ.'' 

'  "Christianus  non  ost,  qui  in  Christi  Ecclesia  non  est." 
"  Schatli;  vol.  i.  pp.  430-7.  »  De  Ilabitu  Virginum. 

*  De  Opcre  et  Eleemosynis,  written  between  254  and  250. 

*  De  Bono  Patientiw,  and  Dc  Zelo  ct  Livore. 

*  De  Idolorum  Vanitate. 

'  Testimonia  adv.  Jndccos.  The  collected  works  of  Cyprian  have  been 
edited  by  Erasmus,  Basil.  1520;  Manutius,  Konia?,  1503;  Rigaltius, 
Par.  1648.  The  standard  editions  are  those  of  Bishop  Fell,  Oxon.  1682, 
Amst.  1700  (and  reprints),  and  of  the  Benedictines  Baluzius  and  Prud. 
Maranus,  Par.  1720,  Venet.  1758.  There  is  a  convenient  small  edition  by 
Goldhorn,  in  Cuii-adort's  Biblioth.  Fatr.  Lat.  vols.  ii.  and  iii.  Lips.  1830,  seq. 
The  chief  works  on  Cyprian  are :  Pearson,  ^nwa/cs  Ci/prkmiri,  .and  Dod- 
well,  Dksertationes  Cyprianicce  (in  Fell's  edition);  F.  W.  Rethberg, 
Cyprianus  nach  seinein  Leben  ttnd  Wirkcti,  Gijttin?.  1831 ;  Huther, 
Cyprians  Lehre  von  der  Kirche,  Hamb.  1 839  ;  G.  A.  Poole,  Life  and  Times 
0/  Cyprian,  Oxford,  1840 ;  Miihler's  Patrologie,  vol.  i.  pp.  809,  seq. 


168 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Chap.  VL 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


(A.)  NOVATIAN  AND  HIS  SCHISM. 
"  The  Novatian  Schism  in  Rome  was  pre- 
pared by  the  controversy  between  Hippo- 
lytus  and  Callistus.  It  broke  out  soon 
after  the  African  schism  of  Novatus,  and, 
like  it,  in  consequence  of  the  election  of 
a  bishop.  But  in  this 'case  the  opposi- 
tion party  advocated  the  strict  discipline, 
against  the  lenient  practice  of  the  domi- 
nant Church.  The  Novatianists  considered 
themselves  the  only  pure  communion,* 
and  unchurched  all  churches  which  defiled 
themselves  by  readmitting  the  lapsi,  or 
any  other  gross  offenders.  They  went 
much  farther  than  Cyprian,  even  as  far  as 
the  later  Donatists.  They  admitted  the 
possibility  of  mercy  for  a  mortal  sinner, 
but  denied  the  power  and  the  right  of  the 
Cluirch  to  decide  upon  it,  and  to  prevent 
by  absolution  the  judgment  of  God  on 
such  offenders.  They  also,  like  Cyprian, 
rejected  heretical  baptism,  and  baptized 
all  who  came  over  to  them  from  other  com- 
munions not  just  so  rigid  as  themselves. 

"At  the  liead  of  this  party  stood  the 
Roman  Presbyter  NovATiAN,t  an  earnest, 
learned,  but  gloomy  man,  wlio  had  come 
to  the  Faith  through  severe  demoniacal 
disease  and  inward  struggles.  He  fell  out 
with  Cornelius,  who,  after  the  Decian  per- 
secution in  251,  was  nominated  Bishop  of 
Rome,  and  who  at  once,  to  the  grief  of 
many,  showed  great  indulgence  towards 
the  lapsi.  Among  Novatiau's  adherents, 
Novatus  of  Carthage  was  particularly  busy, 
oitlier  from  a  mere  spirit  of  opposition 
to  existing  autliority,  or  from  having 
clianged  his  former  lax  principles  on  his 
removal  to  Rome.  Novatian,  against  his 
will,  was  chosen  bishop  by  the  opposition. 
Cornelius  excommunicated  him.  Both 
parties  courted  tlie  recognition  of  the 
churches  abroad.  Fabian,  Bishop  of  An- 
tioch,  sympathised  with  the  rigorists. 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  on  the  contrary, 
accused  them  of  blasjiheming  the  most 
gracious  Ijord  Jesus  Christ,  by  calling 
Him  unmerciful.    And  especiallj'  Cyprian, 

•  Kadapoi,  Paritftiis. 

t  N0VATIANU8;  but  KuscliiiK  anil  other  Greeks 
nill  him  Noouaros,  ami  coiif.iuncl  him  with  No- 
vAttis  of  Carthage.  Like  Montanu^,  ho  was  a 
native  of  I'iirygia  ;  and  liis  birth  and  Greol<  e*hi- 
catioii  coiinet-'ted  Idni  in  spirit  <likn  Hippolytus) 
rntlier  with  the  Eastern  ('hunrh  ttian  witii  the 
WestAni,  In  which  his  lot  was  oust. 


from  his  zeal  for  ecclesiastical  unity  and 
his  aversion  to  Novatus,  took  sides  with 
Cornelius,  whom  he  regarded  as  the  legiti- 
mate Bishop  of  Rome. 

"  In  spite  of  this  strong  opposition,  the 
Novatian  sect,  by  virtue  of  its  moral 
earnestness,  propagated  itself  in  various 
provinces  of  the  west  and  the  east  down 
to  the  fifth  century.  In  Thrygia  it  com- 
bined with  the  remnant  of  the  Montanists. 
The  Council  of  Nice  recognized  its  ordina- 
tion, and  endeavoured,  without  success,  to 
reconcile  it  with  the  Catholic  Church.  Con- 
stantine,too,at  first  dealt  mildly  with  it.but 
afterwards  prohibited  its  public  worship."* 

Novatian  was  a  learned  man  and  well 
versed  in  Greek  philosophy.  He  w;vs  the 
only  Latin  writerf  of  any  mark  in  the 
Roman  Church;  and  we  still  possess  hia 
work  Ort  the  Trinity, X  written  about 
A.D.  236,  in  opposition  to  the  views  of  the 
Monarchians,  and  especially  of  Sabellius. 
In  his  letter  on  the  Jewish  laws  of  food,} 
he  proves,  by  allegorical  interpretation, 
that  those  laws  are  no  longer  binding 
upon  Christians,  and  that  Christ  has  sub- 
stituted temperance  and  abstinence  for  the 
prohibition  of  unclean  animals,  with  the 
exception  of  meat  offered  to  idols,  which 
is  forbidden  by  the  Apostolic  Council. 
The  circular  letter  to  tlie  Roman  clergy, 
which  is  ascribed  to  him,  contains  his 
earlier  and  milder  penitential  principles.  || 

(B.)    MINOR    LATIN   AVRITERS    OF 
THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

1.  "ViCTORiNUS,  probably  of  Greek  ex- 
tniction.  Bishop  of  Petavium  in  the  present 
Styria,  wlio  died  a  martyr  in  303,  wrote 
several  Commentaries  on  books  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  but  only  some  in- 
considerable fragments  of  them  have  come 
down  to  us.  Several  poems  also  are  at- 
tributed to  him,  but  without  sufficient 
gTounds."5I 

»  S<-haff,  vol.  i.  pp.  450.  451. 

t  His  lontemporarics,  Hipi«dytm  and  the  pres- 
byter Caius  (wlio  died  alKiut  -SitA.  wrote  in  Greek. 
We  possess  a  few  fr»f,m'eul8  of  the  works  of  the 
lattfr  against  Montanism  and  ('hilia.im.  "  He  was 
perhaja  the  author  of  the  corrupted  Latin  Canon, 
whicli  Murat/>ri  ha"*  discovered  "  (S^'liafl'). 

i  Hieron.  rir.  III.  70.  Tlie  tn-allsc  (wliich  has 
also  been  ascribed  both  to  TeHullianand  Cyprian) 
has  be«'n  jirinted  In  Gallaudi  (torn.  iii.).  in  Ki- 
gaulfs  rer(iiHi<m.  and  by  Welchman,  Oxon.  1724. 

^  De  eihis  Jndaicu  Fpulola. 

11  Schair.  vol.  I.  p.  626. 
t  SchaH  vol.  1.  p.  420. 


ClIAI'.  VI. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


169 


2.  "CoMMODiANus,  a  layman,  who  pro- 
bably lived  in  Africa  in  the  second  half 
of  the  third  century,  was  converted  from 
heathenism  by  reading  the  Bible,  and 
wrote,  in  uncouth  versification  and  bar- 
barous hexameters,  his  Instructions  for 
the  Christian  Life,"  in  which  he  seeks  to 
convert  heathens  and  Jews,  and  gives 
excellent  exhortations  to  catechumens, 
believers,  and  penitents.  The  poem  is 
divided  into  eighty  strophes,  eacli  of 
which  is  an  acrostic,  the  initial  letters 
of  the  lines  composing  the  title  or  sub- 
ject of  the  section.  This  book  is  not 
unimportant  to  the  history  of  practical 
Christianity,  and,  under  a  rude  dress,  in 
connection  with  many  superstitious  no- 
tions, it  reveals  an  humble  and  fervent 
Christian  heart.  Like  Victorinus,  and 
most  of  the  antc-Nicene  Fathers,  except 
the  Ale.xandriaus,  Commodian  was  a  mil- 
lenarian."  + 

It  is  convenient  to  add  here  a  writer 
who  lived  at  the  very  end  of  this  century, 
and,  in  fact,  belongs  more  strictly  to  the 
fourth : — 

3.  "  AnsoBrus,  of  Sicca  in  Numidia,  a 
teacher  of  rhetoric,  was  for  a  long  time 
a  decided  opponent  of  Christianity,  and 
embraced  it  in  consequence  of  a  vision  in 
a  dream— such  visions  appear  to  have 
been  a  frequent  cause  of  conversions, 
especially  in  Africa  — and  wrote,  about 
the  year  304,  an  apologetic  and  polemic 
work,J  which  shows  more  address  in  the 

^  Instruciiones  adi'ersM  gejitiitm  Pfo.^  or 
Inslrurlionet  ailfrrttu  Pagaimt,  in  80  rhapters, 
edited  liy  Rigaltius,  1650,  and  sometimes  as  aa 
appendix  to  the  works  of  Cyprian. 

t  Schaff.  vol.  i.  p.  527. 

i  Difpulalionum   advertm  Genta  (or    adcmut 


refutation  of  heathenism  than  in  the  de- 
monstration of  Christianity.  He  never 
cites  the  Holy  Scriptures;  hardly  brings 
out  in  any  way  the  spccitically  Christian 
element;  and,  with  many  clever  thoughts, 
propounds  also  erratic  views,  such  as  the 
destructibility  of  the  soul  and  the  final 
annihilation  of  the  wicked,  without  method 
and  in  swelling  rhetoric,  but  with  a  cer- 
tain freshness  and  vigour.  His  own  con- 
version be  thus  describes:— '0  blindness! 
but  a  short  time  ago  I  was  worshipping 
images  just  taken  from  the  forge,  gods 
shaped  upon  the  anvil  and  by  the  ham- 

™Pi' When   I  saw  a  stone  made 

smooth  and  smeared  with  oil,  I  prayed 
to  it  and  addressed  it,  as  if  a  living  power 
dwelt  in  it,  and  implored  blessings  from 
the  senseless  stock,  and  offered  grievous 
insults  even  to  the  gods  whom  I  took  to 
be  such,  in  that  1  considered  them  wood, 
stone,  and  bone,  and  fancied  that  they 
dwelt  in  the  stuff  of  such  things.*  Now 
that  1  have  liccn  led  by  so  great  a  teacher 
into  the  way  of  truth,  I  know  what  all 
that  is;  I  think  worthily  of  the  Worthj-, 
offer  no  insult  to  the  Godhead,  and  give 
every  one  his  duo.'  Upon  this  public 
confession  of  faith,  the  Bishop  of  Sicca, 
who  at  first  did  not  trust  him,  adminis- 
tered baptism  to  Arnobius.  What  after- 
wards became  of  him  we  know  not."f 


An/t.)ii«)  labrl  VII.:  edited  by  Canter,  Antwerp, 
1582;  Salmasiua,  1B51  ;  Ortlli,  1816;  and  Oeliler, 
in  Oersdorfs  hiUiolh.  Pair.  Latin,  vol.  lii.  1846. 

*  This  confession  furnishes  an  answer  to  tli« 
cxcnse  for  idolatry  ( in  whatever  ape)  that  the  wor- 
ship is  not  paid  to  the  images  themselves. 

t  Schaff,  vol.  i.  pp.  527-8.  For  a  fuller  acconnt  of 
these  minor  Latin  writers,  sec  MSbler,  Palrvlneir 
vol.  i.  pp.  790-81)8,  and  894-933. 


■^^' 


Baptismal  Dove.    Catacomb  of  Pontianus ;  seventh  century. 


Baptismal  Ceremony,  from  a  Pontifical  of  the  Ninth  Century. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH. 

Its  Membership,  Ministry,  and  Government. 

centuries  i.-iii. 

§  1.  Admission  into  the  Church — The  Catechumenate — Baptism — Infant 
Baptism — Objections  of  TertuUian — Confirmation.  §  2.  Ministers  of 
the  Church — Clergy  and  Laity.  §  3.  Different  Classes  of  Ministers  in 
the  Apostolic  Churches.  §  4.  Their  permanent  Ministers— (1)  Bishops 
and  Presbyters  or  Elders — (2)  Deacons  and  Deaconesses.  §  5.  Rapid 
Development  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  in  the  age  after  the 
Apostles — Its  state  in  the  third  century.  §  6.  Distinction  of  clergy 
and  laity — The  Priestly  Order — Its  three  degrees — The  Lesser  Orders 
— The  two  classes  of  the  People :  Believers  and  Catechumens — Clerical 
separation  from  the  world — Election  of  Ministers — Lay  teaching  in  the 
Church.  §  7.  Growth  of  the  Episcopate — Distinction  of  Bishops  and 
Presbyters.  §  8.  The  Apostolical  Succession  —  Views  of  Ignatius, 
Irena;us,  TertuUian,  arul  Cyprian — Unity  of  the  Episcopate — Ordina- 
tion. §9.  C/iO?r^Jiscopi',  or  Country  Bishops.  §  10.  Metropolitan  Churches 
and  Bishops — Patriarchs — Meaning  of  Diocese.  §11.  Claims  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome — Silence  of  Ignatius — Views  of  Irenasus,  TertuUian, 
Hippolytus  and  Cyprian — Line  of  Roman  Bishops.  §  12.  The  Catholic 
Church,  and  the  idea  of  Catholic  Unity.  §  1,).  Origin  of  Synods  or 
Councils — Their  Composition  and  authority — The  earliest,  called  on 
emergencies — Regular  Councils:  (1)  Parochial  or  Diocesan;  (2)  Pro- 
vincial or  Metropolitan ;  (3)  Primatial,  or  Plenary,  of  a  Patriarchate  ; 
(4)  Qicumenical  or  Universal. 


Cent.  I.-III.  MEMBERSHIP— BAPTISM.  171 

§  1.  The  proper  idea  of  the  Church,  as  the  whole  body  of  believers, 
Avas  preserved  during  the  first  three  centuries.  But  still  there  was 
a  rising  tendency  to  that  exaltation  of  the  clergy  above  the  laity, 
which  afterwards  caused  the  former  to  be  spoken  of  as  "  church- 
men "  in  some  special  sense. 

Admission  to  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  was  made  by  the  rite 
of  Baptism,  both  in  the  case  of  new  converts  and  of  the  children  of 
Christian  parents.  Instead,  however,  of  its  being  administered,  as 
in  aix)stolic  times,  at  once  upon  the  profession  of  faith,  the  new 
convert  was  required  to  pass  through  a  course  of  instruction  in  the 
Christian  doctrines  and  of  moral  discipline,  as  a  Catechumen}  This 
stage  seems  to  have  grown  up  in  the  second  century  as  an  ex- 
tension of  the  earlier  practice  of  prayer  and  fasting  before  baptism  ;  * 
and  the  Catechumens  were  solemnly  admitted  to  their  course  of 
training  with  praj'er,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  the  imposition  of 
hands.  They  were  called  Christians,  though  the  name  belonged  in 
its  full  senso  only  to  the  baptized.  The  catechumen  ate  varied  in 
length,  the  usual  course  being  from  two  to  three  years  ;  but  it  was 
shortened  under  special  circumstances,  and  a  Catechumen  in  danger 
of  death  was  baptized  without  delay. 

Solemnity  was  added  to  the  final  act  of  admission  into  the  Church 
by  the  administration  of  baptism  at  special  seasons,  especially  those 
of  Easter  and  Whitsunday,^  as  the  feasts  commemorating  that 
resurrection  to  a  new  life  and  that  reception  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  were  signified  by  baptism,  and,  according  to  the  belief 
which  soon  became  general  in  the  Church,  were  actually  conferred 
in  the  rite.*  But  the  ordinance  was  not  confined  to  those  seasons. 
"Every  hour,  e\t;ry  time,  is  fitting  for  baptism,"  says  Tertullian ; 
"  if  there  be  a  difl'erence  as  to  solemnity,  there  is  none  as  to 
grace." 

After  the  example  of  the  Apostles,  a  confession  of  faith  was  re- 
quired at  baptism ;  and  such  confessions,  embodying  the  heads  of 
the  doctrinal  instruction  given  to  the  catechumens,  came  to  be  cast 
into  the  mould  of  formal  Creeds.^  The  convert  renounced  the  devil ; 
and  a  form  of  exorcism  Avas  introduced  in  the  third   if  not  the 

'  See  Chap.  VI.  §  1.  *  Justin  M.irtj-r,  Apol  i.  67. 

'  It  was  on  the  vigU  of  these  feasts  that  baptism  was  usually  adminis- 
tered. 

*  The  full  sacramental  efficacy  of  the  rite  is  taught  by  the  fathers  of 
the  third  century,  but  n6t  in  the  absolute  sense  denoted  by  the  phrase 
opns  operatum. 

*  "The  name  given  to  these  forms'" — symhola — "seems  either  to  have 
meant  simply  that  they  were  tokens  of  Christian  brotherhood,  or  to  have 
been  borrowed  from  the  analogy  of  military  service,  in  which  the  watch- 
Kords  or  passicords  were  so  called." — Itobertson,  vol.  i.  p.  1G7. 


172         CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHaRCH.     Chap.  VII. 

second  century.^  About  the  same  time,  probably,  were  added 
various  symbolical  ceremonies — the  sign  of  the  cross  on  the  fore- 
head ;  the  kiss  of  peace,  in  token  of  admission  into  spiritual  fellow- 
ship; white  robes,  figurative  of  the  cleansing  from  sin;  and  the 
tasting  of  milk  and  honey,  which  were  intended  to  typify  the 
blessings  of  the  heavenly  Canaan.  The  regular  mode  of  baptism 
was  by  immersion ;  but  it  was  administered  by  sprinkling  or 
affusion  to  joerson^  who  lay  sick  or  dying ;  and  when  performed  in 
such  cases  it  was  called  clinical  hcqjfisiii.' 

The  infant  children  of  Christian  parents  were  received  into  the 
Chiirch  by  baptism,  as  the  Christian  rite  answering  to  circum- 
cision.3  This  is  implied  by  Justin  Martyr,  when  he  speaks  of  the 
capacity  of  all  for  spiritual  circumcision  by  baptism ;  but  the  first 
positive  witness  to  the  practice  is  Irenajus,  who  connects  it  with  the 
spiritual  new  birth.  He  says  that  Christ  passed  through  all  the 
stages  of  life  to  sanctify  them  all,  and  came  to  redeem,  through 
himself,  "all  who  through  Him  are  born  again  unto  God,  suck- 
lings, children,  boys,  youths,  and  adults.*  Origen,  who  was  him- 
self baptized  soon  after  his  birth,  derives  the  practice  from  the 
Apostles. 

TertulUan,  who  stands  alone  in  his  opposition  to  infant  baptism, 
is  one  of  the  clearest  witnesses  both  to  the  practice  and  to  its  high 
sacramental  significance  in  his  time.  "  He  condemns  the  hastenii^ 
of  the  innocent  age^  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  intrusting  it 
with  divine  gifts,  Avhile  we  would  not  commit  to  it  earthly  ]iro- 
perty.  He  meets  it,  not  as  an  innovation,  but  as  a  j^revalent 
custom;  and  he  meets  it  not  with  exegetical  nor  historical  argu- 
ment, but  only  with  considerations  of  religious   prudence.     His 

'  It  is  fii'st  distinctly  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  Cj-pri.in's  Council  at 
Carthage,  in  A.D.  256. 

-  "St.  Cyprian  (Epist.  69)  strongly  asserts  the  sufficiency  of  this  clinical 
baptism;,  but  a  stigma  was  justly  attached  to  persons  who  put  off  their 
baptism  until  the  supposed  approach  of  death  should  enable  them  (as  it 
was  thought)  to  secure  the  benefits  of  the  sacrament  without  iniuning 
its  obligation  to  newness  of  life.  In  opposition  to  this  error,  Tertullian, 
Orifen,  and  Cyprian  earnestly  insist  on  the  principle  that  right  dispositions 
of  mind  are  necessary  in  oi'der  to  partake  of  the  baptismal  gifts,  and  warn 
against  trusting  to  the  virtue  of  au  ordinance  received  in  circumstances 
where  it  was  hardly  possible  to  conceive  that  such  dispositions  could 
e.xist." — Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  168. 

'  Comp.  Coloss.  ii.  11 ;  but  the  discussion  of  the  arguments  from  Scrip- 
ture on  infant  baptism  does  not  lie  within  our  province. 

*  Adv.  JLcr.  ii.  22,  §  4. 

'  "  Quid  festinnt  innocens  a't^s  ad  remiss io)ie7n  peccatoruinf  The  innoccns 
here  is  to  be  taken  only  in  a  relative  sense ;  for  Tertullian  in  other  places 
teaches  a  vitium  originis,  or  hereditary  sin  'and  guilt,  although  not  as  dis- 
tinctly and  clearly  as  Augustine." — Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  403. 


Cent.  I.-IIL  CONFIRMATION.  173 

opposition  to  it  is  founded  on  Ids  erroneous  view  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  liaving  mortal  sins  forgiven  in  tlie  Churcli  after  baptism, 
as  tins  ordinance  cannot  be  repeated,  and  washes  out  only  the  guilt 
contracted  before  its  reception.  On  the  same  ground  he  advises 
healthy  adults,  especially  the  unmarried,  to  postpone  this  sacra- 
ment, until  they  shall  be  no  longer  in  danger  of  forfeiting  for 
ever  the  grace  of  baptism  by  committing  adultery,  murder- 
apostasy,  or  any  other  of  the  seven  crimes  uhich  he  calls  mortal 
sins.  On  the  same  principle  his  advice  applies  only  to  healthy 
children," 

How  little  weight  his  remonstrance  had  with  the  Alrican  church 
is  seen  from  the  earnestness  with  which  Cyprian  insists  on  a  very 
early  baptism.  In  preference  to  the  eighth  day  after  birth  (as  in 
the  case  of  Jewish  circumcision),  a  council  of  sixty-six  bishops 
held  by  him  decided  for  the  second  or  third  day  (a.d.  253).  The 
difference  between  TertuUiau  and  Cyprian  sprang  out  of  their 
essential  agreement  on  the  efficacy  of  the  sacrament;  the  one 
hastening  to  secure  the  forgiveness  of  past  sins,  ihe  other  dreading 
the  danger  of  a  future  fall.  TertuUian  testifies  to  the  use  of 
sponsors  in  baptism,  "i'hcy  appeared  at  the  font,  not  only  on  behalf 
of  infants,  who  are  unable  to  take  the  baptismal  vows  for  them- 
selves, but  as  sureties  for  adult  converts,  that  they  would  keep 
their  vows. 

In  the  case  of  infants,  the  catechumen  ate  necessarily  followed 
baptism ;  nor  was  confirmation  delayed  till  that  stage  was  complete. 
This  rite  was  originally  performed  by  the  presbyters  immediately 
after  baptism,  by  the  imposition  of  hands  and  anointing  with  tlie 
holy  oil  (chrism).  In  the  second  century  it  became  the  practice  to 
reserve  the  power  of  confirmation  for  bishops;  but  in  the  East  it 
was  still  sometimes  administered  by  presbyters.  It  was  bestowed 
on  infants,  as  well  as  on  baptized  persons  of  mature  age ;  and  in 
some  churches  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  adminis- 
tered to  infants,  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  third  century.* 

§  2.  Throughout  the  Acts  and  the  Apostolic  Epistles,  each 
Christian  church  (whether  it  be  a  single  congregation,  or  the 
union  of  more  than  one  such  in  a  single  city)  is  recognized  as 
a  self-governing  body,'^  but  with  duly  appointed  officers  ordained 

'  This  arose  from  a  belief  (founded  on  .Tohn  vi.  53)  that  the  sacrament 
was  in  all  cases  necessary  to  salvation.  Waterland,  however,  in  his  tract 
on  Infant  Communion,  maintains  "that  they  gave  not  the  communion 
to  7nere  infants,  but  to  children,  perhaps  tive,  six,  seven,  or  ten  years 
old;  and  that  under  a  notion  of  prudent  precaution,  rather  than  that 
of  strict  necessity,  so  far  as  appears  "  (  Works,  vi.  G5  ;  Kobertson,  vol.  i. 
p.  170). 

*  See  especially  Paul's  directions  to  the  whole  Church  of  Corinth  respect- 


174        CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.       Cbap.  VIL 

to  the  work  of  preaching  and  teaching,  government  and  adminis- 
tration. Such  officers  are  called  by  the  general  name  of  Ministers^ 
(hiaKovoi,  that  is,  servants)  of  Christ,  of  His  Gospel,  and  of  His 
Church.  But  with  the  humility  and  self-abnegation,  of  which  He 
set  the  example  by  applyicg  the  title  to  Himself  and  His  Apostles,'^ 
there  is  inseparably  connected  the  dignity,  authority,  aud  responsi- 
bility of  those  who  have  a  trust  so  solemn  and  awful  ^  as  the 
"ambassadors  for  Christ""*  to  reconcile  men  to  God.  The  office, 
therefore,  required' spiritual  and  moral  qualifications,  and  the  in- 
ternal conviction  of  a  special  call  and  entire  devotion  to  it,  which 
could  come  only  from  the  Holy  Spirit;^  but  all  this  must  be  recog- 
nized by  the  Church,  and  ratified  by  a  solemn  dedication  to  the 
ministry.  This  act  was  performed  by  the  laying-on  of  the  hands  of 
the  Apostles,  and  of  the  elders  (that  is,  those  already  appointed  to 
the  ministry),  with  prayer.^ 

But  these  sacred  functions  and  this  solemn  dedication  imparted 
no  special  sanctity  like  that  belonging  to  a  sacerdotal  caste.  The 
Church  of  the  New  Testament  has  no  sacrificing  priest,  save  the 
"  great  High  Priest  who  ofiered  up  Himself,"  nor  does  it  know  the 
distinction  between  clergy  and  laity.  All  true  Christians,  as  re- 
deemed and  sanctified  by  Christ,  are  " 2)^'ophets,  priests,  and  kings 
to  God,"^  "a  7-oyal  2'>riesthood,  a  holy  nation,"*  "the  clergy'"  (i.e. 
partakers  of  the  sacred  inheritance)  over  whom  the  presbyters  are 
warned  not  to  play  the  lord.*  Such  language — which  is  the  more 
significant  for  the  later  Church  as  coming  from  the  lips  of  Peter — 

ing  the  exercise  of  discipline,  the  orderly  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
the  reception  of  Christian  brethren  sent  to  them,  the  collection  of  alms, 
and  the  management  of  their  affiiirs  in  general. 

'  Here  is  a  most  interesting  example  of  the  use — to  which  our  English 
language  especially  lends  itself — of  words  quite  different  in  form,  though 
of  identical  or  cognate  meaning,  to  express  the  common  or  s])ecial  senses 
arising  out  of  the  same  original  idea.  The  Greek  Zmkovos  and  the  Latm 
minister  alike  mean  servant ;  and  the  former  word  is  used  indifferently,  in 
the  Greek  Testament,  for  a  servant,  in  the  common  and  generic  sense,  for 
a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  of  Christ,-  of  the  Church,  and  for  a  deacon.  The 
student's  most  indispensable  guide  in  such  cases  is  a  Greek  Concordance  to 
the  New  Testament. 

^  Jlatt.  XX.  26-23;  Mark  x.  45,  and  other  passages;  comp.  1  Cor.  iii.  5. 

3  See  especially  1  Cor.  iv.  1  ;  2  Cor.  ii.  13,  iii.  G,  &c.         *  2  Cor.  v.  20. 

*  1  Cor.  ix.  16  ;  Acts  xx.  28,  &c. 

«  Acts  vi.  6  ;  1  Tim.  iv.  14,  v.  22  ;  2  Tim.  i.  6.  The  distinction  between 
the  special  supernatural  gifts  actually  imjiarted  by  the  laying-on  of  the 
Apostles'  hands  and  the  ordinary  sjjiritual  qualifications  for  the  office, 
of  which  the  imposition  of  hands  is  the  permanent  sign,  is  a  subject  to  be 
pursued  by  further  study. 

'  Kov.  i.  6,  V.  10.  «  1  Peter  li.  0. 

•  1  Peter  v   3  :  /utjS'  is  KaTaKvpifvovres  tSiv  KKvpun 


Cent.  I.-III.  ORDERS  OF  THE  MINISTRY.  175 

clearly  signifies  tliat  the  special  privileges,  which  had  pertained  to 
the  tribe  of  Levi,  as  set  apart  to  the  priesthood  and  as  having  their 
lot  or  inheritance  (whence  the  word  clergy)  among  the  other  tribes, 
belonged  to  all  Christians  as  a  "  peculiar  people,"  fulfilling  the  pro- 
phetic prayer  of  Moses, "  I  would  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
holyV 

§  3.  It  is  not  our  present  business  to  discuss  the  several  offices 
mentioned  in  the  Kew  Testament,  but  rather  to  trace,  from  the 
purely  historical  point  of  view,  their  development  in  the  Post- 
Apostolic  Church.  A  word,  therefore,  must  suffice  to  point  out  the 
distinction  between  the  special  offices  appointed  by  Christ,  and 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the  first  work  of  founding  the 
Church ' — Apostles,  Prophets,  and  Evangelists — and  those  who  are 
distinctly  recognized,  especially  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  as  per- 
manent ministers — Bishops  or  Presbyters,  Deacons  and  Deaconesses. 
The  Angels  of  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia  ajjpear  to  be  only  another 
title  for  such  ministers;  but  the  precise  application  of  the  title  is 
hardly  clear  from  these  few  examples.^ 

§  4.  Turning  to  the  permanent  officers  of  the  A^wstolic  Churches, 
we  find  two  distinctly  and  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Xew  Testa- 
ment, and  more  particularly  described  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles.* 

'  Ephes.  ii.  20 ;  where  the  converted  Gentiles,  received  into  the  universal 
Church,  are  called  '■^  fclloi.c-citizcns  of  the  saints,  members  of  the  household 
of  God  {i.e.  the  Church), /ju(/^  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and 
Prophets."  So,  in  Kev.  xxi.  14,  the  foundations  of  the  Xew  Jerusalem 
bear  the  names  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  of  the  Lamb. 

-  Upon  the  office  of  Angels,  Professor  Schati'  observes  (vol.  i.  p.  135)  : 
"  These  probably  repi-esent  tlie  whole  corps  of  officers  in  the  respective 
churches  of  Asia,  as  the  responsible  rnessengers  of  God  to  them.  If  regarded 
as  single  persons,  they  cannot  be  mere  members  of  a  presbytery,  but  must  be 
somewhat  like  the  bishops  of  the  second  century,  though  still  materially 
ditfereiit  from  them  in  the  extent  of  their  charges,  and  in  their  subordination 
to  the  still  living  apostle  John.  We  might  call  them  congregational  bishops, 
as  distinct  from  the  Apostles  and  from  diocesan  bishops  of  later  times." 

^  In  Ephes.  iv.  11  we  have  an  incidental  enumeration  of  the  offices  esta- 
blished by  Christ,  when  he  left  the  earth,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
namely  the  Apostles  and  the  Prophets  and  the  Evangelists,  and  the  Pastors 
and  Teachers,  the  last  two  names  being  grouped  together  (rovs  Se  iroifjiivas 
Koi  SiSao"KoA.ous)  and  evidently  describing  the  work  of  the  bishops  and 
presbyters  and  (to  some  extent)  of  the  deacons.  The  term  }>astur  (/.  c. 
shepherd)  was  already  familiar  in  the  Old  Testament  for  those  who  had 
the  oversight  of  the  jioch,  the  people  of  God  (frequently  so  in  Jeremiah).  It 
is  applied  by  Christ  to  himself  as  "  the  good  Shepherd,"  and  to  Peter  in 
the  commission,  "Feed  my  sheep;"  and  Peter,  in  his  tui-n,  bids  the  elders 
{presbifters)  to  feed  the  flock  of  God  (1  Pet.  v,  1,  2)  ;  besides  other  frequent 
uses  of  the  figure.  See  especially  Acts,  xx.  28.  where  Paul  bids  the  elders 
(irp«T$vrfpovs)  of  Ephesus  to  '"  take  heed  to  all  the  flock  over  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers  (eVio-KcJirows,  which  Wiclif  translates 


176        CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.      Chap.  VII. 

(1.)  BisHoi's  and  Presbyters,  literally  Overseers  and  Elders, 
are  universally  admitted  to  be  terms  equivalent  to  a  considerable 
extent,  and  often,  at  least,  applied  to  the  same  officers.^  Here, 
again,  obscurity  is  apt  to  arise  Irom  the  severance  which  our  lan- 
guage makes  between  the  common  meaning  and  the  special  title, 
which  the  Greek  expresses  by  the  same  word,  eVt'o-KOTros.- 

The  name  of  Eldtr,  which  we  find  in  all  nations  from  the  earliest 
time  transferred  from  the  sense  of  age  to  councillors,  rulers,  and 
other  dignitaries,  was  already  familiar  as  a  title  of  rank  and  office, 
in  the  Jewish  cliurch.^  It  w-as  therefore  naturally  adopted  in  the 
Cliristian  churches  of  Judea,  and  those  elsewhere  formed  on  the 
model  of  the  Jewish  congregation,  for  the  ministers  who  were 
teachers  and  pastors,  the  leaders  of  public  worship,  who  presided 
over  the  councils  of  the  churches  and  administered  discipline.  It 
is  the  title  universally  employed  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  where 
we  never  read  of  bishops.*  In  how  general  a  sense  it  was  applied 
to  Christian  ministers  is  seen  from  Peter's  exhortation  to  the  elders 
as  being  himself  ihaix  fellow  elder.^ 

biscJiopys),  to  be  pastors  (Troiixaiveiv)  to  the  church  of  the  Lord."  The  very 
interestiug  enumeration  of  functions  in  the  church  in  1  Cor.  sii.  28-30 
does  not,  when  carefully  examined,  imply  any  other  j)erm.anent  offices,  but 
it  bears  important  testimony  to  a  great  freedom  and  diversity  in  the 
exercise  of  spiritual  gifts.  « 

'  Some  exjdain  the  title  iiriaKonos  as  denoting  the  rfuia'S  of  the  office, 
irpeffl3uT€pos  its  dignity. 

^  In  the  generic  sense  we  have  the  verb  enicKOTrtca  in  Heb.  xii.  15,  the 
abstract  noun  iinffKoiri)  ("  visitation  ")  in  Luke  xix.  44  and  1  Pet.  ii.  12,  and 
applied  to  the  apostolic  office  in  Acts  i.  20  ;  and  inia-Konos  partaking  of  the 
two  senses  in  Acts  xx.  28,  undfguraiively  for  Christ,  "  the  bishop  of  souls." 

'  D3PT,  from  Genesis  \.  7,  through  the  Old  Testament,  and  especially  for 
the  Seventy  Elders,  whom  Moses  associated  with  himself  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  congregation.  In  this  sense  it  is  constantly  used  throughout 
the  Gospels  and  in  many  passages  of  the  Acts. 

*  The  following  are  all  the  cases  in  which  the  woi-d  occurs  as  clearly 
a  title  of  office:  Acts  xi.  30,  xiv.  23,  xv.  2,  4,  6,  22,  23,  xvi.  4,  xx.  17, 
xxi.  18;  1  Tim.  v.  17;  Titus  i.  5;  James  v.  14;  1  Pet.  v.  1,  5.  The 
passage  in  Acts  xv.  23  is  noteworthy  as  the  curliest  description  of  a  church 
with  its  officers  as  "  the  ciders  and  brethren."  In  1  Tim.  v.  1  TrpefffivTfptfi 
ma;/  be  official,  but  the  simple  sense  of  venerable  age  seems  preferable  from 
the  irpe(T0uT(pas  in  the  next  verse  (like  the  -rrpfcrfivTas  and  irp€cr/3i»Ti5as 
of  Titus  ii.  2,  3).  'I'he  passage  in  1  Tim.  v.  19  looks  more  like  a  formal 
trial  of  an  office-bearer.  In  one  passage  only  (1  Tim.  iv.  14)  have  we  the 
substantive  irpffffivrepiop,  "  presbytery,"  to  denote  the  body  of  elders  in 
a  church,  or,  as  some  would  say,  the  college  of  presbyters.  This  word  is 
used  for  the  Jewish  elders  (apparently  the  Sanhedrin)  in  Luke  xxii.  66, 
and  Acts  xxii.  5. 

^  I  Peter  v.  1.  TlpfcrfivTepovi  robs  fv  iipiiv  napaKa\u,  6  avfiirpta- 
Pirtpos,  where  the  context  shows  that  the  former  word,  at  least,  is 
used  in  the  official  sen.se.     John  also  calls  himself  "The  Elder"  (6  wpfff- 


Cent.  I.-III.  PRESBYTERS  AND  BISHOPS.  177 

As  this  title  came  from  a  Jewish  source,  so  the  Greek  element  in 
the  Churches  of  Macedonia,  Asia,  and  Crete,'  and  the  use  of  the 
Greek  language,  supplied  the  term  fnia-Konos,  of  which  hishoii  is  a 
mere  abbreviation.'^  But  it  has  seldom  been  observed  in  how  few 
instances  (three  only)  tliis  word  is  used  ;  while  at  the  same  time,  the 
word  elder  is  retained  as  its  equivalent,  as  wc  plainly  see,  especially 
in  the  Pastoral  Epistles.^  It  is  most  important  to  observe  that  both 
the  bishojjs  and  the  elders,  not  only  ot  a  region  (as  Crete),  but  of 
single  churches,  as  at  Jerusalem,  Ephesus,  and  Philippi,  are  always 
mentioned  in  the  2-)lural.*  This  proves,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the 
office  of  teaching  and  governing  a  congregation  was  not  ictrusted  (o 

PvT(pos)  in  the  superscription  of  both  his  personal  Epistles  (2  John  1  ; 
;i  .lohn  1);  but  this  may  refer  to  his  venerable  age,  rather  than  to  his 
ministry,  especially  as  it  stands  in  place  of  his  name.  Some  tind  a  parallel 
in  Philemon  9,  toiovtos  iiv,  ois  TlavKos  irpeafivTris,  especially  as  "  Paul 
the  aged"  is  of  doubtful  exactness  to  the  fact.  But  the  context  shows 
that  the  true  parallel  is  with  his  description  of  himself  as  "  an  ajnbassadjr 
in  bonds,"  on  behalf  of  Christ  (Eph.  vi.  20,  virip  ov  TrpevPevw  (v  aXvati: 
conip.  2  Cor.  v.  20,  virkp  XpicTTov  olv  irpfcrPevofiey). 

'  This  is  stated  specilically,  because  tliese  are  the  only  churches  in 
which  iiriffKOTTot  are  mentioned,  and  that  in  onh/  three  passages  (except 
that  already  noticed  in  Acts  .\x.  28),  namely,  the  superscription  to  "  the 
saints  at  Philippi,  with  the  bishops  and  deacons"  (Philipp.  i.  1),  and  the 
statement  of  the  qualifications  for  a  bishop  in  1  Tim.  iii.  2,  Titus  i.  7.  In 
the  former  passage  (and  no  other)  we  have  iiriffKon-i)  for  the  office  of  a  bishop. 

'  This,  like  our  ecclesiastical  terms  in  general,  was  inti'oduced  into 
England  by  Augustine  (of  course  in  the  Latin  iorm,  episcopus),  and  adopted 
into  the  English  language,  where  we  find  it  from  the  earliest  times  in  the 
forms  bisceop  and  biscop,  and  then  softened  into  bishop.  It  occurs  also  as 
a  proper  name,  not  only  that  of  Bede's  great  contemporary,  Biscop,  sur- 
named  Benedict,  but  earlier  still  in  the  regal  genealogies  of  the  Lindisfare. 

'  The  evidence  is  this:  (1)  The  two  oflices  are  never  coupled  together, 
a.s  the  bishops  and  deacons  are  in  Philipp.  i.  1 ;  but  in  some  churches  there 
are  elders,  as  at  Jerusalem  and  Ephesus  ;  in  others,  bishops,  as  at  Philippi. 
(2)  In  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  the  qualifications  of  bishops  and  deacons  stand 
side  by  side  with  the  mention  of  elders,  for  whom  no  separate  qualifications 
arc  laid  down  (comp.  1  Tim.  iii.  2,  foil,  with  1  Tim.  v.  17,  19);  and,  what 
is  of  itself  decisive,  Paul  directs  Titus  to  ordain  as  elders  men  of  certain 
qualifications,  for  (he  adds)  "  a  6/sAo/>  must  be  blameless,  &c. "^stating  the 
same  qualifications  more  fully  (Tit.  i.  5,  7).  The  interpretation  of  1  Tim. 
V.  17,  Oi  Ka\i2>s  irpoeaTWTfs  irpfcr  pine  pot,  as  referring  to  an  ofhce  of  "  ruling 
elders,"  as  distinct  from  those  whose  office  was  to  teach,  is  inconsisti.'Ut 
with  the  general  description  of  the  office  ;  and  besides,  the  phrase  seems 
clearly  to  include  the  teachers  and  preachers  mentioned  in  the  ensuing 
words  (;uaA((rTa  ol  KoiricSfTes  «V  Xoyc/}  Ka\  SiSaffKaXict).  The  kuKws  vpo- 
to-Ttt'Tey  denotes  the  right  discharge  of  the  otfice,  and  is  not  a  tlefinition 
of  the  otlice  itself.  The  terms  are  still  used  interchangeably  in  the  second 
century,- bv  Clement  of  Rome.  Polycarp,  and  even  by  so  high  an  asserter 
of  episcopal  authority  as  Irena;us. 

*   See  Acts  xiv.  2:-!,  xv.  2,  4,  xx.  17;  Philipp.  i.  1  ;  1  Tim.  iv.  4. 


178  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.     Chap.  VII. 

one  person ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  so  far  at  least  as  the  positive 
evidence  goes,  there  was  no  one  superior  to  his  colleagues  in  office. 
But  some  one  of  the  whole  body  would  almost  necessarily  act  as  a 
president ;  and  the  twofold  name  would  naturally  lead  to  his  being 
designated  as  the  Bishop  of  the  church. 

(2.)  The  appointment  of  seven  men  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem, 
to  make  a  just  division  of  the  funds  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and 
sick,  was  clearly  the  origin  of  the  Deacons  (hiaKovoi,  servants  or  at- 
tendants),^ who,  in  the  Epistles,  are  joined  with  the  presbyters  and 
bishops  as  officers  of  the  churches.^  But  the  examples  of  Stephen 
and  Philip,  and  the  qualifications  which  Paul  lays  down,  suffice  to 
prove  that'  the  Deacons  had  no  small  part  in  the  functions  of  teach- 
ing the  flock  and  defending  the  faith  against  adversaries.  Whether 
the  "good  degree,"  which  was  the  reward  of  the  faithful  and 
efficient  deacon,^  was  an  advancement  to  the  presbytery,  or  a  repu- 
tation such  as  that  gained  by  Stephen,  it  would  be  a  bold  attempt 
to  decide. 

Phoebe,  a  Deaconess  of  the  church  at  Cenchrefe,  is  mentioned  in 
one  passage;*  and  it  has  been  supposed  that  a  like  office  was  held 
by  Tryphena,  Tryphosa,  and  Persis,  whom  Paul  praises  for  their 
labours  in  the  Lord  in  the  church  at  Rome.^  "  This  office  was  the 
more  needful  on  account  of  the  rigid  separation  of  the  sexes  at  that 
day,  especially  among  the  Greeks.  It  opened  to  pious  women  and 
virgins,  and  especially  to  widows,  a  most  suitable  field  for  the 
regular  official  exercise  of  their  peculiar  gifts  of  self-denying  love 
and  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church.  Through  it  they 
could  carry  the  light  and  comfort  of  the  Gospel  into  the  most 
delicate  relations  of  domestic  life,  without  overstepping  their  natural 
sphere."  " 

*  See  Acts  vi.  for  the  appointment  of  the  "  seven  men  of  honest  repute," 
and  Acts  xxi.  8,  "  Philip  the  evangelist,  which  was  one  of  the  seven,"  who 
are  not  yet  called  Deacons.  That  title  occurs  only  in  Philipp.  i.  1,  and 
in  Paul's  description  of  the  qualifications   of  the  deacons  (1  Tim.  iii.  8, 

foil.). 

*  The  idea  of  hard  servile  labour  has  been  attached  to  the  word  from 
a  false  etymology,  as  if  it  meant  "  toiling  and  running  in  the  du^t  '\k6vis). 
But  hiaKovos  or  Si7}kovos  seems  rather  to  come  from  an  old  verb  StaKw,  or 
Si-f]Koo  {run,  hasten,  cognate  with  Siuko),  pursue),  so  that  its  primitive 
sense  would  be  akin  to  that  of  &yye\os.  The  essential  idea  contained  in 
the  word  is  that  of  willing  and  helpful  service. 

'  1  Tim.  iii.  13  :  oi  yap  Ka\us  StaKOvfiffavres  fiaB/j.hi'  tavrols  Ka\hu  irept- 
TroiovuTai,  Koi  noW^v  irappriffiav  eV  irlcmi  rfj  eV  Xpi<rT<p  'iTjffoC. 

''  Rom.  .xvi.  1  :  ^oj'/Srjc  ....  o5<rai/  Skxkouov  ttjs  eKK\rj<r/or  rrjs  iv 
Keyxpfctis.  The  ecclesiastical  forms  of  the  name  are  rj  Siolkovos,  StaKd- 
viaa-a,  Diacona,  Diaconissa.  '  Ibid.  12. 

*  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  135.  See  an  article  on  Deaconesses  in  the  Quarterly 
Jieview  for  October,  1860,  vol.  cviii.  p.  343. 


Cent.  I.-III.  CONSTITUTIONAL -DEVELOPMENT.  179 

§  5.  These  indications  of  tbe  constitution  of  the  Apostolic  Church 
are  so  general  as  to  include  the  tiist  principles  on  which  it  must 
always  rest,  but  to  exclude  the  idea  of  a  fixed  model  for  all  time 
and  for  all  states  of  society.  The  very  nature  of  the  Church,  as 
Christ's  body,  necessitates  an  ever-living  growth  and  development 
and  its  composition  of  members  who  are  still  imperfect,  and  subject 
to  sin,  involves  the  development  of  error  and  corruption,  as  well  as 
of  truth  and  holiness.  The  impartial  historian,  who  has  faith  in 
God's  promises  and  man's  high  destiny  in  Christ,  Avill  trace  the 
twofold  process  without  attempting  prematurely  to  "root  out  tlie 
tares  from  the  wheat,"  or  to  award  j^raise  and  blame,  but  in  the  full 
assurance  that  all  things  work  together  "  for  the  edifying  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  till  we  all  come,  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."  ^ 

When  we  find  ourselves  on  the  hither  side  of  that  gulf  which 
(as  we  have  before  said)  separates  the  Apostolic  from  the  next  age, 
we  are  almost  startled  by  the  rapid  development  which  we  can  then 
trace  onward  through  tlie  second  and  third  centuries.  "The  dis- 
tinction between  clergy  and  laity  becomes  prominent  and  fixed ; 
subordinate  church  offices  are  multiplied;  the  episcopate  arises; 
the  beginnings  of  the  Koman  primacy  appear;  and  the  exclusive 
unity  of  the  Catholic  Church  developes  itself  in  opposition  to 
heretics  and  schismatics.  The  Apostolical  organization  of  the  first 
century  gives  place  to  the  old  catholic  episcopal  system,  which,  in 
its  turn,  passes  into  the  metropolitan,  and  after  the  fourth  century 
into  the  patriarchal.  With  this  the  Greek  Church  stops,  while 
the  Latin  goes  yet  a  step  further,  and  produces  in  the  Middle 
Ages  the  absolute  Papacy.  The  germs  of  this  Papacy  likewise 
betray  themselves  even  in  our  present  period,  particularly  in 
Cyprian."  ^ 

§  6.  This  constitutional  development  is  to  be  traced  in  the  dis- 
tinction established  between  the  clergy  and  the  laity,  and  in  the 
gradations  of  dignity  and  office  within  the  clerical  body.  It  seems 
that  the  Jewish  idea  of  a  special  priesthood,  which  in  the  New 
Testament  is  made  the  type  of  the  holiness  and  privileges  of  all 
Christians,  soon  came  to  be  taken  as  the  pattern  of  the  Christian 
ministry  and  its  relation  to  the  people.  Even  Clement  of  Rome 
draws  such  a  parallel  between  the  Christian  presidents  of  churches 
and  the  Levitical  priesthood,  with  whom  he  contrasts  t|ie  "  lay- 
man," ^  that  is,  "  man  of  the  people."  Already  in  the  genuine 
Epistles  of  Ignatius  we  find  this  distinction,  as  well  as  the  three 

»  Ephes.  iv.  12,  13.  ^  SchaflT,  vol.  i.  pp.  407-8. 

'  AoiVc^x  ivOpuTTos,  Ep.  1  ad  Corinth,  40-44. 


180  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.    Chap.  VII. 

orders  of  the  ministry  and  the  dignity  of  the  episcopal  office,  com- 
pletely developed,  at  least  in  principle.'  "Whoever"  (says  he)  "is 
■within  the  sanctuary  is  pure ;  but  he  who  docs  anything  without 
bishop  and  presbytery,  and  deacon,  is  not  pure  in  conscience."'"' 

By  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  we  find  the  term  Priest^ 
applied  espjcially  to  the  bishop,  but  also  the  presbyters ;  tlie  body 
of  ministers  form  a  special  "order"  in  the  Cliurch,* sometimes  called 
the  "priestly  order,"  and  commonly  the  "clergy,"*  as  having  an 
office  allotted  to  them  by  God,  distinct  from  the  Christian  "people" 
or  "  laity."  *  Hence  the  admission  into  the  sacred  order,  by  laying- 
on  of  hands,  was  called  by  the  name  of  ordination.''  In  this  order 
there  were  the  three  degrees,  those  of  deacon,  presbyter,  and  bishop, 
called  "greater  orders"  (ordines  majores),  in  contradistinction  to 
the  "  lesser  orders  "  (ordines  minores),  from  sub-deacon  down  to 
door-keeper.^ 

'  The  difference  in  the  testimony  of  Ignatius,  dependent  on  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  several  Epistles  ascribed  to  him,  is  only  in  degree,  but  still  it  is 
immense. 

2  Ad  Trail,  c.  7. 

^  'Upevs,  sacerdos,  and  even  apxtfpevs  and  summus  saccrdos  (Tertull. 
De  Baptism.  7  ;  Apost.  Const,  passim).  Tertullian  calls  the  episcopate 
ordo  sacerdotalis  (De  Exhort.  Cast.  7);  but  it  seems  to  be  only  in  irony 
that  he  styles  the  Bishop  of  Rome  Pontifex  Maximus  {De  PuHcit.  1). 
Hippoly tus  calls  his  office  apx'epuTeia  and  diSaoTKaXla  {Ref.  Hcer.  I.  Procem.). 
Cyprian  often  calls  the  bishop  sacerdos  and  his  colleagues  consacerdotales. 
These  Greek  and  Latin  terms  are  properly  expressed  by  the  English  word 
priest  in  its  full  and  usual  sense,  although  etymologically  it  is  merely  a 
contraction  of presbi/ter. 

*  To|is,  ordo,  ordo  ecclesiasticus  or  ecdesice  (Tertull.  De  Monoj.  \\  ;  De 
Fdolol.  7);  ordo  sacerdotalis  {De  Exhort.  Cast'.  7). 

*  KK9)pos,  clerus,  KKr\piKoi,  clerici,  whence  our  clerk. 

*  Aoos,  KatKol,  plebs. 

''  Ordinatio.  The  word  is  used  in  our  English  Bible  as  the  translation 
of  Greek  words  signifying  appointment  to,  or  establishment  in,  the  office  of  a 
minister. 

'  "The  first  mention  of  any  inferior  ofHce  is  in  Tertullian,  who  speaks 
oi  Readers  {De  Praiscr.  41).  The  fuller  organization  of  the  lesser  orders 
comes  before  us  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Cyprian,  and  in  one  of  his  contempo- 
raries, Cornelius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  who  states  that  the  Roman  Church  then 
numbered  46  Presbyters,  7  Deacons,  7  Subdeacons,  42  Acolyths,  and  52 
Exorcists,  Readers,  and  Door-keepers  {ap.  Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  43).  The  business 
of  the  Subdeacons  was  to  take  care  of  the  sacred  vessels,  and  to  assist  the 
deacons  in  their  secular  duties ;  the  Acoli/ths  lighted  the  lamps  and  attended 
at  the  celebration  of  the  sacraments;  the  Exorcists  had  the  charge  of  the 
enertpim^s,  or  persons  who  were  supposed  to  be  possessed  by  evil  spirits; 
the  Readers  were  employed  to  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  services  of  the 
church."" — Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  162-3. 

The  description  of  the  orders  is,  however,  varied.  Tertullian  mentions 
the  "  order  of  widows  "  {ordo  viduarum)  among  the  ordines  ecclesiastici  (De 
Monog.  12) ;  and  Jerome  (In  Jes.  v.  19)  makes  "  five  orders  of  the  church," 


Cext.  I.-III.  LAITY  AND  CLERGY.  ISl 

The  body  of  the  people  were  divided  into  two  classes,  tlie  "  be- 
lievers" or  "  faithful,"  1  those  fully  established  in  church  fellowship, 
and  the  "catechumens."  The  full  place  which  these  held  within 
the  church  (not  Hke  the  Jewish  and  heathen  people  outside  the 
sanctuary)  is  recognized  by  Jerome's  enumeration  of  them  among 
the  ecclesiastical  orders.  Each  congregation  of  persons  living  in  the 
same  place  was  regarded  as  the  church  of  a  neighlourhood,  under 
the  Greek  name  from  which  we  get  our  word  parish,^ 

As  the  clergy  became  a  distinct  order,  they  were  more  and  more 
separated  from  secular  business,  and  supported  from  tlie  church 
treasury,  which  was  supplied  by  voluntary  contributions  and  weekly 
collections  on  the  Sunday.^  This  passed,  after  the  third  century, 
into  a  positive  prohibition  from  worldly  business  and  even  from 
accepting  trusteeships.  Moreover,  partly  from  the  same  pi-inciple 
of  separation  from  the  world,  and  partly  on  the  ground  of  ascetic 
purity,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  began  to  he.  advocated,  though  not 
j^et  laid  down  as  a  duty  or  enforced  as  a  law. 

The  election  of  ministers  was  either  made  directly  by  the  peoj>le, 
or  approved  by  them  if  the  designation  were  made  by  the  bishop  or 
the  clergy.  The  consent  of  the  whole  congregation  was  required, 
from  the  almost  Apostolic  age  of  Clement  o/  liome  ■*  down  to  and 
beyond  the  development  of  clerical  authority  in  the  time  of  Cypiian, 
who  calls  this  "  an  apostolic  and  almost  universal  regulation."  ^     In 

namely  the  three  of  the  clergy  and  the  two  of  the  Inity:  "Quinque  ecclesiae 
oi'dines,  episcopos,  presbyteros,  dinconos,  f  deles,  catechiimcnos." 

The  idea  of  the  priesthood  of  all  Christians  ttill  survived  (see  Irenseus 
adv.  Hares,  iv.  8,  §  3),  especially  among  the  Montanists,  who  allowed 
even  women  to  teach  in  the  church.  Tertullian  asks,  "  Konne  et  laid 
sacerdotes  sumus  ?"  quoting  the  passage,  "  He  hath  made  us  kings  and 
priests ;"  and  he  says  that,  where  there  are  no  ministers,  anv  Christian 
administercil  the  sacrament  and  baptized,  as  "  a  priest  to  himself  alone." 
Jerome  speaks  of  the  "  sacerdotium  laici,  id  est,  baptisma,"  with  referenc- 
to  the  custom  of  requiring  the  newly  baptized  person  to  say  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  the  presence  of  the  congregation. 

'  Fidefcs,  from  the  term  tt/o-toi,  which  is  one  of  the  commonest  designae 
tions  of  Christians  (those  holding  the  iri'trTjs)  in  the  New  Testament. 

^  UapoiKLa,  from  irapoi/cos,  dwellinif  near,  and  (as  a  substantive)  a  neighs 
hour.  There  seems  to  have  been  originally  little,  if  any,  distinction  between 
irapoiKia  and  StoiKriffis,  a  diocese. 

^  These  weekly  collections  date  from  apostolic  times  (1  Cor.  xvi.  2),  and 
Paul  lays  down  the  principle,  as  ordained  bv  the  Lord  himself,  that  "they 
which  preach  the  Gospel  should  live  of  the  Gospel"  (1  Cor.  ix.  7-14;  Gal", 
vi.  6;  1  Tim.  v.  17;  ccmp.  Matt.  x.  10,  Luke  x.  7);  but  rather  as  their 
right  than  a  law  binding  them,  for  he  himself  set  the  example  of  sparing 
the  people  and  preserving  his  independence  in  maintaining  himself  by  his 
own  labour  (1  Cor.  ix.  12-19). 

*  Fpist.  1  ad  Cor.  44  :  a-vyfvSoKdaijs  rfjs  iKKKr)aias  ■Kiffr)%. 

*  Epist.  Ix.  3-4. 

10 


182        CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.      Chap.  VII. 

the  election  of  a  bishop  the  " suffragium''''  of  the  people  accompanied 
and  often  preceded  the  ^''judicium"  of  the  clergy  of  the  diocese; 
and  elections  by  a  spontaneous  outburst  of  the  popular  voice  were 
held  valid  in  the  cases  of  Cyprian,  and  afterwards  of  Athanasius 
and  Ambrose.  But  the  rite  of  ordination  was  neceSsary  for  all  grades 
of  the  ministry.^ 

The  exercise  of  the  functions  of  teaching  by  laymen  survived 
for  some  time  the  separation  between  laity  and  clergy.  We  have 
seen  Origen  expounding  the  Scriptures  in  the  churches  of  Jeru- 
salem and  Cajsarea  at  the  request  of  their  bishops.  The  "Apos- 
tolical Constitutions"  ascribe  to  the  Apostle  Paul  a  direction,  that, 
"  Though  a  man  be  a  layman,  if  experienced  in  the  delivery  of  in- 
struction, and  morally  worthj',  he  may  teach  ;  for  '  they  shall  all  be 
taught  of  God.'"  Even  the  decree  of  the  Fourth  Council  of 
Carthage  (398),  prohibiting  laymen  from  teaching  in  the  presence 
of  clergymen  and  without  their  consent,  implies  that  such  consent 
might  be  given  to  the  act. 

§  7.  In  this  more  definite  organization  of  Ihe  Church,  the  most 
striking  feature  is  the  increase  in  the  authority  of  the  bishops,  and 
the  introduction  of  distinctions  of  rank  among  them.  Whether  or 
no  the  offices  of  bisJwjj  and  jn-eshyter  were  at  first  identical,  it  is 
agreed  by  all  that,  as  most  Christian  churches  had  a  plurality  of 
presbyters,  some  one  of  these  obtained,  whether  from  age,  character, 
or  ability,  the  position  of  a  president,  and  to  him  the  title  of  Bishop 
was  applied  in  a  special  sense,  while  his  colleagues  retained  that  of 
Presbyter?  Further,  we  have  seen  reason  to  believe  that  more  con- 
gregations than  one  were  united  in  fellowship  and  government  as  a 
church ;  and,  as  such  congregations  becamo  stronger,  they  might 
become  churches  still  under  the  oversight  of  the  bishoji  of  the 
mother    church.      The   process   would  doubtless   be   modified  by 

'  The  order  of  Exorcists  formed,  in  some  cases  at  least,  an  exception  to 
this  rule.  "The  Apostolical  Constitutions  (which  represent  the  eastern 
system  as  it  was  about  the  end  of  the  third  century)  declare  that  this 
office  is  not  to  be  conferred  by  ordination,  as  being  a  special  gift  of 
divine  grace,  and  a  voluntary  exercise  of  benevolence." — Robertson,  vol.  i. 
p.  162. 

^  Wc  have  the  testimony  of  Jerome  that  originally,  before  divisions  arose 
throui;h  Satan's  instigation,  the  churches  were  governed  by  the  common 
council  of  the  presbyters,  and  not  till  a  later  period  was  one  of  the  pres- 
byters j)laccd  at  the  head,  to  watch  over  the  church  and  sup])ress  schisms ; 
and  he  distinctly  says  that  the  precedence  of  the  bishops  and  the  subjection 
of  the  presbyters  was  magis  consnctudine  quam  dispositionis  Dominica;  rrri- 
tdtis  {Ad  Titum,  i.  7  ;  Kpist.  83,  85).  The  Roman  deacon  Hilary  (Ambro- 
«>iaster)  says,  "  Hie  enim  episcopus  est,  qui  inter  preshi/leros  primus  est " 
(Ad  1  Jim.  iii.  10).  In  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Jewish  Synagogue, 
the  presiding  bishop  has  been  compared  to  the  apxicvvdyuyos  of  Mark  v. 
35,  36,  38,  Luke  viii.  41,  49,  Acts  iviii.  8,  17  (Schaff,  vol.  i.  pp.  419-420). 


Cent.  I.-III.  APOSTOLICAL  SUCCESSION.  183 

national  character  and  institutions ;  so  that  while  among  the 
politically-minded  Greeks  each  city  had  its  own^church  under  its 
own  bishop,  and  while  the  same  state  of  things  existed  in  Korth 
Africa,  we  find  for  a  long  time  no  bishop  in  Palestine  except  at 
Jerusalem,  and  afterwards  at  the  Eoman  capital  of  Ca^sarca ;  and 
Egypt  had  only  one  bishop,  namely,  of  Alexandria,  down  to  De- 
metrius (a.d.  190-235).  In  the  last  case  we  are  expressly  told  by 
Jerome  that,  "from  Mark  the  Evangelist  down  to  the  Bishops 
Heraclas  and  Dionysius,  the  twelve  presbyters  always  placed  in 
a  higher  rank  one  chosen  from  among  themselves,  whom  they 
named  Bishoj^,  like  an  army  making  an  Imperator,  or  the  deacons 
elect  from  their  own  number  one  known  for  his  diligence,  whom 
they  call  Archdeacon."  ^ 

§  8.  But  this  would  not  be  a  full  account  of  (he  institution;  for 
while,  on  one  side,  the  Episcoi^ate  was  thus  developed  from  the 
presbyterate,  it  must  be  regarded,  from  another  side,  as  a  sort  of 
continuation  of  the  Apostolic  office.  The  discussion  of  this  "  Apos- 
tolical Succession,"  as  a  doctrine,  lies  beyond  our  province;  but  its 
existence,  from  very  early  times,  must  be  recognized  as  an  his- 
torical fact,  and  as  the  basis  of  the  high  authority  claimed  for  the 
Episcopate,  not  indeed  so  much  over  the  presbytery  as  over  the 
flock.  Thus  the  genuine  epistles  of  Ignatius  consist,  for  the  most 
part,  of  earnest  exhortations  to  obey  the  bishop  and  maintain  the 
unity  of  the  Church  against  the  judaistic  and  docetic  heretics.  But 
it  should  be  observed  that  these  exhortations  arc  addressed  to  single 
churches,  over  each  of  which  the  bishop  is  set,  not  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  whole  Church  nor  even  as  the  successor  of  the 
Apostles,  but  as  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  the  centre  of  unity  as 
representing  the  authority  of  God  himself.^  The  people  should 
therefore  obey  him,  and  do  nothing  without  his  will.  "Blessed 
are  they  who  are  one  with  the  bishop,  as  the  Church  is  with  Christ, 
and  Christ  with  the  Father."  High  as  was  the  view  of  the  office 
thus  held  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  second  century,  there  is  no 
suggestion  in  Ignatius  of  diocesan,  much  less  of  a  universal  episco- 
pacy ;  and  his  Ejnsth  to  the  liomans  is  distinguished  from  the  rest 
by  its  silence  about  bishops. 

The  language  of  Irenjeus  furnishes  another  landmark,  at  the  be- 

•  Hicron.  Epist.  ad  Emngclum  (0pp.  iv.  p.  802,  ed.  Martinay)  ;  Eutychii 
Patriarch.  Alex.  I.  Annalcs,  p.  o:>l.  Kutj'chius,  who  was  patriarch  of  Alex- 
andria in  the  tenth  century,  adds  that  the  newly  elected  bishop  (/w/riu/x/.i/) 
was  ordained  by  the  other  eleven  presbyters — a  case  of  non-episcopal  ordi- 
nation to  the  episcopate. 

*  Etthtkoitos  ei'sT^TToj'  6(ov  TTpoKaOrififvos.  In  the  very  strength  of  the 
language  of  Ignatius  some  sec  a  sign  that  the  episcopate,  in  this  very 
exalted  view  of  it,  was  "as  yet  a  young  institution,  greatly  needing  com- 
mendation."— Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  422.' 


184        CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.      Chap.  VII. 

ginning  of  the  third  century.  This  father,  the  great  opponent  of 
Gnosticism,  unites  with  Ignatius  in  upholding  the  episcopate  as  a 
centre  of  unity  against  heretics,  but  his  idea  of  the  office  is  at  once 
lower  and  higher.  "He  represents  the  institution  as  an  office  of 
the  whole  Church,  and  as  the  continuation  of  the  AjDostolate,  as  the 
vehicle  of  the  Catholic  tradition,  and  the  support  of  doctrinal  unity 
in  opposition  to  heretical  vagaries.  He  exalts  the  bishops  of  the 
original  apostolic  cluirches,  above  all  of  the  Church  of  Kome,  and 
speaks  Avith  great  emphasis  of  an  unbroken  episcopal  succession."  '■ 
Equally  strong  is  the  language  of  TertuUian  before  his  lapse  to 
Montanism ;  but  after  that  change  he  insists  on  the  priesthood  of 
the  laity,  as  opposed  to  the  claims  of  bishops  to  represent  the 
Church. 

By  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  episcopal  authority  has 
reached  its  full  development  in  the  writings  of  Cyprian.  In  his 
view  the  bishoj^s  are  the  channel  through  which  the  Holy  Ghost, 
given  by  Christ  to  the  Apostles,  is  bestowed  in  an  unbroken  suc- 
cession, ibr  the  life  of  the  Church  and  the  efficacy  of  her  ordinances. 
"  The  Bishop  " — says  he — "  is  in  the  Church,  and  the  Church  is  in 
the  Bishop,  and  if  any  one  is  not  with  the  Bishop,  he  is  not  in  the 
Church."-  Cyprian,  moreover,  regards  the  whole  Episcopacy  as 
one  oflice,  having  (in  the  technical  phrase)  a  solidarity  answering 
to  that  of  the  Church.^  Thus  the  growing  idea  of  a  visible  unity  in 
the  Church  is  embodied  in  the  unity  of  its  first  order  of  ministers. 
As — says  Cyprian — the  Church  is  one  body,  divided  by  Christ  into 
many  members  through  the  whole  world,  so  one  episcopate  is  diffused 
through  the  concordant  numbers  of  many  bishops.*  And  just  be- 
cause each  bishop  is  but  a  member  of  the  episcopate,  he  represents, 
in  his  own  diocese,  the  authority  of  the  whole.  But  his  authority 
is  not  independent  of  the  presbyters;  and  Cyprian  himself  under- 
took nothing  of  importance  without  their  advice.  As  late  as  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century,  the  fourth  Council  of  Carthage  declared 
the  sentence  of  a  bishop  without  the  concurrence  of  his  clergy  to  be 
void  (a.d.  398).  The  same  Council  decreed  that,  in  the  ordination 
of  a  presbyter,  all  the  presbyters  present  should  join  with  the 
bishop  in  the  imposition  of  hands. 

§  9.  The  smaller  bodies  of  Christians  scattered  about  country 
districts  were  brought  luider  episcopal  supervision  either  by  itine- 
rant visitors  (nepiobevTal,  visitatores),  or  by  means  of  resident 
assistants  to  the  bishop,  called  "country  bishops"  (Chorepiscopi),^ 

'  Ado.  Ifwr.  iii.  3,  §§  1,  2,  iv.  33,  §  8  ;  Schafl',  vol.  i.  p.  423. 

^  Cyprian,  Epist.  Ixvi.  3. 

'  "  Episcopatus  unus  est,  cujus  a  singulis  in  solidam  pars  tenetur." 

*  I'Jpist.  W.  20. 

*  The  x'^P^'^'^'^KOT'os  is  also  called  vicarius  episcopi,  villanus  episcopus, 
vicanus  episcopus,  as  opposed  to  the  cathedratis  episcopvs. 


Cent.  I.-lJl.  MKTROPOLITANS-DIOCESES.  185 

who  ranked  between  the  bishop  and   the  presbyters.     They  first 
appear  in  Asia  Minor,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third  century. 

§  10.  As  the  several  churches  became  thus  more  fully  organized 
they  tended  to  union  in  larger  masses.  From  tlie  earliest  times  the 
pastors  of  neighbouring  churches  met  for  consultation  as  occasions 
arose;  and  the  custom  of  holding  such  " synods " ^  regularly  once 
or  twice  a  year,  was  established  by  the  end  of  the  second  century  - 
Such  meetmgs  were  naturally  held  at  the  chief  city  of  each  province 
or  district,  and  the  church  of  this  Metropolis  came  to  be  re^^arded 
as  a  sort  of  Mother  Church  to  those  around  it.  Its  bishop  was 
naturally  the  president  of  the  assembled  clergy,  and  their  repre- 
sentative in  communicating  with  other  churches.  This  occasional 
position  grew,  ot  course,  into  a  sort  of  permanent  dignity  and  pre- 
cedence. In  accordance  with  the  tendency  for  the  growincr  organi- 
zation of  the  Church  to  follow  that  of  tlie  Empire,  the  bishops  of 
such  churches  were  called  Metropolitans  {MnrpoTroXirai).  A  superior 
dignity  attached  also  to  the  "apostolic'^  or  "mother  churches,"*  as 
planted  by  the  Apostles  themselves,  and  therefore  the  surest  de- 
positaries of  apostolic  doctrine  and  practice.  Both  causes  of  pre- 
cedence were  united  in  the  Churches  of  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and 
Home,  which  were  the  capitals  of  the  three  great  divisions  of  the 
Empire  {inapxiai).  Their  Metropolitans  approjJriated  the  title  of 
Archbishop,  which  had  before  been  given  to  all  Metropolitans,  and 
afterwards  that  oi  Patriarch,  which  had  been  an  honorary 'title 
of  all  bishoijs,  especially  in  the  East.  The  same  title  was  given 
to  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  the  mother  Church  of  Christendom, 
and  afterwards  to  the  Bishop  of  Constantinople,  the  new  capital 
of  the  Empire.  It  was  first  ajiplied  in  this  sjiecial  sense  by  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon  (a.d.  451). 

The  sphere  in  which  a  bishop  presided,  whether  it  were  a  city, 
a  district,  or  a  province,  was  originally  called  simply  his  "neigh- 
bourhood "  or  parish  (jrapoiKiay  But  when  Constantino,  in  "re- 
modelling the  empire,  applied  the  name  of  diocese  (SioiKtja-is)  to 
the  larger  divisions,  each  of  which  contained  several  provinces 
((napxiai),  the  same  name  was  adopted  in  an  ecclesiastical  sense  for 
the  sphere  of  a  Patriarch,  or,  as  the  chief  bishop  of  a  diocese  was 
also  called,  an  e.xarch.  But  (perhaps  from  the  literal  meaning  of  the 
word),'  it  was  soon  restricted  to  the  sense  which  it  has  since  re- 
tained, the  province  of  every  bishop. 

'  Sui/oSoy,  a  meeting.  «   Can.  Apost.  36;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  163. 

'  Scdcs  (ipostolica.  matrices  ecclesice.  *  See  above,  p.  181. 

'  AioiKriats  signified  originally  the  managancnt  of  a  household,  and  hence 
ani/  kind  of  administration,  and  in  this  sense  it  was  used  as  equivalent  to 
the  Roman  provincia  (which  has  the  s.nnie  sense),  and  it  was  applied  espe- 
cially to  the  smaller  administrative  districts.     Its  ultimate  use  in  eccie- 


18G        CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.      Chap.  VII. 

§  11.  The  claims  which  ripened  into  the  supremacy  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  over  the  Western  Church  had  already  been  put  forward, 
and  to  a  great  extent  admitted,  during  the  first  three  centuries. 
Arising  naturally  out  of  the  civil  supremacy  of  the  capital,  the  pre- 
tensions of  Rome  were  supported  by  the  fiction  of  Peter's  bishopric 
there,  and  also  by  the  equally  groundless  statement,  that  the 
Church  was  founded  by  Paul.^  Such  a  claim  has  been  vainly 
sought  iu  the  exhortations  which  Clement  addresses,  not  in  his  own 
name,  but  in  that  of  the  Roman  Church,  to  the  sister  Church  of 
Corinth.  Ignatius,  in  writing  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  assigns  to  it 
a  precedence,  not  in  authority  but  in  love,^  and,  curiously  enough, 
he  neither  addresses  nor  names  its  bishop. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  century  we  first  find  a  "  precedence " 
assigned  by  Irenajus,  not  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  as  the  successor  of 
Peter,  but  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  the  chief  centre  of  the  apos- 
tolical tradition  derived  from  Peter  and  Paul.  It  is  just  because 
that  apostolical  tradition  is  ]ireserved  by  all  the  churches  every- 
where, that  these  churches — he  does  not  say  owjht  to  submit  to — 
but  mtist  needs  agree  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  writer  gave 
a  practical  commentary  on  his  words  when,  himself  "agreeing  with" 
Bishop  Victor  about  Easter,  he  rebuked  him  for  breaking  off 'fellow- 
ship with  the  Asiatic  churches ;  and  those  churches  answered  the 

siastical  language  may  be  connected  with  the  idea  of  a  bishop's  "  behaving 
himself  in  the  house  of  God,  which  is  the  church  "  (1  Tim.  iii.  15).  We 
find  it,  indeed,  applied  to  every  kind  of  ecclesiastical  division,  the  province 
of  a  patriarch,  or  a  metropolitan,  or  a  bishop,  down  to  the  district  of  a 
single  church. 

The  term  seat  (KaBeSpa)  or  see,  for  the  place  which  is  the  centre  of  a 
bishop's  diocese,  was  derived  from  the  actual  seat,  or,  as  it  came  to  be 
called,  throne,  occupied  by  the  bishop  in  his  church  (j8^/uo  koI  dpovos  v^tj- 
\os,  Euseb.  JI.  E.  vii.  30,  in  contradistinction  to  the  devrtpoi  6p6voi  of  the 
presbyters).  In  this  sense  Eusebius  speaks  of  the  a.iro<no\iKhs  6p6vos  of 
8t.  James  at  Jerusalem  (vii.  19,  32);  and  St.  Mark's  chair  was  shown  at 
Alexandria.  But  the  word  is  found  in  the  secondary  sense  of  see  as  early 
asTcrtullian,  who  uses  the  phrase  Cathedra;  Apostolorum  for  the  apostolical 
succession  of  bishops  in  the  Ecclesia  Apostolorum. 

'  In  the  famous  passage  of  Irenaus,  which  claims  the  agreement  of  the 
whole  Church  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  has  the  precedence  as 
founded  by  the  two  most  iUustrious  Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  it  is  also 
absurdly  called  the  oldest  church  (Adc.  I/rrr.  iii.  3,  §  2).  The  passage  is 
found  only  in  the  Latin  version,  the  reading  of  which  is  somewhat  doubt- 
ful :  "  Ad  banc  enim  ecclesiam  propter  potehtiorem  (Massuet  conjectures 
potiorem)  ]>rincipalitateni  necesse  est  omnem  convenire  ecclesiam,  hoc  est 
eos  qui  sunt  undique  fideles,  in  qua  semper  ab  his  qui  sunt  undique  con- 
servata  est  ab  apostolis  traditio.' 

-  npoKaOji^fvri  rfjy  aydwris.  Compare  Paul's  language  about  the  faith 
of  the  lioman  Church  (Rom.  i.  8).  Some  Roman  Catholic  divines  arbitrarily 
put  on  rfjs  aydniis  a  concrete  sense,  as  if  it  meant  the  Church  united  in  love. 


Cent.  I.-IIL  THE  SEE  OF  ROME.  187 

Eoman  Bishop's  dictation  by  appealing  to  their  own  "apostolical 
tradition,"  The  same  kind  of  prt'cedence,  and  on  the  same  grounds, 
is  maintained  by  Tertullian  in  his  earlier  writings;  but  the  bitter 
irony  with  which,  after  his  lapse  to  Moutanism,  lie  calls  the  Roman 
Bishop  "pontifex  maximus"  and  "episcopus  episcoporum,"  furnishes 
some  evidence  of  the  growth  of  the  claim  to  supremacy.  The 
evidence  derived  from  Hippolytus,  the  vehement  opponent  of  the 
Bishops  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus  for  their  lax  discipline,  goes  no 
further  than  the  claim  of  the  Bishop  of  Borne  to  supremacy'  in  his 
own  diocese,  and  to  exemption  from  being  deposed,  even  for  mortal 
sin. 

Cyprian  is  the  first  eminent  advocate  of  the  superiority  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  as  the  successor  of  Peter,  on  whom  Christ  founded 
His  Church,*  and  to  whom  lie  gave  the  commission,  "Feed  my 
sheep."  He  calls  the  Church  of  Rome  "  the  chair  of  Peter  and  the 
chief  Church,  whence  the  unity  of  the  priesthood  had  its  source" — 
"  the  root  and  mother  of  the  Catholic  Church."  ^  In  this  view  tinity 
is  still  the  prevalent  idea ;  and,  just  as  Cyprian  regards  Christ's 
commission  to  VvXgx  as  the  bond  of  unity  among  the  Apostles,  who 
were  like  him  endowed  fully  with  their  Master's  authority,  so  he 
claims  equalit}-  and  independence  for  all  bishops,  as  all  equally  the 
successors  of  the  Apostles.  He  addresses  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  not 
as  Father  (Pajxt,  Pope),  but  as  his  brother  and  colleaijue ;  and,  in  the 
controversy  about  heretical  baptism,  he  does  not  scruple  to  charge 
Bishop  Stephen  with  error  and  -abuse  of  power.  So,  too,  the  Cappado- 
cian  Bishop,  Firmilian,  the  disciple  of  Origen,  while  acknowledging 
the  Bishop  of  Rome's  precedence,  turns  the  ground  of  it  into  a  rebuke, 
telling  him  that  "  he  ought  to  abide  on  the  rock  foundation,  instead 
of  laying  a  new  one  by  recognizing  heretical  baptism." 

"  From  this  testimony  it  is  clear  that  the  growing  influence  of 
the  Roman  see  was  rooted  in  public  opinion,  and  in  the  need  of 
unity  in  the  ancient  Church.  It  is  not  to  be  explained  at  all  by 
the  talents  and  ambition  of  the  incumbents.  On  the  contrary,  the 
personality  of  the  thirty  Popes*  of  the  first  three  centuries  falls 

'  So  early,  and  imleed  much  earlier,  is  tlie  great  misinterpretation  of 
the  text,  which  is  blazoned  round  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  at  Home  (Matt. 
xvi.  18).  Concerning  the  true  sense— that  the  EocI:,  of  which  Peter's  name 
was  but  the  symbol,  is  Christ  himself — see  the  ^V.  T.  Hist.  chap.  ix.  §  14. 
It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  text  is  not  found  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark, 
which  is  believed  to  have  been  written  under  the  direction  of  Peter  himself. 

-  "  Petri  cathedram  atque  ecclesiam  principalem,  unde  unitas  sacerdo- 
talis  exorta  est  "  (/-.pist.  lix.  19,  ed.  Goldhorn) :  "  ecclesiae  catholicae  radicem 
et  matricem  "  {J:'pist.  xl.  2). 

*  This  retrospective  use  of  the  title,  in  accoi'dance  with  Roman  Catholic 
custom,  is  apt  to  mislead.     The  "  onomatopoetic  "  word  papa  or  pappa, 


188  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.     Chap.  VII. 

quite  remarkably  into  the  background ;  though  they  are  all  canon- 
ized saints,  and,  according  to  a  later,  but  very  doubtful  tradition, 
were  also,  with  two  exceptions,  martyrs."^  Alter  remarking  on  the 
absence  irom  the  list  of  the  great  names  among  the  fathers,-  Pro- 
fessor Schaff  adds: — "It  is  further  worthy  of  remark  that  just  the 
oldest  links  in  the  chain  of  Roman  bishops  are  veiled  in  impenetrable 
darkness.  While  TertuUian  and  most  of  the  Latins  (and  the  pseudo- 
Clementines)  makq  Clement  the  first  successor  of  Peter,  Irenajus, 
Eusebius,  and  other  Greeks  (with  Jerome  and  the  Poman  catalogue) 
give  him  the  third  place,  and  put  Linus  and  Anacletus  between  him 
and  Peter." 

§  12.  The  growing  organization  of  the  Christian  Churches  is  con- 
nected at  every  step  with  the  attempt  to  embody  the  idea  of  the 
unity  of  the  Church  Universal — the  body  of  Christ,  of  which  both 
individual  Christians  and  the  several  churches  formed  by  their  union 
for  worship  and  fellowship  are  the  members — in  the  "  Holy  CathoUc 
Church"^  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  or,  as  it  is  called  more  fully 
in  the  Nicene,  the  "  one  Holy  Catholic  Apostolic  Church."  * 

This  idea  is  common  to  the  great  teachers  of  the  second  and  third 
centuries,  as  a  plain  matter  of  fact,  without  reference  to  any  distinc- 
tion between  the  visible  and  invisible  Church.  Springing  from  the 
sentiment  of  mutual  love  and  common  brotherhood  in  Christ,  it 
assumed  a  more  definite  and  harder  form  through  the  conflict  with 
heresy;  and  it  was  only  in  accordance  with  human  nature  that  the 
antagonistic  element  should  prevail,  and  that  the  comprehensive 
term  "Catholic"  was  used  specially  to  exclude  all  that  was  deemed 
"heretical"  and  "schismatic".  The  development  of  this  doctrine 
of  Catholic  unity,  like  that  of  the   episcopate  which    is   closely 

which,  from  the  very  construction  of  the  organs  of  speech,  is  one  of  the 
first  uttered  by  infant  lips,  is  found  as  early  as  Homer  tor  fatJio-  (Od.  vi. 
57,  TraTrira  (pi\\  in  the  vocative  ;  and  in  //.  v.  408,  the  derived  verb,  ntv 
iraTSes  irairirdCovcriv,  '•  children  call  him  papa  ").  In  early  ecclesiastical 
Latin  it  was  applied  to  bishops  in  general,  like  Trarpiopx'js  'n  Greek  (Ter- 
tull.  J)e  Pitdic.  13).  But,  curiously  enough,  the  common  and  special  senses 
of  the  two  words  got  transposed  in  the  two  churches ;  and  at  the  present 
day  every  Romish  priest  is  called  "  father  "  (pater)  and  every  Greek  priest 
"pope"  (P''P")-  '^^^  "**''  ''f  I'apa  (Pope),  as  the  pre-eminent  title  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  is  first  clearly  found  in  Ennodius  of  Pavia,  about  A.D. 
500  (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  .500). '  '  Schaff,  vol.  i.  pp.  430-1. 

^  .Jerome's  list  of  13G  "  Illustrious  ilen  "  of  the  first  four  centuries 
contains  only  four  Roman  bishops,  Clement,  Victor,  Cornelius,  and  Damasus ; 
and  they  wrote  only  a  few  Epistles. 

^  Sancta  Ecclesia  Catholica. 

*  The  clause  belongs  to  the  addition  to  the  Nicene  Creed  made  by  the 
Council  of  Constantinople  (a.d.  381).  Its  form  should  be  noticed — "Credo 
unam  sanctam  catholicam  ecclesiam  " — not  "  credo  in  (<is),"  as  in  the 
clauses  declaring  faith  in  the  Divine  Persons. 


CexNT.  I.-IIl.  COUNCILS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  18i* 

connected  willi  it,  may  be  traced  through  tlie  writings  of  Ignatius, 
Irenaaus,  and  Cyprian,  in  whose  work  '  On  the  Unity  of  the 
Church'  it  culminates.  Nor  is  it  taught  less  plainly  by  Ter- 
tuUiau,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  Origen,  thougli  they  were 
themselves  accused  of  departure  from  Catholic  truth.  It  was 
Tertullian  that  first  made  the  famous  comparison  of  the  Church 
to  Noali's  Ark,  to  signify  that  "  Out  of  tlie  church  there  is  no 
salvation."  "  The  Church,"  says  Irenanis,  "  is  tlie  dwelling-place 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  earth;  where  the  Church  is,  there  is  also 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  where  the  Spirit  of  God  is,  there  is  the 
Church  and  all  grace."* 

§  13.  The  Catholic  unity  of  the  Church  was  exhibited  and  upheld, 
and  its  voice  found  utterance,  in  those  Synods  or  Councils,  which 
we  have  had  occasion  to  mention.^  Whether  such  assemblies  were 
larger  or  smaller,  each,  if  duly  convened  and  constituted,  was  com- 
plete in  itself,  and  could  speak  with  authority ;  for,  wlien  a  matter 
of  dispute  arose  between  brethren,  Christ  had  bidden  theni  to  "  tell 
it  to  the  Church ;"  and  He  had  given  the  promise,  "  Where  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  my  Name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of 
them."'*  'J'o  this  principle  a  precedent  was  added  from  the  meeting 
at  Jerusalem  to  decide  on  the  differences  i/i  the  Church  of  Antioch; 
and  the  same  divine  guidance  was  recognized  in  their  decisions.'' 
That  precedent  was  also  followed  in  the  constitution  of  the  primitive 
touncils.  In  the  time  of  Cyprian,  not  only  the  bishop.s  and  pres- 
byters, but  confessors  and  some  chosen  laymen,  took  part  in  the 
proceedings,  though  with  unequal  powers  of  voting;"  and,  as  the 

*  Ado.  ITcrr.  iii.  24. 

'  See  above,  §  10.  The  word  Concilium  is  first  used  in  the  ecclesiastical 
sense  by  Tertullian  (Z>o'  Jejnn.  13  ;  Dc  Fudicit.  10);  Sui/oSos,  first  in  tlie 
Apost.  Coiistit.  v.  20.  and  Canons,  c.  36  or  38 ;  also  iu  Euseb.  //.  E.  v.  23, 
&o.  The  Latin  and  Greek  woi-ds  were  at  first  equivalent;  but  in  medieval 
times  Council  was  used  for  provincial,  Synod  for  dioctmni  assemblies. 

3  Matt,  xviii.  20. 

*  Acts.  XV.  The  eSofe  rev  ayicj}  vyevfxaTt  Kal  r)nlv  (of  verse  28)  is  echoed 
(for  exam]de)  in  the  '' Placuit  nobis  Sancto  Spiritu  suggerente "  of  the 
Council  of  Carthago,  A.n.  2rr2  (Cyprian.  Epist.  liv.). 

*  The  Council  of  Carthage,  upon  Heretical  Baptism  (about  256),  was 
attended  by  87  bishops,  very  many  priests  ami  deacons,  and  most  of  the 
common  people  {innxinui  pars  ptcbis) ;  but  in  its  Acts  the  bishops  only 
appear  as  voters  (Cyprian.  0pp.  pp.  329-338).  The  Acts  of  other  early 
councils,  however,  are  signed  by  the  presbyters  and  deacons  after  the 
bishofis.  So  to  the  councils  upon  the  Lapsed,  Cyjirian  summoned  the 
bishops  and  clergy,  the  confessors  and  laicos  stanies  {i.e.  laymen  in  good 
standing,  whatever  that  may  mean),  and  the  Roman  clergy  write  to 
Cyprian  about  a  synodical  consultation  of  the  bishoj)s  with  the  priests, 
deacons,  confessors,  and  laicis  stantibus  (Cyp.  Epist.  31).  The  like  order 
is  found  in  svnods  of  the  third  century  in  Svria  and  Spain. 

10* 


190        CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH.      Chap.  VII. 

councils  were  held  in  public,  the  voice  of  the  whole  community  was 
heard,  sometimes  not  without  an  influence  on  the  decision.  In 
course  of  time,  not  only  the  laity,  but  the  inferior  clergy,  Avere  ex- 
cluded. After  the  Council  of  Nicaja  (a.d.  325)  the  bishops  alone 
sat  and  voted,  and  that  not  as  the  representatives  of  their  churches, 
but  as  the  successors  of  the  Apostles. 

The  earliest  councils  were  convened  for  dealing  with  a  contro- 
versy or  heresy  as  the  emergencies  arose,  and  they  were  com- 
posed of  as  many- representatives  of  churches  as  could  be  gathered 
from  neighbouring  places  and  provinces.  The  first  of  this  kind 
known  were  those  in  Greece,  mentioned  by  TertuUian ;  *  those 
convened  in  Asia  Minor  against  the  Montanists  about  the  middle 
of  the  second  century;^  and  those  held  both  in  the  East  and 
West  on  the  question  of  Easter  in  the  latter  part  of  the  same 
century.^ 

The  more  regular  Councils  are  of  ifour  kinds,  according  to  the 
extent  of  the  district  represented  in  each.  (1)  It  was  in  Greece, 
where  the  people  were  accustomed  both  to  civic  organization  and  to 
united  council  in  their  amphictyonies  (which  survived  down  to  this 
time),  that  the  custom  began  of  holding  stated  meetings  once  or  twice 
a  year,  in  the  "  parish  "  of  each  bishop,  on  the  model  already  ex- 
plained. Such  synods  are  first  expressly  mentioned  in  the  third 
century,  when  they  had  no  doubt  been  long  established  as  a  matter 
of  convenience.  They  correspond  to  the  Diocesan  Councils  of  later 
limes.  (2)  Provincial  Councils  were  held  for  consultation  among 
the  churches  of  a  whole  province,  under  the  Metropolitan,  whose 
presence  was  essential  to  constitute  a  "  perfect  synod."  *  These 
also  had  probably  become  a  regular  part  of  the  organization  of  the 
Church  some  time  before  they  are  first  mentioned,  in  the  middle  of 
the  third  century,  by  Cyprian  in  the  West  and  by  Firmilian  in  the 
East,  where  they  met  in  Asia  regularly  and  of  course  (nccessario) 
once  a  year  for  purposes  of  discipline.*  (3)  The  councils  of  a  patri- 
archate, primacy  or  exarchate  (that  is,  of  a  diocese  in  the  old  sense), 
do  not  appear  as  regular  annual  assemblies  till  the  latter  part  of 
the  fourth  century,  though  their  type  is  seen  in  the  early  councils 
held  on  special  emergencies.  They  were  called  national  (jegionis), 
plenary,  universal,  or  general ;  ®  and  TertuUian  speaks  of  such  a 
council  as  a  representation  of  the  whole  Christian  name.''    (4)  But 

»  De  Jejun.  13.  «  Euseb.  If.  E.  v.  16.  ^  Ibid.  24. 

*  'XvvoSos  TsAe/o,  Concil.  Antioch.  Can.  16  (a.D.  341). 

'  *'  Councils  of  the  Churches  "  are  already  named  by  TertuUian  as  if  they 
were  an  ordinary  institution  (I>e  Pudicit.  10). 

J*  Plenarium,  Universale,  Generate.     The  regular  name  of  the  primatial 
council  of  Africa  was  Universale  Anniversarium. 

'  Reprccsentatio  totitts  Christiani  nominis  (TertuU.  /.  c). 


Cent.  I.-III.  (ECUMENICAL  COUNCILS.  191 

this  universality  had  a  practical  limit,  till  the  central  authority  of 
the  Empire  became  Christian.  Then  for  the  first  tinie  Constantine 
assembled  a  Council  of  the  whole  Church  throughout  the  Eoman 
Empire,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  throughout  the  whole  world.  This 
Council,  held  at  Nicaja  in  Bithynia,  in  a.d,  325,  was  the  first  of 
those  called  fficOMENiCAL,'  or  General^  Universal,  and  Plenary  in 
the  widest  sense.  The  decrees  of  such  a  Council  were  regarded  as 
having  the  certainty  derived  from  "  the  consent  of  the  universal 
Church."  2 

'  The  phrase  ri  oiKov/jieyri  (sc.  77)),  literally  "  the  inhabited  earth,"  was 
used  to  denote  the  whole  civilized  world,  and  also  the  Roman  Empire.  In 
the  time  of  Constantine  the  latter  sense  corresponded  very  nearly  (though 
not  e.xclusively)  to  the  extension  of  the  Church,  and  it  described,  of  course, 
the  regions  from  which  bishops  could  be  assembled  at  the  call  and  under 
the  protection  of  the  Emperor.  But  that  the  ecclesiastical  sense  of  "Ecu- 
menical "  was  not  limited  to  the  Empire  is  proved  by  the  phrases  used  by 
Augustin  and  Sulpicius  Severus,  totius  orbis,  ex  toto  orbe, plenarium  universes 
ecclesicc,  plemrium  ex  universo  orbe  Christiana. 

2  "  Universalis  ecclesiae  consensio  "  (Augustin.  De  Bapt.  c.  Donat.  vii.  53). 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTEATIONS. 

(ECUMENICAL  COUNCILS. 

The  General  or  Universal  Councils,  the  authority  of  which  is  acknowledged  both  by 
the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches,  are  :— 

A.D. 

1.  The  i^trst  of  NiCjEA 325 

2.  The  First  of  ConstaktinopiJ! 381 

3.  The  Council  of  Ephesus ^31 

4.  The  Council  of  Chau;edon 451 

5.  The  Second  of  Cosstantinoplf. 553 

6.  The  Third  of  Constantinoi'LE 680 

7.  The  Second  of  NiCJEA "87 

Thus  Niccea  both  opens  and  closes  the  list.  Respecting  the  difference  between  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Churches  as  to  the  Eighth  (ieneral  Council,  see  Chap  XX.  }}  15,  16. 

There  are  several  Roman  Catholic  Councils  which  claim  to  be  General.  The  two 
latest  are  that  of  Trent,  1545,  and  that  of  Rome,  1869-70. 


Ancient  Syrian  Church  of  the  Sixth  Century,  at  Kalb  Lou?*h. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  WORSHIP  AND  SACRAMENTS  AND  FESTIVALS 
OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH. 

CENTURIES    I. -III. 

J  1.  Places  for  Worship  —  Primitive  worship  in  private  houses — The 
Pulpit  and  Table  or  Altar.  §  2.  Churches  as  special  buiKlings  — Their 
internal  arrangement.  §  3.  Primitive  Form  of  Wousiiip— Testimony 
of  Pliny  —Account  of  Justin  Martyr.  §  4.  Early  Christian  Hymns  .and 
Singing.  §  5.  The  Lord's  Supper  or  Eucharist  —  Domestic  and  infant 
Communion.  §  6.  The  Agapw  or  Love-Feasts  ;  in  the  Apostolic  and 
following  age—  Proceedings  at  the  Love-Feasts  —  Their  corruption  and 
other  causes  of  their  decline —  Attempts  to  revive  the  Love-Feasts  — 


Cent.  I.-III.  PLACES  FOR  WORSHIP.  193 

Their  final  cessation.  §  7.  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharist  —  Ignatius,  Justin 
Martyr,  and  Irenaeus — Views  of  Tertullian  and  Cyprian — Of  Clement 
and  Origen.  §  8.  Early  Doctrine  of  the  Kucharistic  Sacrifice.  §  9.  Dis- 
CIPUNK  IN  THE  Early  Church — The  Penitents  and  Penitential  Discipline 

—  Restoration  of  the  Penitents  —  Ecclesiastical  Absolution.  §  10.  JIul- 
tiplication  of  the  Orders  of  Penitents.  §  11.  Fasting  in  the  Primitive 
Church — The  Quadragesimal  Fast  —  Excessive  Fasts  of  the  Jlontanists. 
§12.  The  Ascetic  and  Ortlvodo.x  views  of  Marriage  —  Religious  Cere- 
monies —  Condemnation  of  mixed  marriages  —  Treatment  of  Children. 
§13.  Holy  Days  and  Seasons  —  The  Lord's  Day  or  Sunday — The 
Sabbath  or  Saturday  —  Sunday  worship  and  cessation  from  work. 
§  1-4-.  The  Paschal  Feast  or  Easter  —  Its  observance  in  the  Apostolic 
age.  §  15.  Controversy  about  the  time  of  keeping  Easter— Jewish  mode 
of  reckoning  the  Passover  —  Eastern  and  Western  Uses  —  The  Quarto- 
decimans.     §  16.  History  of  the   Controversy  —  Polycarp  and  Anicetus 

—  The  Judaizing  Laodiceans — Bishop  A'ictor  of  Rome,  the  Asiatics,  and 
Irenaeus  —  The  Roman  Use  established  by  the  Council  of  Nictea — Modes 
of  calculating  Easter — The  Gregorian  Reform.  §  17.  Pentecost  ot  Whit- 
suntide, and  Ascension  Bay — Epiphany  and  Christmas — Festivals  of  Saints. 

§  1.  During  the  second  and  third  centuries  we  trace  the  gradunl 
transition  from  the  meetings  in  private  houses  and  retired  jilaces,' 
which  alone  were  possible  for  the  laoor  and  persecuted  sect,  to  their 
possession  of  regular  places  of  public  worship.  But,  apart  from 
such  necessity,  the  Apologi.sts  constantly  avow  the  indifference  of 
the  Christians  for  sacred  places;  and  tliey  glory  in  tlie  taunt  of 
their  heathen  adversaries  that  they  had  neither  temples  nor  altars. 
Thus  Justin  Martyr  said  to  the  Koman  prefect,  "  The  Christians 
assemble  wherever  it  is  convenient,  because  their  God  is  not,  like 
the  gods  of  the  heathens,  enclosed  in  space,  but  is  invisibly  present 
everywhere."  To  the  like  taunt  of  Celsus,  Origen  answers,  "  The 
humanity  of  Christ  is  the  highest  temple  and  the  most  beautiful 
image  of  God,  and  true  Christians  are  living  statues  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  with  wliich  no  Jupiter  of  Phidias  can  compare." 

Their  meetings  in  private  houses  were  commonly  held  in  the 
oblong  dining-hall  (triclinium'),  which  had  often  a  semicircular 
niche,  like  the  choir  in  the  later  churches.'^  "An  elevated  seat' 
was  used  for  reading  the  Scriptures  and  preaching,  a  basin  of  water 
for  baptism,  and  a  simple  table  *  for  the  Holy  Comnumion."  ^  Before 
the  time  of  Tertullian,  that  is,  in  the  second  century,  the  table  had 
come  to  be  commonly  called  also  by  the  name  o'i  altar. ^ 

'  Such  as  deserts,  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  and  the  catacombs. 

*  Chorus,  fijjua. 

'  "Au^wv,  suggestus,  pulpitum.  Cyprian  says,  "pulpitum,  id  est  tribunal 
ecclesicE." 

*  Tpiirt^a,  mensa  sacra.        *  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  371;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  166. 

*  Ara,  altare  ;  on  the  whole  subject,  see  the  Diet,  of  Ch.  Ant.,  Art.  Altar. 


194  WORSHIP,  SACRAMEN'TS,  AND  FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII. 

§  2.  This  use  of  the  word  altar  was  probably  connected  with  the 
definite  tixing  of  the  table  (as  well  as  the  pulpit  and  other  arrange- 
naeuts)  in  the  churches,^  which  we  find  in  common  use  (whether 
as  special  buildings,  or  merely  adapted  to  Christian  worship)  by 
the  end  of  the  second  century.  Thus,  TertuUian  speaks  of  "  going 
to  church,  to  the  house  of  God ;"  ^  and  we  have  mentioned  the 
grant  of  a  site  for  a  church  by  Alexander  Severus,  in  spite  of  the 
protest  of  the  tavern-keepers.^  During  the  forty  years  of  repose, 
which  nearly  coincide  with  the  second  half  of  the  third  century, 
the  growing  numbers  of  the  Christians  required,  as  Eusebius  tells 
us,  everywhere  more  numerous  and  larger  churches,  which  were 
often  built  with  architectural  splendour,  and  were  furnished  with 
vessels  of  gold  and  silver.*  An  example — perhaps  the  grandest  of 
all — is  presented  by  the  church  at  tlie  eastern  capital  of  Niconiedia, 
which,  Lactantius  tells  us,  towered  above  the  palace  of  Diocletian, 
whose  persecution  began  with  the  destruction  of  this  edifice.  "  In 
these  churches  a  portion  was  separated  from  the  rest  by  railings, 
which  were  intended  to  exclude  the  laity.  Within  this  enclosure 
were  the  holy  table,  or  altar,  which  was  usually  made  of  wood,  the 
pulpit  or  reading-desk,  and  the  seats  of  the  clergy."  ® 

§  3.  As  to  the  form  of  worship  in  the  primitive  Christian  assem- 
blies, we  have  singularly  precise  and  interesting  testimony.  The 
account  derived  by  Pliny  from  the  accused  Christians  ^  is  almost  re- 
echoed in  the  'Apology '  of  Justin  Martyr.''  "  On  Sunday,  a  meeting 
is  held  of  all  who  live  in  the  cities  and  villages,  and  a  section  is 
read  from  the  Memoirs  of  the  Apostles  (the  New  Testament)  and 
the  writings  of  the  Prophets,  so  long  as  the  time  permits.^  When 
the  reader  has  finished,  the  president,^  in  a  discourse  (or  homily)  "• 
gives  the  admonition  and  exhortation  to  imitate  these  noble  things. 
After  this,  we  all  rise,  and  offer  common  prayer."     At  the  close  of 

'  'T-KKXritriai,  KvpiaKai,  oiKoi  deov,  ecclesim,  dominicce,  dotnus  Dei.  (See 
note  at  the  end  of  Chap.  I.) 

^  "In  ecclesiam,  in  domum  Dei  venire."         '  See  above,  Chap.  V.  §  2. 

*  Euseb.  //.  E.  viii.  1.  *  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  166. 
«  See  Chap.  III.  §  3.                                           '  Apol.  i.  65-67. 

*  The  Scriptures  were  read  in  the  common  speech  of  the  congregation, 
usually  Greek  or  Latin.  Where  other  languages  prevailed,  into  which  the 
Bible  was  not  yet  translated,  the  lessons  were  lirst  read  in  Gi'eek  or  Latin, 
and  then  translated  by  an  interpreter. 

"  'O  TTpofffTtis,  the  presiding  presbyter,  or  bishop  ;  another  indication  of 
the  growth  of  the  superior  oilice. 

'"  This  name,  d/xtXia,  a  conversation  or  familiar  discourse,  which  is  also 
the  primary  meaning  of  the  Latin  sermo  (our  "  sermon  "  i,  indicates  the 
simple  style  which  was  originally  preserved,  as  distinguished  from  the 
rhetorical  speeches  of  heathen  orators  and  philosojjhers.  How  human 
nature  prevailed,  in  this  as  in  other  points,  will  be  seen  in  the  preaching 
of  the  following  age.  "   Ei>xas  ireixirdtJ.fy,  preces  emittimus. 


Cent.i.-iii.  early  christian  hymns.  195 

the  prayer,  as  we  have  before  described,  bread  and  wine  and  water 
are  brought.  The  president  offers  prayers  and  thanks  for  them 
according  to  his  ability,^  and  the  congregation  answers  Amen.  Then 
the  consecrated  elements  are  distributed  to  each  one  and  partaken 
of,  and  are  carrietl  by  the  deacons  to  the  houses  of  the  absent.  The 
wealtliy  and  the  willing  then  give  contributions,  according  to  their 
free  will ;  and  this  collection  is  deposited  with  the  president,  who 
therewith  supplies  orjjhans  and  widows,  the  poor  and  needy, 
prisoners  and  strangers,  and  takes  care  of  all  who  are  in  want." 

§  4.  The  silence  of  the  Apologist  about  the  hymn  sung  to  "  Christ 
as  God,"  in  the  earlier  account  of  Christian  worship  by  Pliny,  is 
amply  supplied  from  other  sources.  A  large  part  of  the  service 
consisted  in  singing  the  Psalms  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  few  but 
cherished  canticles  of  the  New,^  and  the  new  hymns,  which  Avere 
composed  not  only  as  the  utterance  of  praise,  but  as  the  means  of 
impressing  doctrine  in  a  more  vivid  form  on  the  minds  of  the 
worshippers.^  To  such  hymns,  for  example,  a  writer  about  the  close 
of  the  second  century  appeals  against  the  heresy  of  Artemon  :* — 
"How  many  psalms  and  songs  of  the  Christians  are  there  not, 
which  have  been  written  l)y  believers  from  the  beginning,  and 
which  in  their  theology  praise  Christ  as  the  Word  of  God  ?  "  The 
only  remains  of  these  earliest  hymns  of  the  Church  are  the  noble 
one  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  the  morning  and  evening  hymn 
in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions.  The  introduction  of  the  Antiphon,^ 
or  responsive  hymn  sung  by  a  double  choir,  is  ascribed  to  Ignatius 
of  Antiocli,  The  tradition  denotes  the  introduction  in  the  Church 
of  Antioch  of  this  ancient  form  of  Jewish  psalmody,''  which  (Philo 
says)  was  used  by  the  Essenes,  and  which  seems  to  be  implied  in 

'  'OcTT)  avTtf)  Bvpa/xts  seems  to  have  the  same  force  as  Tertullian's  de 
pectore  and  ex  propria  ingenio,  but  some  would  render  it  totis  viribus, 
"with  all  his  might."     (Comp.  Otto,  Just.  Mart.  i.  p.  160.) 

^  As  the  Magnificat,  the  Benedictics,  and  the  A'unc  Dimittis,  or  Songs  of 
the  Virgin,  of  Zacharias,  and  of  Simeon,  the  Gloria  in  Excclsis  or  Ilymnus 
Angelicus  (Luke  i.  and  ii.),  and  the  Sanctiis  of  Rev.  iv.  8. 

'  The  heretics,  as  well  as  the  orthodox,  made  much  use  of  hymnology 
in  this  way.  Hymns  were  composed  by  the  Gnostics,  the  Valentiniaus, 
and  Bardesanos.  ■•  Euseb.  //.  E.  v.  28. 

^  'AvTi<pci)vov,  Lat.  antiphona  :  whence  our  ol^  English  Antefn,  Antem 
(Chaucer),  and  modern  Anthem.  Two  sorts  of  responsive  singing  are  to  be 
distinguished :  the  Iiesponsorial,  when  one  singer  (or  a  reader),  begins,  and 
the  whole  choir  answers,  in  alternate  verses ;  and  tho  Antiphonal,  when 
the  choir  is  divided  into  two  parts  or  sides,  each  of  which  sings  alternate 
verses.  The  latter  is  thus  defined  by  Isidore  (Origincs,  vi.  18):  "Jn<»- 
p'lona  ex  Qrxco  inter]iretatur  vox  rcciproca;  duobus  scilicet  choris  alter- 
natim  psallanti||)us  ordine  conimutato." 

^  1  Chron.  v.  31,  foil,  and  .xxv.  Several  Psalms  (as  xxiv.  and  cxxxiv.) 
appear  to  be  essentially  anfijjhonal. 


196  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII 

the  "  secum  invicem  "  of  Pliny's  account  of  the  hj'inn  sung  by  the 
Christians. 

§  5.  Justin's  description  includes  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  or  the  Eucharist,^  in  the  ordinary  Christian  service  of  the 
Sunday.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century  a  separation 
was  made  in  the  public  worship  of  the  Catechumens  and  the 
Believers.^  After  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  preaching,  prayer, 
and  singing,  all  the  unbaptised,  those  under  penance,  and  the 
heathens  who  might  be  present,  were  dismissed  by  the  deacons,  and 
the  doors  were  closed  or  guarded,  while  only  the  full  inembei's  of 
the  Church  remained  for  the  communion  and  the  liturgical  service 
connected  with  it.  This  separation  is  first  mentioned  by  Ter- 
tuUian,^  when  he  reproaches  the  heretics  with  casting  their  pearls 
(though  false  ones)  to  the  dogs  and  swine  by  the  opposite  practice. 
'This  separation  helped  to  iavest  the  Eucharistic  service  with  the 
character  of  a  mystery  of  which  the  initiated*  alone  might  partake, 
and  the  name  of  the  '■'•Holy  Communion  "  came  to  be  used  to  express 
this  mystic  partaking  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.° 

*  'E.\ix°-pK^'^'-<'''i  properly  thanksgivinq.  (See  Matt.  xsvi.  27 ;  Mark  xiv. 
22,  23;  Luke  xxii.  17,  19;  1  Cor.  xi.  2-1:;  comp.  Matt.  xv.  3(3;  John  vi.  11, 
23;  Acts  xxvii.  35,  1  Cor.  xiv.  16.) 

^  AiiTOUfjyia  rwv  KaTrixovfji-evtiiv  and  \.  twv  incrTwv,  Missa  cafechu- 
menoruin  aad  Missa  fidelium.  The  Latin  phrases  are  first  used  late  in  the 
fourth  century  by  Augustine,  and  in  the  Acts  of  the  Council  of  Carthage 
(a.d.  398).  The  word  missa  (equivalent  to  missio,  dimissio),  denoting  the 
formula  of  dismissal  at  the  end  of"  each  service,  and  hence  the  whole 
service,  came  to  be  applied  specifically  to  the  communion  service,  appa- 
rently because  of  the  previous  dismissal  of  the  catechumens  and  others. 
In  the  slightly  altered  form  of  Mass  it  has  become  so  inseparably  connected 
with  the  Roman  Catholic  view  of  the  sacrament  that  to  plead  for  its 
general  use  from  its  indifferent  literal  meaning  is  an  absurdity  of  a  sort 
only  too  fixmiliar  to  those  who  study  the  original  and  derived  meanings  of 
words.  *  JJe  Pnrscr.  Jlcvrct.  41, 

*  Mefivriixivoi,  isiitiati,  is  used  as  equivalent  to  iritrrot,  fdeles,  and 
opposed  to  afxvr)Toi  and  airiffroi  by  the  writers  of  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries.  This  distinction  is  connected  with  that  system  of  secret  pro- 
gressive instructionin  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  which,  under  the  name 
of  Disciplina  Arcani,  was  the  subject  of  a  fomous  controversy  between 
Romanists  and  Protestants  in  the  seventeenth  century  ;  the  former  con- 
tending that  certain  doctrines  and  practices,  which  cannot  be  proved  from 
the  writings  of  the  earlv  Fathers,  were  reserved  for  such  teaching  to  the 
initiated.  It  must  suffice  here  to  say  that  traces  of  .some  sort  of  esoteric 
teaching  are  found  as  early  as  the  second  and  third  centuries.  But  tlie 
Fathers  defend  the  practice,  not  from  any  analogy  to  the  he.ithen  mys- 
teries, but  from  the  necessity  of  guarding  the  holy  things  of  Christianity 
from  profanation  by  the  heathen  world  or  corruption  by  novices  in  tlie 
faith.  The  di-^tinction  is  fully  developed  in  the  liturgies  of  the  fourth 
century;  but  it  disappears  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  except  in 
the  Eastern  Church,  where  onlv  formal  traces  of  it  are  retained. 

'  This  idea  of  a  mystery  was  attached  also  to  baptism,  for  the  rite  was 
withdrawn  from  the  view  of  Jews  and  heathens. 


CiiNT.  I.-III.  AGAP.E,  OR  LOVE-FEASTS.  197 

All  communicants  received  both  the  bread  and  the  wine ;  the 
former  being  ordinary  leavened  bread/  and  the  wine  being  mixed 
witli  water  at  least  as  early  as  the  time  of  Justin.  The  elements 
were  carried  by  the  deacons  after  the  service  to  those  who  were 
sick  or  in  prison.  The  earliest  germs  of  the  Romish  practice  of 
communion  "  in  one  kind  "  (that  is,  the  bread  alone)  seem  to  have 
sprung  from  the  communicants  carrying  home  portions  of  the  bread, 
to  be  partaken  of  by  the  family  at  morning  praj^er.  This  practice 
of  "  domestic  communion "  prevailed  in  Korth  Africa,  as  well  as 
that  of  infant  communion  (with  wine  only),  which  is  still  practised 
in  the  Greek  Church.^ 

§  ().  As  the  Communion  was  instituted  by  Christ  at  the  close 
of  the  Paschal  Supper,  so  the  primitive  Churches  celebrated  it  in 
the  evening,  in  connection  with  the  social  meal,  at  which  all 
inequalities  among  the  brethren  were  forgotten  in  the  common 
bond  which  gave  it  the  name  of  a  Feast  of  Love,  or  in  Greek,  more 
simply,  Agape  ('AyuTr^),  i.e.  Love.  This  combination  of  the  social 
meal  with  the  sacred  celebration  seems  to  be  referred  to  at  tlie 
beginning  of  the  Apostolical  age  : — "  And  all  that  believed  .... 
breaking  bread  from  house  to  house,  did  eat  their  food  with  glad- 
ness and  singleness  of  heart."  ^  l^ut  it  is  an  affecting  siun  of  the 
rapid  progress  of  corruption,  that  the  only  references  to  this  custom 
are  rebukes  of  the  disorders  that  naturally  arose  out  of  it.  The 
test  of  brotherly  self-denial  and  Christian  courtesy  was  too  much 
for  the  mixture  of  rank  and  wealth  in  the  Church  of  Corinth.  The 
meeting,  of  which  the  chief  ])urpose  was  to  eat  the  Lord's  Supper, 
Avas  changed  into  a  scene  of  partial  seil'-indulgence,  by  which  the 
rich,  who  might  have  feasted  in  their  own  houses,  insulted  the  poor, 
who,  homeless  or  destitute  at  home,  came  modestly  to  share  the 
simple  feast  of  love.  Instead  of  waiting  for  one  another,  each 
hastened  to  be  first  in  eating  his  own  supper,  and  one  was  hungry, 
and  another  full  of  drink.''     The  name  of  "  Love-Feast "  (ayaTrr/)  is 

'  The  Judaizing  Ebionites  alone  used  unleavened  bread. 

•  The  practice  was  based  on  the  inference,  drawn  from  John  vi.  53,  that 
no  one,  whether  man.  woman,  or  child,  could  have  spiritual  life  without 
partaking  of  the  Eucharist. 

'  Acts  ii.  40.  It  is  most  natural  to  suppose  that  the  meeting  of  the 
disciples  at  Troas,  to  break  bread  on  the  evening  of  the  first  day  of  the 
week  (evidently  a  customary  time),  was  also  a  social  meal  which  they 
partook  with  Paul  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  (Acts  x.\.  7). 

*  MiQvei  does  not  necessarily  denote  intoxication.  (1  Cor.  xi.  18-22, 
33,  34.)  The  whole  description  is  that  of  a  feast  like  the  civic  or  club 
banquets  of  the  Grecian  states  (the  fpavoi,  (TixrcriTta,  and  </)«(5itio),  to 
which  each  person  br<>u.:lit  his  own  provisions,  the  rich  indulging  in 
luxury,  and  leaving  the  poor  to  shift  for  themselves.  From  later  accounts 
we  know  that  the  cost  of  the  Love-Feasts  fell  chiefly  on  the  wealthier 


198  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII. 

not  used  here  by  Paul ;  but  towards  the  close  of  the  Apostolic  age 
the  "  uugodly  men,"  who  had  "  crept  in  unawares,"  are  described 
as  "  spots  in  youv  feasts  of  charity  (or  Love-Feasts,  kv  rais  aydnms 
vfxoiv),  when  they  feast  with  you  without  fear,  feeding  them- 
selves." ^  But  .such  abuses  were  the  exception,  and  "  the  common 
and  harmless  meal  "  for  which  the  Christians  came  together  on  the 
evening  of  "  a  stated  day  "  is  the  type  of  their  primitive  love- 
feasts.^  Both  for  the  name  and  the  wide-spread  usage  in  the  East 
and  West,  we  have  witnesses  in  Iguatius,^  Clement  of  Alexandria,* 
and  TertuUian.^ 

The  Love-Feast  was  not  only  a  social  sign  of  brotherhood,  but 
a  meeting  for  devotion  and  mutual  encouragement  and  information. 
It  began  with  a  blessing  (eiiXoyia),  pronounced  by  the  presiding 
presbyter,  or  bishop,  and  the  meal  itself  was  closed,*  after  the 
example  of  Christ,  by  passing  round  the  broken  pieces  of  one  loaf, 
after  it  had  been  blessed,  and  then  "  the  cup  of  blessing."  When 
they  had  washed  their  hands,  and  the  lamps  had  been  brought  in'' 
(unless  the  season  required  liglits  earlier),  the  gifted  members  Avere 
called  on  to  expound  the  Scriptures  or  to  exhort  their  brethren ;  a 
hymn  was  sung  ;  intelligence  was  heard,  and  letters  were  read  from 
other  churches,  and  their  members  who  brought  letters  of  recom- 
mendation (eVioToXat  (Tva-TaTiKai)  were  received.     Collections  were 

members  of  the  church,  whether  they  were  paid  for  out  of  the  common 
funds  or  provided  by  contributions  of  food,  sent  beforehand  or  brought  at 
the  time. 

'  Jude  12,  following  Tischendorfs  punctuation.  The  reading  eV  Ta?s 
aydirais  is  of  higher  authority  than  tu  rais  dTraraiv,  "  in  their  deceivmgs." 
In  the  parallel  passage  in  2  Pet.  ii.  13,  however,  the  balance  of  the  best 
JISS.  is  in  favour  of  ctTrdTats,  but  there  is  considerable  authority  for 
aydirais.  The  two  passages  can  hardly  be  separated,  and  the  combmed 
critical  evidence,  taken  with  the  fitness  of  the  sense,  seems  to  justify 
it.yd-irais  in  both.  The  word  occurs  in  a  third  passage  (1  Peter  v.  13), 
"  Greet  one  another  with  a  kiss  of  charity,"  where  "  the  true  reading 
(iv  (piKrt/xaTi  aydm]!,  not  ayiu)  cannot  be  disininod  from  the  fact  that 
there  was  a  feast  known  then,  or  very  soon  afterwards,  by  that  name,  at 
which  such  a  salutation  was  part  of  the  accustomed  ceremonials"  {Diet. 
of  Christ.  Auti'iq.  s.  V.  Agapb).     Compare  the  "  holy  kiss  "  of  Rom.  xvi.  16. 

•  Plin.  Epist.  as  quoted  above.  Chap.  III.  §  3. 

^  Epist.  ad  Simjrn.  8.  The  longer  recension  makes  a  more  marked 
separation  of  the  "  Lord's  Supper"  from  the  "Agapd"  than  the  shorter 
does. 

*  Pwdarjog.  ii.  p.  142.  *  Apol.  c.  39. 

'  "Chrysostom  {Hum.  27  and  54-  on  1  Cor.  xi.).  followed  by  Theodoret 
and  Theophylact  (m  loc.')  and  most  liturgical  writers,  says  '  before,'  but 
obviously  uniler  the  influence  of  later  practice,  and  the  belief  that  the 
Eucharist  could  not  have  been  received  otherwise  than  fasting  in  the  time 
of  the  Apostles."     (Diet,  of  Christ.  Antiqq.') 

'  As  in  Acts  xx.  8. 


Cent.  I.-III.  CESSATION  OF  LOVE-FEASTS.  199 

made  for  the  poor  or  for  distressed  churches.  Finally,  they  roFC 
and  "saluted  one  another  with  the  holy  kiss,"  or  "kiss  of  lov^e;"* 
and  after  prayer  they  dispersed  quietly  and  orderly. 

We  hare  had  occasioa  to  notice  the  charges  of  Thyestean  ban- 
quets and  promiscuous  intercourse,  which  the  heathens  founded  on 
these  simple  feasts  and  pure  salutations.  The  letter  of  Pliny  is  a  suffi- 
cient vindication  of  the  innocence  of  the  genuine  primitive  Agopce ; 
but,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Apostles  themselves  bear  witness  to  their 
occasional  corruption.  The  disorders  rebuked  by  Paul  at  Corinth 
are  found  ao;ain  in  the  wealthy  church  of  Alexandria  ; "  and  the 
protest  of  Clement  against  the  use  of  flutes  at  Christian  feasts  seems 
to  show  that  even  the  lighter  and  v/ilder  form  of  secular  music  bad 
usurped  the  place  of  "  psalms  and  hj'mns  and  spiritual  songs." ' 
Clement,  however,  allows  the  more  sober  music  of  the  harp  or 
lyre.^  TeituUian  bears  remarkable  testimony  both  to  the  primitive 
purity  and  the  corruption  of  the  Love-Feasts  ;  and  the  beautiful 
description  of  them  in  his  'Apology'  justifies  the  belief  that  his 
later  sweeping  charges  of  luxury,  and  even  of  vice,  are  founded  on 
a  few  exceptional  cases,  and  exaggerated  by  the  bitter  hostility  of 
the  ascetic  Montanist.  Other  corruptions  crept  in,  short  of  positive 
disorder,  but  no  less  fatal  to  the  character  of  the  Love-Feasts. 
As  the  churches  became  larger,  and,  in  the  worldly  sense,  more 
prosperous,  the  Agapcn  tended  to  degenerate  into  social  entertain- 
ments for  the  wealthy,  as  at  Alexandria,  or  a  mere  dole  of  food  to 
the  poor,  as  in  Africa.^ 

Other  causes  tended  to  make  the  perpetuation  of  the  Love-Feasts 
impossible.  They  were  at  first  held  in  the  same  "  upper  rooms  " 
and  various  resorts  as  the  other  assemblies  of  the  Church.  But 
when  special  buildings  were  set  apart  for  worship,  their  use  for 
banquets  came  to  be  regarded  as  unbecoming,  if  not  a  profanation  ; 
till  the  holding  of  Agapce  in  churches  was  exjiressly  forbidden  by 
Councils."  Moreover,  the  growth  of  the  doctrine  of  the  "  real  pre- 
sence" led  to  the  practice  of  receiving  the  Eucharist  fasting;  and 
this  was  laid  down  as  a  law  by  the  third  Council  of  Carthage 
(a.d.  397).     In  consequence,  probably,  of  this  decision,  the  Eucharist 

'  Rom.  xvi.  16  ;  1  Pet.  v.  14.  "  We  may  probably  think  of  some  order 
like  that  which  attends  the  use  of  a  '  grace-cup  '  in  college  or  civic  feasts ; 
each  man  kissed  by  his  neighboui-  on  one  side,  and  kissing  in  turn  him  who 
sat  on  the  other."  (Diet,  of  Christ.  Antii/ij.)  It  is  not  necessary  to  sup- 
pose that  the  salutation  passed  between  men  and  women,  as  they  appear 
to  have  sat  at  separate  tables. 

2  Clem.  Alex.  Fa;dag.  ii.  4,  p.  61.  »  Eph.  v.  19;  Col.  iii.  16. 

*  Pccdaijog.  ibid.  p.  71.  *  Augustin.  c.  Fanstum,  xx.  20. 

«  As  by  "those  of  Laodicea  (365)  and  of  Carthage  (391).  That  the 
practice,  however,  was  long  continued  in  some  places  is  proved  by  its 
being  again  prohibited  by  a  TruUan  Council,  as  late  as  a.d.  692. 


200  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII. 

was  celebrated  in  the  morning,  and  was  separated  from  the  evening 
Love-Feast,  which  consequently  lost  its  sacred  character,  and  sank 
more  and  more  into  a  pauper  meal.  The  ascetic  spirit,  too,  was 
hostile  to  the  institution,  as  we  have  seen  in  Tertullian.  The 
Council  of  Gangra,  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  made  an 
effort  to  keep  up  the  Agdpcc,  by  anathematizing  those  who  despised 
them  or  rei'used  to  come  to  them  ;  and  an  attempt  was  made  to 
revive  their  lost  significance  by  connecting  them  with  the  annual 
commemoration  of  the  deaths  of  martyrs,  and  holding  them  near 
the  martyrs'  graves.^  The  Agapce  still  flourished  in  Africa  during 
the  childhood  of  Augustine,-  but  Ambrose  abolished  theai  in  Northern 
Italy  on  account  of  their  abuses  and  their  resemblance  to  the 
heathen  FarentaUa.  When  Augustine  returned  from  Italy  to 
Africa,  he  urged  Aurelius,  the  bishop  of  Carthage,  to  follow  this 
e.xample.^  From  this  time  the  Agapce  may  be  regarded  as  having 
died  out,  though  tJie  name  and  some  other  traces  were  left  in  usages 
of  the  Christian  Church  during  the  next  two  centuries  at  least. 
But  the  period  diu'ing  which  the  Acjapcp,  were  a  living  institution, 
in  their  original  form,  can  hardly  be  extended  beyond  the  third 
centur}'. 

§  7.  The  germs  of  the  great  controversy  about  the  meaning  and 
sacramental  efficacy  of  the  Eucliarist  may  be  traced  from  the  earliest 
age  of  the  Church;  but  rather  negatively  in  the  simple  use  of 
certain  phraseolog\',  than  positively  in  any  attempt  to  define  its 
proper  meaning.  Ignatius  is  the  earliest  writer,  and  the  only 
Apostolical  Father,  who  uses  the  word  Etccharixt.  In  answer  to  the 
Docetists,  who  deny  "  tliat  the  Eucharist  is  tlie  body  of  our  Saviour,"  * 
he  c  ills  it  "  the  flesh  of  our  crucified  and  risen  Lord,  Jesus  Christ ;" 
and  again  he  says  that  the  bread  "  is  a  medicine  of  immortality, 
an  antidote  to  death,  giving  eternal  life  in  Jesus  Christ."''     Justin 

*  The  AgnpcE  were  classified  according  to  their  connection  (1)  with 
the  martyrs'  anniversaries  (Xatalitia);  (2)  with  marriage  (Conntibiales) ; 
(3)  with  funerals;  (4)  with  the  dedication  of  churches.  Cups  and  plates 
of  glass  have  been  found  in  the  catacombs,  ornamented  with  various  devices 
and  mottoes  suited  to  these  diilorent  celebrations;  some  even  suggesting 
the  idea  of  toasts  to  the  memory  of  the  martyrs.  {Diet,  of  C/irisf.  Antiqq, 
s.  vv.  Agapic,  Glass.) 

^  Augustine  describes  his  mother  Monica  as  having  been  in  the  habit 
of  going  with  a  basket  full  of  provisions  to  these  A'laptr,  which  she  just 
tasted  herself  and  then  distributed  to  the  poor  (^Confess,  vi.  2). 

*  L'P'St.  xxii. 

*  Al  Smi/rn.  7  :  t^u  fuxoptCT/ai/  rrdpKa  elvai  rov  ffwTrjpos  ^.ucDv  'Irjffov 
Xpirrrov,  k.  t.  A.  The  Docetists  denied  the  real  human  existence  of  Jesus 
Christ  altogether. 

'  Ad  Ephcs.  20 :  *Os  (sr.  6.pro^)  tariv  (papnaKOV  aOavaaias,  avriSoro': 
Tov  /XT}  airoOavf'ii'  aWa  ^rjv  iv  'ItjitoC  XptffTc^  Sta  7ratn6s.  Both  these 
passages  occur   in   the  shorter  Greek  recension,  but  are  wanting  in  the 


Cent.  I.-III.  DOCTRLXE  OF  THE  EUCHARIST,  201 

Martyr  and  Irenasus  speak  of  the  true  reception  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  in  language  the  very  plainness  of  which  is  a  caution 
against  a  hasty  literal  interpretation.  They  speak  of  the  descent 
of  Christ  into  the  consecrated  elements,  as  like  His  incarnation 
and  of  some  kind  of  change  by  which  the  bread  and  wine  becomes 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ;  but  this  only  as  the  nutriment 
which  strengthens  us  for  immortal  lile  through  a  change  wrou-dit, 
they  do  not  say  by  the  act  of  consecration,  but  by  the  prese"nce 
of  the  Word  of  God  and  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.i  In 
one  very  striking  passage,  Irena^us,  while  using  such  language 
as  this,  exiu-essly  calls  the  elements  antitypes,  that  is,  mere"  pal- 
terns  of  the  real  archetype,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.^  The 
same  word  antitype,  and  in  some  cases  type,  is  applied  to  the 
elements  by  the  Greek  Fathers  down  to  the  fifth  century.^ 

The  earliest  African  writers  use  still  i^Iainer  terms  of  distinction 
between  the  elements  and  the  realities  they  signify.  Tertullian— 
writing,  it  should  be  observed  again,  in  opposition  to  the  Docetic 
heresy,  as  held  by  Marcion— explains  the  words  of  Christ,  on  which 
the  whole  controversy  hangs,  "Hoc  est  corpus  mcum,"  as  equivalent 
to  ''figura  corporis  mei ;"  arguing  thence,  not  the  corporeal  presence 
of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  but  the  reality  of  His  body,  of  which 
the  bread  of  the  Eucharist  is  a  figure.-*     But  he  asserts  the  real 

Syriac.     The  citation  of  the   first,  however,  Ly  Theodoret  proves  that   it 
was  Icnown  to  the  Syrian  Church  in  the  fifth  century  {Dial.  III.  p.  231). 

Justin,  yl/io/.  i.  6i) ;  Iren.  adc.  Har.  iv.  18,  and  pusshn.  The  Eu- 
charistic  doctrine  of  Irenaeus,  like  that  of  Ignatius,  is  specially  put  forth 
in  reply  to  the  Docetists.  In  the  passage  of  Justin  we  have  the  first 
niention  of  ^  chaw-jc  (or  more  literally  transference)  of  the  elements:  'E| 
V^  {rpofpTis)  al/xa  Kal  crdpKfs  Kara  fxeraPoXTjy  Tpipovrai.  r)fj.(av  :  "ex 
quo  alimento  sanguis  et  carnes  nostra;  ])er  niutationem  aluntur."  But,  as 
Schatr  observes,  "according  to  the  context,  this  denotes  by  no  means 
a  transmutation  of  the  elements,  but  cither  the  assimilation  "of  them  to 
the  body  of  the  receiver,  or  the  operation  of  them  upon  the  body  with 
reference  to  the  future  resurrection.      (Comp.  John  vi.  54,  seq.)" 

'  In   a  fragment   discovered    ))y    rfaiT  (Iren.    0pp.   ed.  Stieren,  vol.  i. 
p.  8.^.")),  it  is  said  that  the  Christians,  after  the  offering  of  the  Eucharistic 


-  -  -iportant  word  airo(p7ii'ri ,  

translated  make;  but  this  translation  is  onlv  admissible  in  tli'e  sense,  not 
■f  making  the  elements  to  be  something  which  they  are  not  alreadv,  but 


ot   makmg  ellectual  (literally  manifestimj)  the  powe'r  of   the  Holy  Ghost, 
through  them  as  antitypes  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  to  the  end  that 
the  communicants  who  receive  them  may  also  receive  remission  o 
sins  and  eternal  life. 

^  The  term  is  especially  frequent  in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions. 

*  TertuU.  adt.:  AJarcioa.  iv.  4u. 


202  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND^FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII. 

reception  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  even  into  the  body 
of  the  communicant,  and  that  (like  the  Greeks  cited  above)  as 
the  seed  ^of  immortal  lil'e.^  The  symbolical  interpretation  is  also 
favoured  by  Cyprian,  though  less  clearly  ;  and  he  explains  the 
mixing  of  the  wine  with  water  (as  was  usual  from  very  early 
times)  as  a  type  of  the  union  of  Christ  with  his  people.^  He  dis- 
tinctly holds  the  Eucharist  as  necessary  to  salvation.*  As  might 
have  been  expected,  the  Alexandrians  hold  a  still  more  figurative 
and  spiritualistic  view ;  and  this  is  found  stronger  in  Origen  than 
in  Clement.  Clement  twice  expressly  calls  the  wine  a  symbol  or  an 
allegory  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  says  that  the  communicant 
receives,  not  the  physical,  but  the  spiritual  blood,  the  life  of  Christ, 
as,  indeed,  the  blood  is  the  life  of  the  body.  Origen  distinguishes 
still  more  definitely  the  earthly  elements  Irom  the  heavenly  bread 
of  life,  and  makes  it  the  whole  design  of  the  Lord's  tSupper  to  till 
the  soul  with  the  divine  word.  * 

§  8.  The  early  Fathers  agree  in  regarding  the  Eucharist  as,  in 
some  sense,  a  sacrifice,^  "  the  true  and  eternal  sacrifice  of  tlie  New 
Covenant,  superseding  all  the  provisional  and  typical  sacrifices  of 
the  Old  ;  taking  the  place  particularly  of  the  Passover,  or  the  feast 
of  the  typical  redemption  from  Egypt.  This  Eucharistic  sacrifice, 
however,  the  ante-Nicene  Fathers  conceived  not  as  an  unbloody 
repetition  of  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ  on  the  cross,  but  simply 
as  a:  commemoration  and  renewed  appropriation  of  that  atonement, 
and,  above  all,  a  thank-offering  of  the  whole  Church  for  all  the 

favours  of  God  in  creation  and  redemption The  writers  of  the 

second  century  keep  strictly  within  the  limits  of  the  notion  of  a 
thank-ofienng.  Thus  Justin  says  expressly,  prayers  and  thanks- 
givings alone  are  the  true  and  acceptable  sacrifices  which  the  Chris- 
tians offer.     Irenajus  has  been  brought  as  a  witness  for  the  Eoman 

'  De  Eesurr.  Carnis,  8 :  "  Caro  corpore  et  sanguine  Christi  vescitur,  ut 
et  anima  de  Deo  saginetur."  In  Be  Pudicit.  c.  9,  explaining  the  fatted 
calf,  in  the  parable,  as  the  Lord's  Supper,  he  says,  "Opimitate  Dominici 
corporis  vescitur,  eitcharistia  scilicet."  Still  more  plainly  in  J)c  Orat.  ti : 
"  Quod  et  corpus  Christi  in  pane  censetur,"  where  the  censctur,  however, 
evidently  answers  to  the  SiaKpivwv  of  1  Cor.  si.  29,  and  does  not  define  the 
manner  in  which  "  the  body  of  Christ  is  lenderstood,  or  discerned,  in  the 
bread."  2  Epist.  63,  c.  13. 

^  This  is  based  on  a  literal  interpretation  of  John  vi.  53. 

*  Comment,  ser.  in  Matt,  c  85  (iii.  p.  898).  As  to  the  words  of  Christ, 
he  expressly  says,  "  Non  enim  panem  ilium  visibilem,  quern  tenebat  in 
nianibus,  corpus  suum  dic«bat  Dens  Verbum  "  (the  LoGOS),  "  sed  verhum, 
in  cujus  mysterio  fuerat  ])anis  ille  frangendus:"  and  so  he  speaks  of 
the  wine.  "  Origen  evidently  goes  not  higher  than  the  Zwinglian  theory, 
while  Clement  approaches  the  Calvinistic  view  of  a  spiritual  real  fruition 
of  Christ's  life  in  the  Eucharist."     (Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  389.) 

*  Tlpoffcpopi,  Ovaia,  ablatio,  sacrificium. 


Cent.  I. -III.  PENITENTIAL  DISCIPLINE.  203 

doctrine,  only  on  the  ground  of  a  false  reading.^  The  African  Fathers 
m  the  third  century,  who  elsewhere  incline  to  the  symbolical  inter- 
pretation of  the  words  of  institution,  are  the  first  to  approach  on  this 
point  the  later  Roman  idea  of  a  sin-offering;  especially  Cyprian, 
the  stedfast  advocate  of  priesthood  and  of  episcopal  authority."  ^ 

§  *J.  Strict  discipline  was  a  special  character  of  the  early  Church 
with  the  twofold  object,  already  insisted  on  by  the  Apostle  Paul  of 
the  purity  of  the  Church  and  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  offender  'of 
course  it  could  only  be  maintained  by  moral  sanctions,  while  the 
power  of  civil  punishment  was  still  wanting.  Exclusion  from  the 
communion  of  the  Church— in  one  word,  excommunication— y,^',  the 
extreme  penalty  inflicted  for  gross  crimes,  for  the  denial  of  Christ 
in  times  of  persecution,  and  also  for  heresy  and  schism.*  But  the 
exclusion  trom  communion  was  intended,  not  as  a  final  sentence 
but  as  a  means  of  bringing  the  offender  to  penitence  ;  and  restora- 
tion to  communion  was  granted  after  a  long  probation. 

The  excommunicated  were  placed  in  the  class  of  Penitents  (Pceni- 
tentes).  They  were  only  allowed  to  join  in  the  worship  of  the  cate- 
chumens, and  they  were  required  to  pass  through  a  new  and  severer 
catechumenate  before  they  could  be  re-admitted  to  communion 
ihey  had  to  abstain  from  all  sensual  and  worldly  pleasures,  to  mako 
Irequent  confession  and  prayer,  and  to  practise  fasting,  almscrivin<r 
and  other  good  works.  The  penitent  spirit  was,  indeed,  insisted  on 
as  the  essential  thing;  but  the  tendency  of  these  outward  exercises 
is  already  seen  in  the  view  of  Tertullian,  that  the  Church  penance 
was  a  satislaction  {satisf actio)  paid  to  God. 

The  details  and  duration  of  the  penitential  discipline  were  regu- 
lated, in  the  second  century,  by  the  several  churches.  Its  admi- 
nistration depended  very  much  on  the  discretion  of  the  bishops, 
who  took  the  penitent's  whole  character  into  consideration.  For 
the  most  heinous  sins— such  as  murder,  adultery,  and  idolatry— 

/  l'^^\^^'^^1^■^■  ^'•',  ^=  ^'"'''■^"'"  C^*'  ^"fl"'^  ciuod  offertur  Deo ;  instead 
of  which  should  be  read,  according  to  other  MSS.,  Verhum  per  quod  offertur 
Deo,  which  suits  the  connection  much  better.  Comp.  iv.  17,  6:  FerJesum 
^'^ristum  offcrt   ecdcsia.     Stieren   reads  Verbnm  quod,  but  refers  it  not  to 

.h  ?,!  '       A  .  ,   '''7^  "/  ''"•■'>■"■•     '^^'^  P-'^^^'-'S^  •^^'  --It  '-'"I  events,   too 

ob^cure  and  too  isolated  to  build  a  dogma  upon  " 

-  Cyprian.  Eplsf.  63  ;  ad  Cwcil.  c.  14.  SchatT,  vol.  i.  pp  389-391 
As  early  as  Tertullian  we  find  the  distinction  between  "mortal  sins" 
which  are  incompatible  with  the  regenerate  state,  and  "venial  sins'" 
if/r  ^  T"'"^'  "'■  T\  ""^  ''■'^^^<^'^-  ^lortal  sins  (peccata  mortalia  or 
ad  mortem)  were  so  called  in  allusion  to  1  John  v.  16.  Of  these,  Tertullian 
enumerates  seven  -  Ilomicidium,  tdolatria,fraus,  ncgatio,  blasphemia,  utique 
et  mcechia  etformcat,o  et  si  qua  alia  violatio  templi  Dei."  He  savs  that 
P,Tr   "i'L     '"■^•^'f'l'i'''>  horum   ultra  exorntor  non  erit   Christui "  (Be 

LT-''      -••  V      ■  *^'*  '*°'-^'  ""PP""  ♦'^  t^"^''"  '■"^mission  after  baptism,  as. 
in  his  view,  baptism  washes  away  all  former  guilt 


204  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII. 

committed  after  baptism,  reconciliation  was  granted  only  once ; 
and,  in  every  case,  the  restored  penitent  was  disqualified  for  the 
ministry.  In  some  cases,  the  course  of  penance  was  prolonged 
through  the  whole  life ;  in  some,  it  was  refused  even  at  the  hour 
of  death.  The  question  of  granting  reconciliation  to  gross  offenders, 
or  of  leaving  them  to  the  judgment  of  God,  was  warmly  debated. 
The  stricter  view,  held  by  Avhat  may  be  called  the  puritanic  sects — 
the  Montanists,  Novatians,  and  Douatists — was  also  adopted,  for  a 
time,  by  the  whole  African  and  Spanish  Church.  The  moderate, 
which  may  be  called  the  Catholic  view — as  it  prevailed  in  the 
East,  in  Egypt,  in  Eome,^  and  ultimately  in  Africa  and  Sj^ain — 
was  that  the  Church  should  not  refuse  absolution  and  reconciliation 
to  any  penitent  sinner,  on  his  death-bed  at  least.^  But  all  were 
agreed  that  the  office  and  power  of  the  Church  did  not  extend  further 
than  the  use  of  means  for  disposing  the  sinner  to  seek  the  mercy 
of  God.  Cyprian  and  Firmilian  emphatically  disclaim  any  antici- 
pation of  the  judgment  of  God,  who  cannot  be  mocked  by  the  false 
repentance  which  may  have  obtained  absolution  from  the  Church.^ 
§  10.  Early  in  the  fourth  century,*  more  definite  rules  were  laid 
down  for  the  treatment  of  Penitents,  who  were  divided  into  four 
classes : — (1)  The  Weepei's,^  who  appeared  prostrate,  in  mourning 
garments,  at  the  church  doors,  imploring  restoration.  (2)  The 
Bearers,^  who  were  admitted  to  hear  the  Scripture  lessons  and  the 
sermon.  (3)  The  Kneehrs^  who  were  allowed  to  join  in  the  public 
prayers,  but  remained  upon  their  knees  as  penitents,  while  the 
other  worshippers  stood  up  in  token  of  their  resurrection  from  sin 
and  death.^  (4)  The  Standers,^  or,  as  the  name  denotes  precisely, 
those  who  stood  up  with  their  fellow- worshippers,  but  were  still 
excluded  from  the  Communion.'"     In  the  East,  this  discipline  was 

'  The  peculiarly  lax  penitential  discipline  at  Rome,  which  we  have 
seen  so  vehemently  attacked  by  Tertuiiian  and  Hippolytus,  is  regarded 
by  Professor  Schatl'  as  closely  connected  with  the  power  of  the  priesthood, 
as  the  ministers  of  absolution,  and  with  the  policy  which  sought  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Church  at  the  expense  of  her  purity. 

^  The  chief  precedent  was  found  in  the  directions  of  Paul  (1  Cor.  v.  1, 
foil.,  compared  with  2  Cor.  ii.  5,  foil.). 

*  Cyprian.  EjAst.  55;  de  Lapsis,  17  ;  Firmilian.  ad  Cyprian,  ap.  Cypr. 
Epist.  75.  *  Acts  of  the  Council  of  Ancyra,  a.d.  314. 

'  Upo(rK\aiovTes,  flentes  ;  also  called  x6i;"aC<"'''"«J)  hicmantes. 

"  'AKpouiixfvoi,  audicnies,  anditoix's. 

'   rovvK\ivovTfs,  (lenHjicctentes  :  also  called  viroiriirTovrfs,  snhstrati. 

*  Standing  at  prayer  was  practised  in  the  Sunday  worship  for  the 
reason  stated.  At  other  times  the  postures  of  standing  or  kneeling  appear 
to  have  been  regarded  as  equally  reverential, 

"  ^uvicTTafifvoi,  consistentes. 

'"  These  four  progressive  stages  of  penance  were  called  irpicTKXavais,  or 
flctus  ;  iLKp6a(Tis,  or  auditus  ;  virSirrajtris,  prostratio  or  humiliitio ;  ffvffroKTis, 


Cent.  I.-III.  THE  QUADRAGESIMAL  FAST.  205 

administered  by  special  ministers,  calle<i  Penitential  Presbyters,^ 
The  end  of  the  probatioh  was  marked  by  a  formal  act  of  recon- 
ciliation (reconciliatio).  "  The  penitent  made  a  imblic  confession 
of  sin,  received  absolution  by  the  laying  on  of  tlie  hands  of  the 
ministers,  and  precatory  or  optative  benediction,''^  was  again  greeted 
by  the  congregation  with  the  brotherly  kiss,  and  admitted  to  the 
celebration  of  the  communion." 

§  11.  The  practice  of  occasional  and  voluntary  Fasting  was 
observed  in  the  primitive  Church,  especially  as  a  holprul  accom- 
paniment to  prayer,  after  tlie  example  of  the  Apostolic  age.^  The 
early  custom  of  "half-fasting"  (semi-jejumum)  on  Wednesdays, 
and  especially  on  Fridays,  in  commemoration  of  Christ's  passion 
and  crucifixion,  was  based  on  the  Lord's  words :  "  When  the  bride- 
groom shall  be  taken  from  them,  then  shall  they  fast."*  The 
great  Quadragesimal  Fast,^  before  East«r,  in  commemoration  and 
imitation  of  the  forty  days'  fasting  of  Jesus  in  the  wilderness, 
began  in  the  second  century.  But  the  exact  correspondence  in 
dunation  was  not  at  first  insisted  on.  It  was  sometimes  as  short  as 
a  day,  or  two  days,  or  forty  hours,  and  sometimes  a  few  weeks,  but 
less  than  the  forty  days,  which  was  finally  fixed  by  the  influence 
of  Rome."  Extraordinary  fasts  were  appointed  by  the  bishops  on 
special  occasions.  The  practice  of  fasting  as  an  act  of  voluntary 
asceticism  was  permitted,  but  not  generally  encouraged.  For 
consistcntia.  The  correspondence  of  the  last  three  to  stages  of  the  cato- 
chumenate  seems  to  signify  that  the  first  (the  kneeling  at  the  church 
door)  was  the  special  sign  of  repentance,  by  which  the  penitent  was  re- 
placed at  the  beginning  of  his  Christian  course. 

i   nptfffiiTepoi  iir\  T-ns  iJ.frauoias,  prcshyteri  jxcnitentiarh. 
=  "The  declarative  and  direct  indicative  or  judicial  form  of  absolution 
seems  to  be  of  later  origin."     (Schafl",  vol.  i.  p.  445.) 

3  Acts  xiii.  2,  xiv.  2J;  2  Cor.  vi.  5.  *  Matt   ix.  lo. 

*  Our  name  of  the  fast,  Lent,  is  of  purely  English  origm,  and,  like  many 
other  sacred  terms,  is  transferred  from  a  common  and  natural  sense.  Ihe 
old  Eno-lish  Lenrten  means  Sprhifj,  from  the  lengthcnmj  days  (from  lenglat^ 
or  Icnojan,  "  to  lengthen  ")  ;  and  the  spring-fast  is  Lcndcn-Jastcn,  or,  m 
brief,  J.cncten,  Lent.  ^        r      i, 

«  The  Quadragesimal  Fast  is  first  mentioned  by  Iren.xus  (ap.  huseb. 
//.  L\  V.  24),  who  says  that  some  were  in  the  habit  of  keeping  one  day, 
some  two  days,  and  some  fortv— whether  (lays  or  /<ottrs  is  a  disputed  point, 
dependent  chieHv  on  the  punctuation.  The  length  fixed  in  the  tourth  and 
fifth  centuries  was  originally  not  forty,  but  more  exactly  thirty-six  davs, 
as  t/ic  tithe  of  the  >/car,  namely  the  s,.v  rrecks  before  Easter,  excluding  the 
Sundays,  for  on  that  day  fasting  was  ncyer  permitted.  In  the  Eastern 
Churcii,  which  kept  the 'old  Sabbath  (Saturday,  as  the  Eye  of  the  Resur- 
rection) as  a  feast,  the  period  was  reduced  to  twenty-eight  days.  In  the 
West  the  thirtv-si.v  days  were  made  up  to  forty  by  the  addition  of  four 
days  at  the  beginning  (Ash  Wednesday  and  the  three  days  following),  some 
say  by  Gregory  the^Great,  others  by  Gregory  II.  (Bingham,  xxi.  i.  5; 
Augusti,  X,  401  ;  Kobertson,  vol,  i.  p,  364.) 

n 


206  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII. 

example,  a  confessor  at  Lyon  lived  for  some  time  on  bread  and 
water  only,  but  gave  up  his  austere  diet  on  being  reminded  that 
he  gave  offence  to  other  Christians  by  despising  the  gifts  of  God.^ 
Clement  of  Alexandria  protests  against  the  rising  tendency  to  regard 
fasting  as  highly  meritorious,  from  the  words  of  Paul :  "  The  king- 
dom of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink  " — and  therefore  not  absti- 
nence from  flesh  or  wine — "  but  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost."  These  views  were  strengthened  by  the 
excess  to  Avhich  fasting  was  carried  by  the  ascetic  sects,  as  the 
Montanists,  who  observed  seasons  of  two  weeks  at  a  time,  called 
Xerojjhagice  ^  (i.  e.  dry  foods),  during  which  they  ate  only  bread 
and  salt,  and  drank  nothing  but  water. 

§  12.  Respecting  marriage,  the  extreme  ascetic  view,  that  celibacy 
is  the  only  pure  state,  was  held  by  the  stricter  Gnostics.  The 
Montanists  vehemently  condemned  second  marriages,  against  which, 
indeed,  there  was  a  prevalent  aversion,  especially  in  the  case  of 
widows,  but  they  were  permitted  by  the  general  judgment  of  the 
Church.3  The  insistance  on  single  marriage,  as  opposed  to  polygamy 
and  the  prevalent  licence  of  the  heathens,  passed  easily  into  the 
])raise  of  marriage  only  once  ;  and  monogamia  is  used  in  lioth  senses. 
Marriage  itself  was  invested  with  a  sacred  character,  as  the  bond  of 
a  holy  family  life,  in  which  the  daily  worship  of  God  ought  to  be 
maintained.  'J'hus  Clement  of  Alexandria,  enjoining  upon  married 
persons  daily  prayer  and  reading  of  tlie  Scriptures,"*  says  : — "  The 
mother  is  the  glory  of  her  children  ;  the  wife  is  the  glory  of  her 
husband;  both  are  the  glory  of  the  wife ;  God  is  the  glory  of  all 
together."  From  the  earliest  times  the  religious  benediction  was 
deemed  necessary  to  sanctify  the  civil  contract.'  Thus  Ignatius 
requires  "  the  consent  of  the  bishop,  that  it  may  be  a  marriage  for 
God,  and  not  for  pleasure.  All  should  be  done  to  the  glory  of 
God.""  And  Tertullian  seems  to  describe  the  usual  religious  cere- 
mony in  his  beautiful  picture  of  a  Christian  married  life  : — "  How 
can  I  paint  the  happiness  of  a  maiTiage  which  the  Church  ratifies^ 
the  oblation  (of  the  Lord's  Supper)  confirms,  the  benediction  seals, 
the  Father  declares  valid."''     'J'he  noisy  and  wanton  rites  of  Jewish 

>  Schanr,  vol.  i.  p.  3'25,  "  ^ 

*  a7]po<payiai,  ariJits  victus.  See  Tcrtull.  dc  Jejun. ;  Hii>i>ol.  Jicfut^iii. 
19;  Schati;  /.  c. 

^  Tertullian  claims  for  the  Montanists  a  just  moan  between  the  two 
extremes  {De  3fono()amia,  1):  "  Iheretici  nuiitias  auterunt,  psychici  "  (his 
name  for  the  Catholics)  "ingerunt:   illi  ncc  semel,  isti  non  semel  nubunt.' 

■•  To  these  were  added  the  siugiug  of  psalms  and  hymns.  Tertullian,  .i'lcf 
[Jsorcm,  ii.  8. 

*  The  Montanists  seem  to  have  regarded  the  religious  ceremony  as  neces- 
s:iry  to  constitute  a  valid  marriage. 

*  Ad  Polycarp.  c.  5  (c.  2  in  the  Syriac).  '  Tertull.  I  c. 


Cent.  I.-III.  HOLY  DAYS  AND  SEASONS.  207 

and  heathen  marriages  were  discarded,  as  was  also  the  crowning  of 
the  bride  (at  least  in  the  earliest  times),  but  the  ring  was  retained 
as  a  sign  of  imion.^ 

The  mixed  marriages  of  Christians  with  heathens,  wiiich  had 
been  forbidden  under  tlie  Jewish  law  and  condemned  by  raul,^ 
and  also  marriages  with  heretics,  were  deemed  unlioly  and  invalid. 
They  are  classed  by  TertuUian  with  adultery,  stigmatized  by 
Cyprian  as  a  prostitution  of  tlie  meml)ers  of  Christ,  and  formally 
condemned  by  the  Council  of  Elvira  (a.d.  305).  There  were  sfU'cial 
reasons  for  strictness  on  this  jwiut  iu  the  loose  notions  of  conjugal 
fidelity  that  prevailed  among  the  heathen,  and  iu  the  temptations 
of  constant  social  intercourse  with  heathen  kindred,  especially  for 
a  Christian  iu  a  pagan  house,  with  its  pictures  of  the  heathen 
mythology,  its  images,  and  worship  of  tlie  household  gods.  Be- 
sides, as  TertuUian  asks,  "  What  heathen  will  let  his  wife  attend 
the  nightly  meetings  of  the  Church  and  the  slandered  Supper  of  the 
Lord,  take  care  of  the  sick  even  in  the  poorest  hovels,  kiss  the 
chains  of  the  martyrs  in  prison,  rise  in  the  night  for  prayer,  and 
show  hospitality  to  strange  brethren?"  It  is  easy  to  "imagine 
the  constant  and  manifold  dangers,  as  well  as  difliculties,  springiuf^ 
from  such  marriages  in  times  of  jiersecution.  But  marriatrcs^be'^ 
twecn  heathens  were  still  held  valid  after  either  partv  became  a 
Christian.  The  Church  condemned  the  tyrannical  power  which 
the  Eoman  law  gave  to  a  father,  and  denounced  the  exposure  of 
children  as  one  of  the  worst  of  crimes. 

§  13.  Among  the  Holy  Days  and  Seasons  observed  by  the  primitive 
Church,  the  first  day  of  the  week  is  pre-eminent  as  that  on  which 
Christians  met  for  worship  from  the  beginning.  In  commemoration 
of  Christ's  resurrection  it  was  called  (as  we  have  seen)  the  Lord's 
Day;^  but  the  name  of  Sunday  {Dies  Sol  is)  Avas  also  used,  in 
spite  of  its  heathen  origin  and  significance.  *  "  We  assemble  in 
common  on  Sunday,"  says  Justin,*  "  because  this  is  the  first  day, 
on  which  God  created  the  world  and  light,  and  because  Jesus  Christ 
our  Saviour  on  the  same  day  rose  from  the  dead  and  appeared 
to  His  disciples."     Though  the  analogy  of  the  day  to  the  ancient 

'  Sa^aff,  vol.  i.  p.  332.        «  1  Cor.  vii.  12,  16.  »  Chap.  I.  §  13.  ■ 

<  The  connection  of  the  days  of  the  week  with  the  seven  chief  heavenly 
bodies  (the  Sun,  Moon,  and  five  chief  planets)  is  as  old  as  the  oldest  records, 
of  Babylonian  astronomy;  and  Mr.  George  Smith  recently  found,  on  a 
tablet  at  Nineveh,  mention  of  the  Sunday  as  a  holy-day  and  day  of  rest. 
The  order yi  the  days  of  the  week  was  determined  by  the  supjiosed  dominion 
of  each  nf  tlie  planets  over  the  hours  in  succession;  each  day  being  named 
after  the  jdanet  dominant  over  its  first  hour,  as  follows  :  the  Sun,  the 
Moon,  Mars.  Jlercuiy,  Jupiter,  Venus,  Saturn.  The  two  modes  proposed 
to  account  for  this  order  are  explained  in  the  Student's  Aticient  History, 
chap.  xvii.  §  14.  s  Apol.  c.  67. 


208  WORSHIP.  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.    Chap.  VIU. 

Sabbath  was  recognised,  and  it  was  regarded  as  celebrating  the 
completion  both  of  the  first  creation  and  of  the  new  creation  in 
Christ  Jesus,  it  was  not  called  the  Sabbath.  In  the  primitive 
Church,  with  its  Jewish  converts,  that  name  still  denoted  the 
seventh  day  (Saturday),  and  not  only  was  the  name  long  preserved, 
but  many  Christians  kept  the  Jewish  Sabbath  as  well  as  their  own 
festival.'  TortulMan,  who  carefully  distinguishes  between  the  two 
days,  is  the  earliest  witness  for  cessation  Irom  wordly  business  on 
the  Lord's  Day.''  It  was,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  time  of  and  im- 
mediately after  the  Apostles,  the  "  appointed  day  "  (quodam  stato 
die  in  Pliny)  on  which  the  Christians  held  their  weekly  meetings 
for  worship,  tlie  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  collections 
for  the  poor.  As  the  day  of  Christ's  resurrection  and  the  new 
spiritual  creation,  it  was  a  festival  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  ;  as  was 
marked  by  the  attitude  of  standing  at  prayer,  instead  of  kneeling, 
as  on  other  days,  and  by  the  forbidding  of  fasting  on  the  Lord's 

i)ay.^ 

§  14.  Among  the  weekly  celebrations  of  the  Lord's  Day  through- 
out the  year,  there  was  one  marked  as  the  highest  festival,  both  as 
tlie  anniversary  of  the  resurrection  itself  and  the  continuation  of 
the  Jewish  Passover.  Hence  the  Greek  form  of  the  Hebrew  name 
Pascha*  was,  and  still  is,  used  by  the  whole  Church  to  denote  the 
great  festival  which  we  also  call  by  the  old  vernacular  word, 
Easter.^     Our  translators  have  used  Easter  in  one  passage  of  the 

'  The  distinction  between  the  Lord's  Day  and  the  Jewish  Sabbath  is 
marked  by  Ignatius  in  words  which  seem  to  imply  the  transfer  of  the 
sacrod  commemorative  meanins;  of  the  latter  to  the  former  {L'jiist.  ml 
Mwjnes.  c.  9):  Mij/ctVi  aafifiari^ovrts,  oAAo  Kara  KvpiaK^jy  C'^h>'  ^wvres): 
it  is  also  made  clearly  by  Tertullitin  (De  Orat.  23)  and  other  early  writers. 
(See  Dr.  Hessey's  Bampton  Lectures  on  Siindaij,  Lect.  II.)  This  observance 
gradually  ceased  among  the  Jewish  Christians,  and  the  Latin  Church  made 
Saturday  a  fast-day;  but  the  Eastern  Church  continued  (as  it  still  does) 
a  certain  observance  of  Saturday  (excepting  only  the  Easter  Sabbath)  by 
the  attitude  of  standing  in  prayer,  and  by  never  fasting  on  that  day. 
(Schaft'j  vol.  i.  pp.  372,  .'^w3.)  *  Be  Oratione,  c.  23. 

»  TertuU.  de  Conm.  3 ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  173. 

*  Tb  Trd(Txa,  Heb.  HDSl,  "  passover."  Exod.  xii.  This  name,  which  is 
preserved  in  common  ecclesiastical  language,  has  been  kept  as  the  verna- 
cular term  in  the  Romance  languages,  e.  g.  Ital.  l'a>>qua,  Fr.  I'liqucs. 

*  The  derivation  of  the  Old  English  word  Easter,  Easier,  Oster,  is  dis- 
puted ;  but,  at  all  events,  it  is  connected  with  Z^os<  (the  East)  and  sunrise, 
and  was  older  than  its  application  to  the  festival.  Bede  (Dc  Tcmporuin 
Ji  ttioiw,  c.  XV.)  says  that  the  fourth  mouth  (nearly  answering  to  April) 
was  formerly  named  Eostur-inoiiath,  "which  is  now  interpreted  the 
I'aschal-month"  from  a  goddess  Eostrc,  whose  festival  was  held  in  that 
month.  In  like  manner,  the  old  native  name  of  Christmas,  which  we 
still  preserve  as  Vule  and  Yule-tide,  was  derived  from  that  of  the  lioatheu 
festival  of  the  winter  solstice,  Oeol  or  Ji/t. 


Cknt.  i.-iii.  the  paschal  feast.  209 

New  Testament,  for  the  Jewish  Passover.*  The  language  of 
Paul,^  "  Christ  our  Passover  ia  sacrificed  for  us :  therefore  let  us 
keep  the  feast,  not  with  old  leaven,"  &c. — though  manifestly  a 
figure,  leading  up  the  mind  from  the  type  to  an  antitype  — 
has  been  cited  to  confirm  the  probability  of  a  continuity  in  the 
observance  of  the  Jewish  feast  in  its  new  Christian  sense.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  we  find  in  the  age  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers  both  the 
observance  of  the  festival  and  the  beginning  of  the  controvers}' 
respecting  its  proper  time,  which  has  divided  the  Church  ever 
since.^ 

§  15.  The  celebration  of  the  Paschal  festival  involved,  of  course, 
the  attempt  to  fix  it  at  the  precise  season  of  Christ's  death  and 
resurrection.  But  here  arose  a  disagreement  between  those  who 
tried  to  observe  the  exact  time  of  the  Jewish  Passover  and 
those  who  held  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as  essentially  con- 
nected with  the  resurrection.*  The  Paschal  lamb  was  killed  at 
sunset  on  the  14th  of  Nisan,  the  first  month  of  the  Jewish  sacred 
year,  Avhich  began  at  or  about  the  vernal  equinox  ;  and,  as  the 
Jewish  months  were  lunar,  the  14(h  of  Nisan  fell  at,  or  nearly 
at,  the  first  full  moon  after  the  equinox.'     Following  the  Jewisli 

'  Acts  xii.  4.  The  Jewish  festival  is  also  cleaily  referred  to  in  Acts 
.\x.  6,  as  is  the  Jewish  Pentecost  in  Acts  .xx.  16,  and  1  Cor.  xvi.  8,  and  the 
Jewish  "  feast "  (whatever  it  may  be)  in  Acts  xviii.  21. 

2  1  Cor.  v.  7,  8. 

'  The  Paschal  celebration  included  the  days  both  of  the  Lord's  cruci- 
fixion and  of  His  resurrection.  The  day  now  called  Good  Friday  was 
named  the  I'assorcr  of  the  Crucifixion  (irotrxa  (TTavpuxrifjLOv,  in  contrast  to 
irdcTxa  avaffrdaiiJiov,  the  I'ussovcr  of  the  Jicsurrcction),  and  also  fjfjLfpa  ruv 
(TTavpov,  7j  ffccTripia  or  ra  awTripia,  or  by  the  Jewish  name  of  the  pre- 
jjaratiun  (jrapa.ffKivr\.  John  xix.  14,31,42,  either  alone  or  with  the  epithets 
fj.eya\ri  or  ayia) ;  and  in  the  Latin  Church,  Parasceuc,  Fcria  Sexta  in  JPara- 
sccite,  Sexta  Ferin  Major.  It  was  observed  as  a  strict  fast,  which  was 
continued  by  those  who  could  endure  it  till  midnight  on  Kaster  Eve,  and 
with  other  signs  of  mourning  (Apust.  Const,  v.  18;  Tertull.  de  Orat.  18). 
The  Saturday  between  those  days  (Easter  Eve)  was  called  the  Great 
Sabljath  {Sabbatwn  Afaipinm).  The  fast  observed  in  preparation  for  Easter 
has  been  spoken  of  above  (§  11). 

■*  Respecting  the  Jewish  Passover,  nnd  its  connection  with  the  death 
of  Christ,  see  the  Student's  0.  T.  Hist.  chap.  xiv.  appendix,  sect.  vi. 
§§  8-10,  and  the  Student's  K.  T.  Jlist.  chap.  xi.  note  15,  ]>.  287. 

'  This  statement  is  j)urposely  somewhat  indefinite  for  two  reasons: 
(1)  It  appears  certain  that,  in  adapting  the  lunar  months  to  the  solar 
year,  the  month  of  Nisan  might  sometimes  begin  before  the  exact  day 
of  the  equinox.  (2)  The  lunar  months  of  the  Jews,  like  those  of  the 
Mohammedans  at  tiie  present  day,  began,  not  from  the  new  moon  as  calcu- 
lated by  astronomy,  but  from  the  first  sight  of  the  thin  crescent  after 
sunset.  (For  further  details  concerning  the  eflect  of  this  on  the  reckoning, 
see  the  Diet,  of  Chriiftian  Anti^q.  Art.  Easter,  p.  587.) 


210  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.     Chap.  VIII. 

reckoning,  and  pleading  the  authority  of  tlie  Apostles  John  and 
Philip,  the  Asiatic  Churches  began  the  Paschal  season  with  a  love- 
feast  and  communion,  answering  to  Christ's  last  Passover  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  on  the  evening  of  the  14th  of  Nisan,  and  on  the 
next  day  but  one  (the  third  day)  they  celebrated  the  Feast  of 
Resurrection,  without  regard  to  the  day  of  tlie  week.  Hence,  in 
the  ensuing  controversy,  the  adherents  to  this  practice  were  called 
the  Quartodecimanians}  The  Roman  Church,  on  the  other  hand, 
holding  fast  to  the  fact  that  our  Lord  was  crucified  on  the  day 
called  the  Preparation  (for  the  Sabbath),  that  is,  on  Friday,  and 
that  he  rose  on  the  Sunday,  fixed  Easter  Day  on  the  Sunday 
after  the  March  full  moon.  The  significance  of  the  difierence  was, 
whether  the  chief  stress  should  be  laid  on  Jewish  precedent  or  on 
the  independent  life  of  Christianity  ;  on  the  death  of  Christ,  as  the 
true  Paschal  lamb,  or  on  His  resurrection,  as  the  beginning  of  the 
new  spiritual  creation. 

§  16.  About  the  year  160,^  Poly  carp  went  to  Rome  to  confer 
with  the  bishop  Anicetus  on  this  and  other  matters.  After 
calm  discussion,  it  was  agreed  that  a  difference  of  practice  miglit 
be  allowed,  and  Anicetus  showed  his  regard  for  tlie  venerable 
Eastern  father  by  asking  him  to  celebrate  the  Eucharist  in  his 
place.^ 

Shortly  afterwards  (about  a.d.  170),  another  phase  of  the  con- 
troversy arose  among  the  Asiatics  themselves  f.om  a  usage, 
which  had  sprung  up  at  Laodicea,  of  kceinng  tho  actual  Jewish 
Passover,  that  is,  eating  the  Paschal  lamb  on  the  14th  of  Nisan. 
This  practice  was  resisted  by  the  most  eminent  Asiatic  bishops, 
Melito  of  Sardis  and  A])ollinaris  of  Hierapolis,  as  well  as  by  Hippo- 
lytus,  on  the  ground  that,  according  to  the  Gospel  of  John,  our 
Lord's  last  meal  with  His  disciples  was  not  the  legal  Jewish 
Passover,  but  was  eaten  on  its  eve,  and  that  Christ  was  slain  as 
the  true  Passover  on  the  following  daj'.* 

In  this  case,  the  Quartodeciman  usage  assumed  the  form  of  a 
Judaizing  heresy;  and  further  susjiicion  was  thrown  upon  it 
through  its  adoption  by  the  ^lontanists,  at  least  in  Asia.     On  this 

'  'T«T(rape(TKaii(KaT7rat,  Quartodecimani.  The  name  was  not  fixed  upon 
them,  as  a  sect,  till  the  other  practice  was  formally  adopted  by  the  orthodox 
party. 

*  The  visit  is  variously  placed  at  the  years  158,  160,  or  167.  See 
Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  29. 

^  UapfX'ipWf*'  i  'AvlKriToi  t^j*  fiixapitrriay  r^  Tlo\vKdpir<i)  (Iren.  ap. 
Euseb.  //.  J:.  v.  24) ;  not  "  administered  the  Eucharist  to  Polycarp  "  (see 
Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  30). 

*  This  argument,  which  is  still  of  importance  as  a  question  of  Biblical 
criticism,  is  discussed  in  the  Student's  N.  T.  Ilistonj,  I.  c. 


Cent.  I.-III.  CONTROVERSY"  ABOUT  EASTEK.  211 

ground,  and  from  his  own  imperious  temper,  the  Ro'iian  bishop, 
Victor,  tried  to  secure  a  uniform  observance  of  Easter  throughout 
the  churches  (a.d.  196).  Councils  summoned  in  various  and  distant 
provinces — Palestine,  Pontus,  Osrhoene,  Greece,  and  Gaul — declared 
in  favour  of  the  Roman  usage.  The  cause  of  the  Asiatics  was 
maintained  by  Polycrates,  bishop  of  Ephesus,  as  the  organ  of  a 
synod  which  he  had  summoned,  in  a  bold  and  well-reasoned  letter 
to  Victor.  Upon  this  the  Bishop  of  Rome  denounced  the  Asiatics 
as  heretics;  but  he  failed  to  procure  their  condemnation  by  other 
churches,  and  ]rena3us,  though  agreeing  with  him  on  the  question 
in  dispute,  was  foremost  among  the  bishops  who  protested  against 
making  it  a  ground  for  the  severance  of  communion.  The  Asiatics, 
in  a  circular  letter,  cleared  themselves  from  the  charge  of  heresy, 
and  they  were  allowed  to  follow  their  own  usage  until  the  question 
was  finally  decided  by  the  General  Council  of  the  whole  Church 
at  Nictea  (a.d.  325). 

That  council  pronounced  it  unworthy  of  Christians  to  follow 
the  usage  of  the  unbelieving  Jews,  and  the  Quartodecimanians 
were  henceforth  branded  as  an  heretical  sect.'  The  Roman  usage 
was  made  the  rule  of  the  whole  Church;  but  the  council  gave 
no  exact  definition  of  that  usage,  further  than  that  Piaster  should 
always  fall  after  the  Jewish  Passover,  and  after  the  vernal  equi- 
nox, which  was  reckoned  to  be  on  the  21st  of  March.-  The 
question,  how  to  adjust  the  observance  of  Easter  Day  on  a 
Sunday  to  the  epoch  of  the  full  moon,  was  settled  in  different 
ways  by  the  Alexandrian  astronomers  and  by  the  Romans,  and 
this  difference  led  to  long  disputes  both  between  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Churches  and  between  various  branches  of  the 
AVestern  Church  itself.  The  Alexandrian  calculation,  which  was 
adopted  at  Rome  in  the  sixth  century,  was  substantially  that 
which  is  now  observed  in  the  West,  as  modified  by  the  Gregorian 
reformation  of  the  calendar  (or  A'tny  Style).  It  is  based  on  a  cycle 
of  532  years,  comiwunded  of  the  lunar  cycle  of  19  years  ^  and  the 
solar  cycle  of  28  years,*  in  which  the  lunations  fall  in  the  same 

'  Epiphanius  nieutions  three  sects  of  such  heretics:  the  Qiuirtodecimans, 
who  were  orthodox  oq  all  other  points  {Ilccrcs.  1.),  the  A/oji  (li.  1),  and 
the  A'ldiani  (Ixx.). 

-  This  calculation  was  erroneous:  the  true  vernal  equinox  (the  apparent 
passage  of  the  sun  across  the  Equator)  took  jilace  at  2  hrs.  17  niin.  I'.M.  on 
March  "JOth  in  A.D.  32').  For  further  astronomical  details,  sue  the  Diet. 
of  Chrldian  Antiqq.  Art.  Easter. 

'  This  was  the  ancient  Metonic  cycle,  so  called  from  the  astronomer 
Meton,  who  introduced  it  at  Athens  in  the  fifth  century  H.C. 

*  This  is  the  cvcle  after  which  the  days  of  the  year  must  fall  in  the  same 
order  on  the  days  of  the  week  ;  for,  as  every  common  solar  year  has  one 


212  WORSHIP,  SACRAMENTS,  AND  FESTIVALS.    Chai>.  VIH. 

order  botli  among  tbe  days  of  the  year  and  of  the  week.  The 
rule  is  that  Easter  falls  on  the  Sunday  after  the  first  full  moon 
succeeding  the  vernal  equinox.^  Under  the  existing  rule  it  some- 
times happens,  contrary  to  the  decree  of  the  Nicene  Council,  that 
Easter  coincides  with  the  Jewish  Passover.  The  refusal  of  the 
Greek  Church  to  adopt  the  Gregorian  correction  of  the  calendar 
makes  their  Easter  fall  differently  from  ours,  though  it  is  com- 
puted on  the  same  principle. 

§  17.  Tlie  period  of  harvest-gladness,  reckoned  by  the  Jewish 
Church  from  the  Passover  to  the  Feast  of  U'ee^-s  on  the  50th  day 
(hence  called  Fcntecost),  was  observed  by  the  Christian  Church,  as 
early  as  the  second  century  at  least,  in  commemoration  of  the 
spiritual  harvest,  of  which  Christ's  resurrection  was  the  first-fruits, 
and  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost  caused 
the  ingathering.^  The  whole  period  of  50  days  from  Easter  to 
what  we  now  call  Whitsunday  was  observed  as  a  festive  season,  a 
continuous  Lord's  Day,  by  the  standing  posture  in  prayer,  daily 
communion,  and  the  prohibition  of  fasting.^  When,  however,  the 
Ascension  Day  (or  Holy  Thursday)  was  specially  kept,  the  con- 
tinuous festival  was  restricted  to  the  forty  days  from  Easter  to 
Ascension,  and  the  Day  of  Pentecost  (Whitsunday)  was  specially 
observed  as  the  feast  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the 
birthday  of  the  Church.  The  special  observance  of  Ascension  Day 
is  not  traced  earlier  than  the  third  or  fourth  century.  The  feast  of 
the  Epiphany  was  first  observed  in  the  East  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  second  century ;  and  the  celebration  of  Christmas  cannot  be 
clearly  traced  till  the  fourth.  2^or  was  it  till  the  Post-Nicene  age 
that  the  veneration  for  martyrs  led  to  the  Festivals  of  Saiiits. 

day  more  than  an  exact  number  (fifty-two)  of  weeks,  a  week  is  gained  in 
seven  years  from  this  cause ;  but  every  leap-year  adds  one  day  more,  that 
is,  one  day  is  gained  in  every  four  years  ;  hence  the  least  common  multiple 
(7x4=  28  yeai-s)  gives  the  cycle  in  which  an  exact  number  of  weeks  is 
gained,  namely  twenty-eight  days  for  the  increment  of  each  year,  and 
seven  days  for  the  seven  leap-years,  that  is,  five  weeks  in  the  twenty-eight 
years. 

'  The  ])ractical  details  of  the  calculation  arc  prefixed  to  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer ;  but  the  technical  mode  of  reckoning  is  such  that  the 
ecclesiastical  full  moon  does  not  always  coincide  with  the  true  full  moon, 
a  circumstance  which  has  puzzled  some  people  as  to  the  true  time  of 
Easter  in  the  present  year  (lH7(i).  -  Acts  ii. 

'  Iren.  Fraif.  vol.  i.  p.  828  ;  Tcrtull.  de  Coron.  3,  de  Jejnn.  14.  "  It  seems, 
however,  that  some  did  not  extend  the  festival  season  beyond  the  fortieth 
day  after  Easter."     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  174.) 


Church  of  St.  George,  Tbessalonica. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE 
CHURCH. 

CENTDRIES   I.-III. 


1.  Christian  Doctrine  and  its  History  —  The  terms  orthodoxy  and  Tietero- 
doxy.  Catholic  and  heretic.  §  2.  Twofold  source  of  Heresies,  Jewish  and 
heathen — Plbionism  and  Gnosticism.  §  3.  Meaning  of  the  term  Gjiostic. 
—  Chief  sources  of  Gnosticism — 'The  Gnostic  use  of  Scripture  tra- 
dition, and  apocry]>hal  writings.  §  4.  The  leading  princi])les  of 
Gnosticism.  §  .">.  ,Kous  and  Emanation — The  Demiurgus  or  Creator. 
11* 


214  DOCTRINES  AND  HKRESIES.  Chap.  IX. 

§  6.  The  Gnostic  doctrine  about  Christ  and  Redemption  —  The  three 
classes  of  human  beings.  §  7.  The  Gnostic  morality  and  worshij). 
§  8.  Classification  of  the  Gnostic  schools :  local,  doctrinal,  and  ethical. 
§  9.  The  earliest  sects  of  Gnostics:  (I)  Simon  Magus  and  iht  Simonians ; 
(2)  The  Nicolaitans ;  (3)  Cerinthus;  (4)  Tlie  Ophites,  Sethites,  and 
Cainites.  §  10.  Gnostic  sects  of  the  second  century :  (5)  Basilidcs : 
The  mystic  symbol  Abraxas;  (6)  Carpocrates ;  (7)  Valentinus, 
Bardesancs,  and  Justin ;  (8)  Marcion  —  His  Life  and  Doctrines  — 
His  Canon  of  Scripture  —  Spread  of  his  sect ;  (9)  Tatian  and  the 
£ncratites  —  The  AntitactoB  and  Prodicians.  §  11.  Providential  uses 
of  Gnosticism.  §  12.  The  Manichean  Heresy  —  Various  accounts  of 
Manes  or  Manx  —  Course  of  the  heresy.  §  13.  The  Manichean 
Doctrine  —  Not  a  form  of  Gnosticism  —  Based  on  Persian  Dualism  — 
Conflict  of  Light  and  Darkness  —  Primal  Man  and  Spirit  —  Mingling 
of  Spirit  and  Matter.  §  14.  The  World  and  Man  —  Christology  and 
Redemption  —  Transmigration  of  Souls  —  Spirit  in  the  lower  creatures ; 
and  practical  consequences  of  this  doctrine.  §  15.  ISIauichean  treat- 
ment of  Scripture  —  Authority  of  Manes  —  Manichean  asceticism  — 
Hierarchy  and  Worship  of  the  Sect.  §  16.  Second  class  of  Heresies, 
about  the  Trinity  and  Christ  —  Monarchians:  two  chief  classes  of 
them.  §  17.  Dijnamical  or  Rationalistic  Monarchians :  (1)  The  Alo- 
gians;  (2)  Thcodutus  ;  (3)  Artemon ;  (4)  Paul  of  Samosata.  §  18.  The 
Patripassian  Monarchians:  (1)  Praxeas:  his  relations  with  Pope  Victor 
and  Tertullian ;  (2)  A'ot"<«s ;  his  followers  favoured  by  Pope  Zephy- 
rinus;  {^d)  Pope  Callistus  and  the  Callistians ;  (A)  SabcUius:  his  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  and  the  Logos  —  Sabellianism  and  Orthodoxy. 
§  19.  Chiliasm  or  Millennarianism — Its  prevalence  among  the  Fathers 
—  Finally  pronounced  heretical.  §  20.  Scripture,  Tradition,  and  the 
Rule  of  Faith  —  The  "Apostles'  Creed." 

§  1.  A  STATEMENT  of  Christian  doctrine  in  its  original  purity- 
belongs  to  the  province  of  Dogmatic  Theology,  or  rather  of  New 
Testament  exposition;  for  even  the  dogmatic  theologian  must 
exhibit  doctrines  in  the  definite  form  which  they  assumed  as  the 
result  of  conflicts  of  opinion ;  and  to  trace  the  nature  and  steps  of 
those  conflicts  is  the  province  of  the  ecclesiastical  historian.  The 
history  of  Doctrines  develops  itself  out  of  the  history  of  Heresies, 
and  the  standard  of  orthodoxy  is  framed  by  opposition  to  each  form 
of  heterodoxy  that  has  risen  up  to  provoke  controversy  and  decision. 
From  the  historical  point  of  view,  the  question  between  orthodoxy 
and  heterodoxy,  between  Catholics  and  heretics,  is  not  a  question 
between  truth  and  error,  though  this  distinction  cannot  be  wholly 
excluded.  Indeed,  when  heresy  is  first  mentioned  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  stigmatized  by  the  Apostles,  the  divine  authority  committed 
to  tliem  stamps  all  opposing  doctrine  with  error ;  and  some  similar 
claim  is  of  course  implied  in  the  very  term  orthodoxy  ("right 
opinion  ").     But  even  this  term  does  not  expressly  denote  the  truth 


Cent.  I.-III.  THE  GNOSTIC  HERESIES.  215 

of  the  opinion,  but  only  a  definite  standard  or  rule  {op66s=- 
rectus,  "straight"),  any  deviation  from  which  is  called  heterodoxy 
("  another  opinion  ").  The  other  term,  Catholic,  denotes  tliat  the 
rule  or  standard  was  determined  by  the  prevalent  opinions  embodied 
in  the  general  consent  of  the  Churches,  especially  when  formulated 
in  the  Acts  of  a  Council. 

§  2.  The  earliest  heresies  arc  to  be  traced,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the 
mixture  of  Jewish  and  heathen  elements  with  Christian  doctrine; 
the  Judaizers  clinging  to  the  forms  which  were  superseded  by 
Christianity,  while  the  heathen  converts  brought  in  jwrtions  of  their 
superstition  and  still  more  of  their  philosophy.  But  these  two 
elements  had  already  greatly  influenced  one  another  before  they 
met  on  the  common  ground  of  C/hristianity ;  and  Judaism,  in 
particular,  had  been  largely  aflected  by  Gentile  philosophy,  as  we 
see  particularly  in  I'hilo.  Hence  the  two  classes  of  primitive 
heresies  present  themselves  in  very  complex  forms,  as,  indeed,  we 
liave  already  seen  in  the  Apostolic  age.  The  Judaizing  and  heathen 
corruptions  may  be  roughly  denoted  by  the  general  names  of 
Ebion ism  a.nd  Gnosticism ;  but  the  systems  had  conmion  elements 
from  the  first,  and  in  their  special  developments  we  must  recognize 
on  the  one  hand  a  Gnostic  Ebionism  (as  seen  especially  in  the 
pseudo-Clementine  literature^),  and,  on  tlie  other,  a  Judaizing 
Gnosticism.  We  have  already  sicken  of  the  primitive  forms  of 
Ebionism  :^  the  other  heresies  of  the  first  three  centuries  may 
nearly  ail  be  included  under  the  general  class  of  Gnosticism.^ 

§  3.  The  term  Gnosticism  has  its  first  simple  derivation  from 
the  Greek  word  meaning  knowledge  (yvaa-is).  Sound  knowlcdsie, 
as  opposed  to  unintelligent  consent,  is  an  essential  foundation  of 
Christian  faith.''  But  this  is  quite  diflerent  from  the  conceit  of  a 
knowledge  superior  to,  or  at  least  co-ordinate  with,  faith  in  the 
teaching  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  which  ai)pcars  from  the  first  in 
conflict  with  the  Gospel,  side  by  side  with  Jewish  exclusiveness.^ 
The  attempt  to  mould  Christianity,  in  this  spirit,  into  a  "scientific" 
fonn,  in  which  human  philosophy  claimed  a  i>lace  at  least  as  high 

'  See  Chap.  IV.  §  U.  ■  See  Chap.  HI.  §  7. 

'  A  most  valuable  account  of  the  rise  ami  various  forms  of  Gnosticism 
is  given  in  Dean  Mansel's  lectures  on  "  The  Gnostic  Heresies  of  the  First 
and  Second  Centuries,"  edited  since  his  death  by  Canon  Lightfoot,  1875. 

*  See  especially  1  Cor.  xii.  8,  where  the  "  word  of  knowledge  "  {K6yos 
yvwfffus)  is  coupled  with  the  "  word  of  wisdom  "  (^\6yos  crotpias).  Comp. 
1  Cor.  .\iii.  2,  V2  ;  John  -wii.  3. 

*  See  especially  the  twofold  type  of  opposition  encountered  by  Paul  at 
Corinth,  from  the  Jews,  and  from  the  Greeks  who  "  sought  after  wisdom," 
and  esteemed  the  doctrine  of  Christ  crucified  as  "  foolishness  "  (1  Cor.  i. 
22,  2;-]);  and  his  contrast  of  the  ''knowledge"  which  *' pufleth  up"  with 
the  "  charity  "  which  *•  buildeth  up  "  (1  Cor.  viii.  1). 


216  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Chap.  IX. 

as  divine  revelation,  appears  already  in  tlie  Ai)ostolic  age  to  have 
grown  into  some  sort  of  system,  against  which  Paul  warns  Timothy 
as  "  the  vain  babblings  and  oppositions  (or  antagonisms)  of  the 
Knowledge  (^Gnosis)  falsely  so  called."^  To  this  passage  Ave  may 
probably  trace  the  application  of  the  name  of  Gnostics,  as  a  term  of 
reproach,  to  the  various  sects  which  had  this  common  element,  that 
they  exalted  knowledge  above  faith,  philosophy  above  revelation, 
prided  themselves  bn  a  superior  esoteric  knowledge,  which  made 
them  spiritual  men,  and  corrupted  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment with  heterogeneous  elements  from  a  great  variety  of  sources. 

The  precise  nature  of  those  sources  and  of  the  contributions 
derived  from  each,  is  a  wide  and  difficult  enquiry.  Some  find  the 
essential  elements  of  Gnosticism  in  Greek  pliilosophy  alone,  which 
was  doubtless  its  chief  source.  But  it  derived  much  also  from  Oriental 
mysticism,  and  from  the  philosophic  developments  of,  Judaism,  as 
exhibited  in  Philo  and  the  Cabbala.  It  may,  in  fact,  be  regarded 
as  an  attempt  to  frame  a  new  philosophical  religion  out  of  the  ruins 
of  the  old  systems  and  within  the  bounds  of  the  new  Church.  The 
Gnostics  did  not  avowedly  place  the  foreign  sources  of  knowledge, 
or  their  own  freedom  of  speculation,  on  a  level  with  the  authority 
of  Scripture.  They  claimed  to  be  the  possessors  of  a  real,  but 
secret,  Christian  tradition,  in  opposition  to  the  open  tradition  and 
standards  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Besides,  while  admitting  the 
authority  of  Scripture,  they  dealt  with  it  in  their  own  fashion. 
The  Old  Testament  was  rejected,  by  some  of  them  wholly,  by 
others  in  great  part.  The  New  Testament  was  mutilated,  and  the 
books  that  were  retained  were  regarded  with  different  degrees  of 
respect,  preference  being  given  to  the  Gospel  of  John  above  the 
rest.  The  boldest  forms  of  allegorical  interpretation  were  applied 
to  discover  the  mysteries  of  Gnosticism,  not  only  in  the  Scriptures, 
but  in  the  works  of  heathen  poets  and  philosophers,  who  were 
regarded  as  organs  of  the  true  spiritual  knowledge.  But  a  more 
definite  authority  was  sought  in  the  apocryphal  scriptures  which 
began  to  appear  in  great  numbers  in  the  second  century,  and  which 
these  heretics  were  the  first  to  fabricate.^ 

§  4.  Amongst  the  various  forms  of  Gnostic  doctrine  we   may 

'  1  Tim.  vi.  20 :  toj  fif$-fiKovs  Kevo<f>ii)vlas  koI  atni6f(rfis  rris  i^euSoc 
vviiov  yvdfftu^.  The  definite  article  furnishes  at  least  the  presumption 
of  i\  reference  to  some  system  or  systems  which  boasted  of  being  founded 
on  yfwffis. 

•  Irenanis  (Ifcpr.  i.  20,  §  1)  .iscribos  to  the  Valentinians  alone  a  count- 
less number  of  apoci-y])h:il  and  spurious  wi-itin£;s,  which,  he  says,  they 
forged,  and  imj)osed  iijion  the  ignorant  who  did  not  know  "the  writings 
of  the  truth."  We  have  here  a  hint  of  the  causes  which  made  the  dilVu- 
sioQ  of  buch  impostures  much  easier  than  we  could  now  suppose. 


Cent.  I.-lll.  I'KINCIPLES  OF  GNOSTICISM.  217 

trace  three  leading  principles:  (1)  The  Dualism  and  essential  oppo- 
sition of  Spirit  and  Matter;  (2)  The  idea  of  a  Demiunjus,  or 
Creator  of  the  world,  as  distinct  from  the  supreme  and  proper 
Deity  ;  (3)  The  denial  of  the  true  humanity  of  Christ,  whose  body 
they  held  to  be  a  phantasm  or  deceptive  appearance  (</)dirrao-/xa, 
SoKjjo-tj),  whence  this  heresy  was  called  Docttism. 

§  5.  The  term  ^Eon  (aliov),  which  has  so  prominent  a  place  in  the 
New  Testament  as  denoting  the  Ages  of  God's  dispensations  with 
man  in  this  world  and  the  world  to  come,  was  used  by  the  Gnostics 
for  all  the  manifestations  of  divine  power,  personal  and  impersonal, 
God,  the  eternal,  self-existent,  incomprehensible  abyss,  is  also  the 
original  ^on,  who  includes  in  himself  all  ideas  and  spiritual  powers, 
and  from  whom  they  emanate  as  Jions  in  a  certain  order ;  mind, 
wisdom,  power,  truth,  life,  and  so  forth.  The  whole  l)ody  of  vEons 
forms  the  I'leroma  or  Fulness  of  the  Spiritual  World  (TrXrjpafia), 
as  they  called  it  in  contrast  to  the  emptiness  (fceVw/ia)  or  unsub- 
stantial character  of  the  Material  World,  which  is  always  in  oppo- 
sition to  God  and  the  ideal  world.  For  the  visible  matter  (v\rj)  of 
the  world  is  that  in  which  evil  reigns,  and  must  therefore  have 
I)roceeded  from  a  principle  opposed  to  God,  who  is  not  the  author  of 
evil.  But  the  worlds  of  spirit  and  of  matter  are  not  destined  to 
eternal  severance.  The  spiritual  ^Eons  grow  weaker  and  weaker,  the 
further  they  proceed  from  their  divine  source  of  emanation,  till  the 
last  of  them,  named  Achamoth  (that  is,  "the  lower  wisdom"),' 
passes  out  of  the  ideal  world,  on  which  it  is  too  weak  to  keep  its 
hold,  and  falls  into  the  chaos  of  matter.  But  its  fall  is  that  of  a 
spark  of  light,  imparting  to  the  dark  chaos  the  germ  of  divine 
light,  and  still  preserving  in  its  bondage  to  matter  a  longing  for 
redemption. 

The  first  creature  formed  by  the  union  of  this  fallen  iEon  with 
matter  is  the  Dcmiurgus,^  who,  himself  of  material  substance, 
makes  the  visible  world  out  of  matter,  and  rules  over  it,  as  well 
as  over  time  and  the  sidereal  spirits.  His  throne  is  in  the  planetary 
heavens ;  and  from  him  proceed  the  mysterious  influences  of  astro- 
logy. He  is  the  Jehovah  of  the  Jews,  who  claims  to  be  the  supreme 
and  only  God ;  but  his  relation  to  the  true  Deity  is  variously  repre- 
sented.    The  Judaizing  Gnostics  make  the  Demiurge  the  imcon- 

•  A  Chaldee  word  equivalent  to  f)  Kardi  (ro(pia.     "  This  weakest  .F,on  ' 
(says  SchaflT)  "marks  the  extreme  point  where  spirit  must  surrender  itself 
to  matter,  where  the  infinite  must  enter  into   the   finite,  and  thus  form 
a  basis  for  the  real  world." 

Arifitovpy6s,  literally  a  "worker  for  the  people,"  hence  a  maker  of 
anything,  an  artificer^  used  by  Plato  and  Xenophon  for  the  Creator  of  thp 
world. 


218  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Chap.  IX. 

scious  servaut  and  instrument  of  God ;  but  Marcion  and  the  other 
anti-Jewish  sects  represent  him  as  in  insulent  opposition  to  the 
divine  purix)ses. 

§  6.  The  germ  of  spiritual  life  and  light  wliich  was  merged  in  the 
chaos  of  matter  never  ceases  to  feel  a  painful  longing  for  redemption, 
in  which  the  whole  world  of  .^ons  sympathizes.  Its  liberation  from 
bondage  is  at  length  effected  through  the  mediation  of  Christ,  the 
most  perfect  of  the^iEons.  Descending  through  the  heavenly  sphere 
to  earth,  this  Saviour  or  redeeming  ^on  assumes  the  ethereal 
appearance  of  a  body ;  or,  as  other  Gnostics  held,  the  ^on  enters  the 
human  body  of  Jesus,  the  Messiah  of  the  Jews,  at  his  baptism,  but 
leaves  it  again  at  his  passion.  The  birth,  life,  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  related  in  the  Gospels,  are  all  deceptive  scenes,  through 
which  the  redeeming  JEon  apjieared  to  jjass,  as  the  only  means  of 
revealing  himself  to  the  creatures  of  sense.  The  real  work  of  this 
redeeming  yEon  on  tlie  earth  consisted  in  communicating  to  a  select 
few  tliat  true  knowledge  which  would  enable  them  to  strive  for 
reunion  with  the  ideal  world.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  regarded  by  most 
of  the  Gnostics  as  a  subordinate  .^on.  The  completion  of  the 
work  of  redemption  is  thus  described,  according  to  the  view  of 
Valentinus:  —  "The  heavenly  Soter  brings  Achamoth  after  in- 
numerable sufferings  into  the  jileroma,  and  unites  himself  with  her 
— the  most  glorious  JEon  with  the  lowest — in  an  eternal  spirit 
marriage.  "With  this,  all  disturbance  in  the  heaven  of  ^ons  is 
allayed,  and  a  blessed  harmony  and  inexpressible  delight  are 
restored,  in  which  all  spiritual  men,  or  genuine  Gnostics,  share. 
Matter  is  at  last  entirely  consumed  by  a  fire  breaking  out  from  its 
dark  bosom."' 

The  place  of  man  in  this  system  corresponds  with  its  views  of 
spirit  and  matter  and  their  conflict.  There  are  three  classes  of 
men, — the  spiritual,'*  the  bodily  or  natural,  carnal  or  material,'  in 
whom  the  two  opiKjsite  principles  prevail ;  and  between  these  the 
2')sychicaJ,*  who  are  under  tlie  influence  of  the  semi-divine  or 
demiurgic  principle,  hovering  between  the  sensual  and  ideal  world.s. 
The  spiritual  principle  is  represented  In'  Christians,  tiic  carnal  by 
the  Heathen,  the  i)sychical  by  the  Jews ;  but  the  last  is  in  practice 
the  condition  of  tlie  great  body  of  Christians,  the  higher  spiritual 
state  being  reached  only  by  the  Gnostics  themselves.  Here,  as 
Schaff  remarks, "  we  have  the  basis  of  that  imchristian  distinction  of 
esoteric  and  exoteric  religion,  and  that  pride  of  knowledge,  in  which 
Gnosticism  runs  directly  counter  to  the  Christian  principle  of 
humility  and  love." 

'   Sihafl',  vol.  i.  p.  '230.  »   nvtvuariKoi. 

^  2,wnaTiKo[,  (pvaiKoi,  aapniKoi,  iiKikuI.  *  Yi»x"""'' 


Cknt.  I.-III.  SCHOOLS  OF  GNOSTICS.  219 

§  7.  The  moral  principles  of  the  Gnostics  varied,  as  was  the 
natural  result  of  their  dnalistic  views,  between  the  two  extremes  of 
asceticism  and  libertinism,  not  seldom  running  into  one  anothen-. 
The  whole  world  of  matter,  including  the  human  body,  being  evil 
and  a  perpetual  source  of  corruption,  every  pleasure  derived  from  it 
was  to  be  avoided  and  resisted  by  the  spiritual  man ;  this  was  the 
doctrine  sincerely  held  by  some  Gnostics  and  inconsistently  pro- 
fessed by  others.  But  there  were  some  sects  that  drew  the  oppo- 
site conclusion  ;  the  pure  spirit  could  not  be  defiled  by  gross  matter, 
which  was  only  fit  to  be  put  to  vile  uses;  nay,  some  avowed  the 
monstrous  principle,  that  "the  flesh  must  be  abused  in  order  to  be 
conquered."'  This  is  said  to  liave  been  the  maxim  of  the  Nicolai- 
tans,  who  appear  as  early  as  the  Apostolic  age.^  There  Avas  a  like 
variety  in  the  Gnostic  forms  of  religion ;  the  more  ascetic  aflfectiug 
extreme  simplicitj',  or  even  going  so  for  as  to  esteem  themselves 
above  the  need  of  the  sacraments  and  means  of  grace ;  while  others 
observed  a  ixjmpous  symbolic  ritual.  This  was  especially  the 
practice  of  the  Marcosians,  who  are  said  to  have  been  the  first  to 
use  extreme  imction.  We  have  already  had  occasion  to  s^x-ak  of 
the  early  Gnostic  hymnology.^ 

§  8.  A  system  founded  on  the  pride  of  knowledge,  in  opjx)sition 
to  a  standard  of  fiiith,  naturally  branched  out  into  many  sects, 
which  have  been  variousl}'-  classified.  Locally,  they  might  be 
divided  into  three  schools,  which  are  also  marked  by  varieties  of 
opinion:  —  (1)  The  Alexandrian,  which  held  most  strongly  to 
riatoiiism  and  the  doctrine  of  emanations;  to  this  belong  Basilides, 
A'alentinus,  and  the  Ophites.  (2)  The  Syrkm  School,  of  Satur- 
ninus,  Bardesanes,  and  Tatian,  was  more  marked  by  the  Oriental 
l»rinciple  of  Dualism.  (.'])  The  school  which  sprang  up  in  Asia 
Minor,  of  whose  leader,  Marcion,  we  have  presently  to  speak. 

A  threefold  doctrinal  division  may  also  bo  made,  according  as 
they  fell  off  towards  Paganism  or  Judaism — for  many  of  the  sects 
went  so  far  in  cither  direction  as  scarcely  to  deserve  the  Christian 
name — and  those  who  may  still  be  called  Christians.  To  the  first 
class  belong  the  Simonians,  Nicolaitans,  Ophites,  Cari)ocratians, 
Prodicians,  Antitacta',  and  Manicheans;  to  the  second,  Cerinthus, 
Basilides,  Valentinus,  and  Justin  ;  to  the  third,  Saturninus,  Tatian, 
Marcion,  and  the  Encratites.  Still  another  threefold  division  has 
been  proposed,  according  to  their  ethical  jirinciples:  the  speculative 
or  theosophic  Gnostics — Basilides  and  Valentinus;  the  practical 
and  ascetic — Marcion,  Saturninus,  and  Tatian ;  and  the  antinomian 


'  A«r  KaraxpiicrOat  ttJ  aapKi.  like  the  saying  about  "sowing  one's  wiM 
oats."  -  Kev.  ii.  G..  Ij.      '  ^  Cliaii.  Vlll.  §  4. 


220  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Chap.  IX. 

and  libertine — the  Simonians,  Nicolaitans,  Ophites,  Carpocvatians, 
and  Antitactse. 

§  9.  It  remains  to  notice  the  chief  Gnostic  leaders  and  sects  in 
their  historical  order  : — 

■  (1)  Simon  Magus,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  before,  is  classed  as 
the  first  Gnostic — the  niagister  and  progenitor  of  all  heretics,  as 
IrenfBus  calls  him — from  his  claiming  to  be  an  emanation  of  the 
Deity .^  His  personal  history  and  tenets  are  hopelessly  obscured  by 
fables ;  but  as  late  as  the  third  century  the  libertine  Gnostic  sect  of 
the  Simonians  not  only  claimed  him  as  their  founder,  but  wor- 
shipped him  as  a  redeeming  genius.  Two  other  Samaritan  heresi- 
archs,  Dositheus  and  Menander,  are  said  to  have  been  contemporary 
with  Simon  Magus. 

(2)  The  Nicolaitans,  stigmatized  Avith  abhorrence  by  St.  John, 
are  said  by  early  writers  to  have  been  the  followers  of  the  deacon 
Nicolas,^  who  became  an  apostate  and  taught  a  gross  doctrine  of 
antinomian  libertinism.^ 

(3)  Cerinthus,  another  heresiarch  of  the  apostolic  age,  who  is 
said  by  Irenajus  to  have  come  into  conflict  with  St.  John,  was  a 
Judaizing  Gnostic,  api^roaching  closely  to  the  Ebionites.  His  chief 
heresy  was  the  distinction  between  the  man  Jesus  and  the  heavenly 
Christ,  who  descended  upon  him  at  his  baptism,  filling  him  with 
divine  power  and  spiritual  knowledge,  but  left  him  at  his  pas- 
sion, to  be  reunited  to  him  at  the  final  coming  of  the  Messianic 
kingdom. 

(4)  The  sect  of  the  Ophites^  is  also  assigned  to  the  first  centur}', 
and  by  some  to  an  origin  before  the  Christian  era.  In  any  case, 
they  were  rather  heathen  than  Christian ;  and  they  regarded  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  God  of  the  Jews  with  avowed  animosity.  They 
derived  their  name  from  the  imjwrtance  which  thej'  assigned  to  the 
serpent  as  the  symbol  of  the  true  wisdom  and  mental  freedom,  into 
the  possession  of  which  they  held  that  Adam  entered  by  his  so- 
called  fall.  His  son  Seth,  born  after  that  liberation  from  mental 
bondage,  was  regarded  as  the  first  "  pneumatic "  or  spiritual  man, 
by  a  sect  who  were  called  Set/iites ;  while  the  Cainitcs  went  so  far 
as  to  honour  Cain  and  all  the  worst  characters  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as   spiritual   men,   emancipated   from   bondage  to  law.    In 

*  'H  Svi/afiti  Tov  0€ov  f]  fj.fyd\rt  (Acts  viii.).  *'  He  is  said  to  have  de- 
clared himself  an  incarnation  of  the  creative  world-spirit,  and  his  female 
companion,  Helena  the  incarnation  of  the  receptive  world-soul  "  (SchalV, 
vol.  i.  p.  235).     See  Stiui.  JV.  T.  Hist.  chap.  siii.  note,  p.  389. 

*  Acts  vi.  5.  3  sye  ^^„^  ^r   j',  mst.^chnp.  xx.  §  19. 

*  'Oipiavol,  in  Hebrew  Naassencs,  from  u<bis  and  C'Tli,  "  serpent."  Some 
make  the  Ophites  serpent-worshii)pers,  but  this  is  not  clear. 


Cent.  I.-III.  GNOSTIC  SECTS.  221 

the  same  spirit  "  they  found  the  true  gnosis  in  Judas  Iscariot 
alone  among  the  Apostles,  who  betrayed  the  psychical  Messiah 
with  good  intent,  to  destroy  the  empire  of  the  God  of  the  Jews."^ 
The  Ophite  sect  still  existed  iu  the  sixth  century,  when  Justinian 
enacted  laws  against  them  (530). 

§  10.  It  is  not,  however,  till  the  second  century  that  we  find  the 
definite  forms  of  Gnosticism. 

(5)  Basilides-  of  Alexandria  (a.d.  125-140)  taught  a  system 
which  is  fully  explained  in  the  Fhilosophuinena  of  Hippolytus. 
Here  we  first  find  the  chief  elements  of  the  Gnostic  system  as 
described  above;  but  the  variations  of  detail  among  the  different 
teachers  lie  beyond  the  limits  of  this  work.  The  cosmic  system 
of  Basilides  is  compounded  of  the  Egyptian  astronomy  and  the 
numerical  symbolism  of  the  Pythagoreans.  He  was  the  inventor 
of  the  mystic  name  Abraxas  or  Abrasax,^  to  denote  the  365 
heavens,  or  circles  of  creation,  which  he  a.scribed  to  two  Archons 
or  Demiurges.  Basilides  wrote  twenty-four  exegetical  books;  and 
his  reference  to  John's  doctrine  of  the  Logos  is  an  important  testi- 
mony to  the  fourth  Gospel.  His  son,  Isidore,  succeeded  him  as 
head  of  the  Basilidean  sect,  which  seems  to  have  been  dualistic  and 
docetistic  in  theory,  and  of  loose  morality  in  practice.* 

(6)  Carpocuates,  about  the  same  time  and  probably  also  at 
Alexandria,  founded  a  sect  marked  b}'  its  heathen  principles  and 
gross  immorality.  His  son  Epiphanes,  who  died  in  youth,  was 
worshipped  by  the  Carpocratians  as  a  god. 

(7)  Valektinus,  probably  an  P^gyptian  Jew  brought  up  at 
Alexandria,  who  taught  at  Rome  about  a.d.  140,  and  died  in 
Cyprus  (a.d.  160),  w\is  the  chief  author  of  the  fully  developed 
Gnosticism  which  has  been  described  above.  His  system  became 
the  most  prevalent  form  of  Gnosticism  in  the  West,  and  especially 
at  Rome ;  and  hence  it  is  one  of  tlie  heresies  best  known  to  us 
through  the  work  of  Hippolytus.  But  there  was  also  an  Eastern 
School^  of  Valentinians,  to  which  belonged  the  Marcosians,  founded 
in  Palestine  by  Marcus,  a  disciple  of  Valentinus ;  and  another  sect 
which  followed  Bardesanes,  a  Syrian  scholar  and  poet,  who  lived 
at  the  court  of  Edessa,  about  a.d.  170.  Bardesanes  was  one  of  the 
Gnostics  who  diverged  least  from  Catholic  doctrine.  Both  he  and 
his  son  Harmodius  were  distinguished   as  writers  of  hymns.     A 

'   Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  237.  ^  BaffiAefSrjr. 

'  The  Greek  letters  of  tlitJ  word  make  up  36o,  thus:  o  +  a  +  «  =  3, 
/3  =  2,  |  =  G0,  p=100,  (r=:200.  It  became  a  celebrated  magical  charm, 
and  is  so  used  on  a  number  of  curious  gems.  (See  Diet,  of  Christian  Bioj., 
Art.  AuKASAX.) 

■•  Schat)",  vol.  i.  p.  240.  *  ^iSatrKuAla  avaroMK'fi. 


222  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  CirAP.  IX, 

more  obscure  contemporary,  lately  made  known  to  us  by  the  work 
of  Hippolytus,  was  Justin,  u  Jiidaizing  Gnostic,  whose  system 
appears  to  have  been  comix)undcd  of  a  mystic  interpretation  of 
Genesis  and  the  Greek  mythology. 

(8)  A  leader  equal  in  eminence  to  Valentinus  was  Makcion, 
one  of  the  purest  and  least  heretical  of  the  Gnostics.  His -earnest 
but  eccentric  spirit  seems  to  have  been  driven  away  from  the 
Catholic  Cliurch  by  zenl  for  what  he  deemed  primitive  purity, 
combined  with  vehement  opposition  to  Judaism  and  tradition,  and 
a  tendency  to  speculative  spiritualism.  Marcion  was  a  son  of  the 
Bishop  of  Sinope  in  Pontus,  but  was  excommunicated  for  his 
contempt  of  authority ;  and  he  went  to  Home,  where  lie  met  with 
the  Syrian  Gnostic  Cerdo,  from  whom  he  seems  to  have  imbibed  the 
Oriental  idea  of  dualism.  After  travelling  and  disseminating  his 
doctrine  far  and  wide,  he  was  about  to  seek  for  restoration  to  the 
Church,  when  his  purpose  was  cut  short  by  death.  The  well-known 
story  told  by  Irenajus'  illustrates  Marcion's  desire  to  be  acknowledged 
as  a  Christian,  and  the  repugnance  felt  towards  him.  Meeting 
I'olycarp  at  Rome,  he  asked,  "Do  you  not  recognize  me?"  "I 
recognize  Satan's  first-born,"  answered  Polycarp. 

Marcion  is  one  of  the  chief  early  representatives  of  an  extreme 
supranaturalism,  of  which  Christianity,  deprived  of  its  historic 
reality,  is  made  the  spiritual  but  fictitious  expression.  With  him 
the  doctrine  of  dualism  took  the  practical  form  of  the  strongest  an- 
tagonism between  Judaism,  as  the  embodiment  of  law  and  righteous- 
ness, and  Christianity,  as  the  Gospel  of  goodness  and  grace.^  This 
antagonism  was  traced  to  its  source  in  his  theologj'.  "  Marcion 
supposed  three  primal  forces  :^  the  good  or  gracious  God,*  whom 
Christ  first  made  known  ;  the  evil  Matter,^  ruled  by  the  devil,  to 
which  heathenism  belongs ;  and  the  righteous  World-maker  (Demi- 
urge),* who  is  the  finite  angry  God  of  the  Jews.  He  did  not  go, 
however,  into  any  further  speculative  analysis  of  these  principles; 
he  rejected  the  pagan  emanation  theory,  the  secret  tradition,  and 
the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  Gnostics;  and  he  gave  faith  a 
higher  place  than  it  generally  had  with  them.'"'  But  that  faith 
had  respect  to  mere  ideas,  not  to  the  historic  religion,  old  or  new. 
"  He  rejected  all  the  books  of  the  Old  'J'estament,  and  wrested 
Christ's  word  in  Matt.  v.  17  into  the  very  opjiosite  declaration:  'I 
am  not  come  to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  j^rophets,  but  to  destroy 
them.'     In  liis  view  Christianity  thus  has  no  connection  whatever 

>  Il.vr.  iii.  r.,  §  4. 

*  This  contrast  was  set  forth  in  his  work  entitled  Antitheses. 

*  'Apxai  *  &t^s  a.yae6s.  *  "TAij. 

*  Aijfiiovpyhs  S/waios.  '  Schafl',  vol.  i.  p.  244. 


Cent.  I.-III.  MARCION  AND  HIS  FOLLOWERS.  223 

with  the  past,  whether  of  the  Jewish  or  the  heathen  worUl,  but  has 
fallen  abruptly  and  magically,  as  it  were,  from  heaven.  Christ, 
too,  was  not  born  at  all,  but  suddenly  descended  into  the  city  of 
Capernaum  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  and 
appeared  as  the  revealer  of  the  good  God,  who  sent  him.  He  has 
no  connection  with  the  Messiah  announced  by  the  Demiurge  in  the 
Old  Testament,  though  he  called  himself  the  Messiah  by  way  of 
accommodation.  His  body  was  a  mere  appearance,  and  his  death 
an  illusion,  though  they  liad  a  real  meaning.  He  cast  the  Demi- 
urge into  Hades,  secured  redemption,  and  called  the  Apostle  Paul 
to  preach  it.  The  other  Apostles  are  Judaizing  corrupters  of  pure 
Christianity,  and  their  writings  are  to  be  rejected,  together  with 
the  catholic  tradition."^  Accordingly  Marcion,  who  professed  to 
follow  no  other  autliority  but  Scripture,  formed  liis  own  Canon  of 
the  New  Testament,  admitting  only  the  Gospel  of  I.uke,  much 
abridged  and  mutilated,  and  ten  of  Paul's  Epistles,  from  which 
likewise  he  omitted  whatever  did  not  suit  his  views.  He  rejected 
the  Pastoral  Epistles,  in  which  Paul  condemns  the  rising  germs  of 
Gnosticism,  and  the  Ejustle  to  the  Hebrews.  Marcion's  uncompro- 
mising opposition  to  the  Law  was  combined  with  the  strictest 
principles  of  asceticism,  of  whicli  his  own  practice  gave  the  example. 
In  worship  he  insisted  on  extreme  simplicity.  His  sect  spread  widely, 
and  lasted  till  the  sixth  century  ;  but  it  has  obtained  a  permanent 
celebrity  through  the  controversial  writings  of  TertuUian  against  it.^ 
Among  his  most  noted  disciples  were  Marcus  (already  mentioned  as 
the  founder  of  the  Marcosian  sect),  Lucanus,  and  Ajielles. 

(9)  Tatiax,  the  Syrian  rhetorician,  already  spoken  of  as  a  con- 
vert of  Justin  and  an  Apologist,  fell  away  to  Gnosticism  of  the 
severe  ascetic  type,  and  became  the  founder  of  the  sect  called 
Eucratites,^ — that  is,  the  "abstemious" — which  lasted  till  the  fourth 
century.  But  tliis  name  was  also  used  as  a  general  designation  of 
all  the  ascetic  Gnostics,  in  contrast  with  the  licentious  antinomian 
.sects,  which  were  called  Antitachv* — that  is,  rebels  against  law  and 
order.  Among  the  latter  class  may  be  named  the  Frodiciaiis,  or 
followers  of  ProJicus,  who  "considered  themselves  the  royal  family,^ 
and  in  their  crazy  self-conceit  thought  themselves  above  the  Law, 
the  Sabbath,  and  every  form  of  worship,  even  above  prayer  itself, 
which  was  becoming  only  to  the  ignorant  mass." ' 

*  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  240. 

*  Sec  Neandcr's  Antignostikus  Geist  dcs  Tcrtullians,  and  the  English 
translation. 

'  'EyKparirai.  They  went  so  far  as  to  forbid  the  use  of  wine  at  the 
Lord's  Suiiper,  and  were  hence  called  "thpoirapacndrai.  and  Aquarii. 

*  'AvTiTOKTal,  from  ajnirdaafaBat,  "  to  set  themselves  in  array  against.'' 

*  Euyci/frs.  «  SihalV,  vol.  i.  p.  246 


224  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Chap.  IX. 

§  11.  In  looking  back  on  this  earliest  distinct  form  of  heresy, 
there  are  some  reflections  which  have  been  well  made  by  a  recent 
historian  of  the  Church : — "  Strange  and  essentially  antichristian 
as  Gnosticism  was,  we  must  yet  not  overlook  the  benefits  which 
Christianity  eventually  derived  from  it.  Lil;e  other  heresies,  it 
did  good  service  by  engaging  the  champions  of  orthodoxy  in  the 
investigation  and  defence  of  the  doctrines  which  it  assailed ;  but 
this  was  not  all.  ^  In  the  various  forms  of  Gnosticism,  the  chief 
ideas  and  influences  of  earlier  religions  and  philosophies  were 
brought  into  contact  with  Ihe  Gospel,  pressing,  as  it  were,  for 
entrance  into  the  Christian  system.  Thus  the  Church  was  forced 
to  consider  what  in  those  older  systems  was  true,  and  what  false ; 
and,*  while  stedfastly  rejecting  the  falsehood,  to  approi^riate  the 
truth,  to  hallow  it  by  a  combination  with  the  Christian  principle, 
and  so  to  rescue  all  that  was  precious  from  the  wreck  of  a  world 
which  was  passing  away.  *  It  was,'  says  a  late  writer,^  '  through 
the  Gnostics  that  studies,  literature,  and  art  were  introduced  into 
the  Church;'  and  when  Gnosticism  had  accomplished  its  task  of 
thus  influencing  the  Church,  its  various  forms  either  ceased  to 
exist,  or  lingered  only  as  the  obsolete  creeds  of  an  obscure  and 
diminishing  remnant.'"^ 

§  12.  About  a  century  after  the  lime  when  Gnosticism  had  reached 
its  height,  a  heresy,  resembling  it  so  far  as  its  Oriental  elements 
were  concerned,  but  still  further  removed  from  catholic  Christianity, 
sprang  up  in  Persia,  the  old  home  of  the  dualistic  theology.  The 
accounts  of  the  rise  of  Makiciieism  are  various  and  doubtful.  The 
Greek  story  traces  its  origin  to  a  Saracen  merchant  of  Alexandria, 
whose  manuscripts  were  carried  by  his  servant  to  Persia,  and  were 
used  by  Ma'Kes  as  the  foundation  of  his  teaching.  Tiie  Oriental 
accounts  ascribe  the  origin  of  the  heresy  to  Manes  himself,  or,  in 
the  native  form  of  his  name,  Mani,^  a  learned  Magian  of  Persia, 
who  became  a  convert  to  Christianity,  but  was  excommunicated  on 
account  of  his  opinions.  Both  stories  agree  that  ilanes  began  to 
])ublish  his  opinions  in  Persia  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Amelian, 
about  A.u.  270;  that  he  was  at  first  favoured  but  afterwards  perse- 
cuted l)y  King  Sajxir,  and  at  last  put  to  a  cruel  death,  being  either 
flayed  alive  or  impaled  or  sawn  asunder,  by  King  Varaues,  about 

'  Baumgarten-Crusius,  Dogmengcschkhte,  quoted  by  Dorner,  i,  357. 

*  Robertson,  vol.  i.  \>.  64. 

'  The  .ancient  writers  give  various  derivations  of  the  name,  which, 
according  to  Lassen,  conies  from  the  Old  Persian  manich,  "spirit"  (/nrfiscAe 
Altcrthwnskmule,  iii.  405).  Lnssen  considers  the  Oriental  accounts  of 
Manes  untrustworthy,  and  as  late  as  the  time  of  Mahomet.  The  Greek 
accounts  are  full  of  confusion;  and,  in  one  point,  they  evideutlv  confound 
the  heresiarch  with  Buddha. 


Cent.  I.-III.  THE  MANICHtAN  HEUESY.  225 

A.D.  277.  His  doctrines  spread  through  Asia  and  to  the  West. 
Ill  Nortli  Africa  they  were  condemned  by  an  edict  of  Diocletian 
(a.d.  287),  not  as  a  form  of  Christianity,  but  as  an  importation 
from  tlie  liostile  empire  of  Persia ;  but  the  continued  prevalence  of 
Manicheism  in  that  ])rovince  is  attested  by  Augustine,  who  himself 
followed  it  for  nine  years.  It  survived  many  severe  edicts  of  the 
Christian  emperors;  and,  though  it  seemed  to  disappear  about  the 
sixth  century  as  a  distinct  sect,  its  doctrines  may  be  traced  through 
various  heresies  of  the  Middle  Ages,  down  to  the  Albigenses.  In 
their  essence,  indeed,  they  arc  among  the  most  persistent  forms  of 
speculation  concerning  the  origin  of  spirit  and  matter,  and  the 
contlict  between  good  and  evil. 

§  13.  For  this  rea.son,  Manicheism  appears  to  have  been  not 
so  much  a  system  devised  by  any  one  teacher,  as  an  attempt, 
springing  from  the  spirit  of  the  age,  to  combine  the  Christianity 
which,  ns  we  have  seen,  had  early  spread  beyond  the  Euphrates,  with 
the  old  religion  of  Zoroaster,  which  had  lately  been  restored  when 
the  new  Persian  Empire  was  set  up  by  the  Sassanids  on  the  over- 
throw of  the  Parthian  Arsacida\  Though  the  Greek  story  of  its 
origin  connects  it  with  xMexandria,  a  chief  seat  of  Gnosticism,  the 
Manichean  doctrine  itself  contains  no  trace  of  Greek  philosophj*. 
It  was  based  on  pure  dualism,  and  it  seems  to  have  contained  also 
some  elements  derived  from  Indian  Buddhism. 

According  to  Manes,  there  are  two  original  and  independent 
principles  of  Light  and  Darkness,  corresponding  to  the  Ormazd  and 
Ahriman  of  Zoroaster,  each  presiding  over  his  own  kingdom,  and  in 
a  state  of  perpetual  conflict.  The  principle  of  Light  is  the  superior, 
and  he  is  properlj'  called  God ;  his  essence  is  the  purest  Light, 
without  bodily  form.  1"he  principle  of  Daikness  is  called  tlie 
Demon,'  or  Matter  (vA»;),  and  has  a  gross,  material  body;  but  to 
him  also  the  name  of  God  is  sometimes  given.  In  the  kingdom  of 
light  there  reigned  perfect  peace,  serenely  superior  to  the  perpetual 
intestine  conflicts  that  raged  in  the  realm  of  darkness.  But  it 
happened  that  a  party  of  the  dark  spirits,  who  had  l)een  defeated  in 
one  of  these  wars,  fled  to  the  lofty  mountains  that  divided  the  two 
worlds,  and  thence  caught  a  view  of  the  hitherto  unknown  realm  of 
light.     On  the  report  of  this  discovery,  all  the  powers  of  darkness 

'  We  have  alre.ndy  reminded  tho  reader  that  this  Greek  word  had 
not  oriiriually  a  bad  sen.se.  The  Saifiovt^  (from  Saiw,  "  divide ")  were 
a  -sort  of  tutelary  spirits,  who  directed  the  destinies  of  individual  men,  and 
the  bad  sense  arose  from  the  identification,  which  the  earUer  Christians 
m.ade,  of  the  heathen  deities  with  the  fallen  spirits.  A  similar  transi- 
tion took  place  in  the  Persian  relis^ion,  where  the  due'ras,  or  secondary 
deities,  of  the  (4d  monotheism  became,  in  the  dualistic  rystem,  the  evil 
spirits,  ministers  of  Ahriman. 


226  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Chap.  IX. 

laid  aside  their  enmities,  and  joined  in  an  attack  on  the  kingdom 
of  light.  To  resist  the  invasion,  God  produced,  from  his  own  pure 
essence  of  Light,  first  the  Mother  of  Life,  and  from  her  the  Primal 
Man  (the  Christ  of  the  Manichean  system),  whom  he  sent  forth  to 
the  combat. 

This  champion  still  needed  the  aid  of  the  Living  Spirit,  whom 
God  sent  forth  at  his  prayer;  but  the  powers  of  darkness,  even 
ill  their  defeat,  carried  off  and  devoured  "a  portion  of  the  Primal 
Man's  panoply,  which  is  the  soul."  This  part,  thus  brought  under 
the  bondage  of  Matter,  became  the  Passible  or  Suffering  Jesus 
(Jesus  patibilis).  Henceforth  the  struggle  of  the  two  Powers  w-as, 
on  the  part  of  God  to  rescue,  on  the  other  side  to  detain,  the 
heavenly  particles  which  had  been  imprisoned  in  Matter. 

§  14.  Out  of  the  now  mingled  elements  of  Light  and  Darkness, 
God  on  tlie  one  hand  created  our  World,  and  on  the  other  the 
Prince  of  Darkness  produced  Man,  in  the  likeness  of  the  heavenly 
primal  man.  This  Adam  had  two  souls,  one  of  light  and  one  of 
darkness,  with  a  body  wholly  material  and  evil,  and  in  Eve  the 
material  part  was  stronger  still.  By  her  seductions,  the  heavenly 
particles  in  man  became  still  more  enthralled,  and  each  generation 
sank  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  bondage  of  Matter.  The  deliverance 
of  mankind  was  to  be  accomplished  by  the  two  powers  of  Light, 
produced,  as  we  have  seen  by  God.  The  Primal  Man  dwelt  in  the 
Sun  by  his  jwwcr,  and  in  the  Moon  by  his  wisdom ;'  and  hence  the 
worship  of  those  luminaries,  transferred  from  the  Magian  system,  was 
justified  because  they  were  his  habitations,  not  as  being  deities  them- 
selves. When  the  time  of  redemption  came,  as  it  was  impossible 
that  the  pure  essence  of  the  Saviour  should  unite  itself  with  a 
material  body,  he  assumed  only  its  appearance;-  and,  with  Christ's 
real  humanity,  the  system  rejected  his  birth  and  early  life,  and 
made  all  his  actions  and  sufferings  a  mere  semblance.  "  The  object 
of  his  mission  was  to  give  enlightenment — to  teach  men  their 
heavenly  origin,  and  urge  them  to  strive  after  the  recovery  of  bliss, 
overcoming  their  body  and  their  evil  soul;  to  deliver  them  from 
the  blindness  of  Judaism  and  other  false  religions.  No  idea  of 
atonement  could  enter  into  the  system,  since  the  divine  soul  was 
incapable  of  guilt,  and  the  lower  soul  was  incapable  of  salvation.'"' 
By  repentance  and  obedience  to  'the  precepts  of  Christ  and  Manes, 
who  claimed  to  be  the  promised  Paraclete,  the  "natural  man'' 
shook  off  the  material  elements  and  became  the  "  new  man,"  and  at 
length  the  creature  of  God.     But  "  the  work  of  purgation  could  not 

'  The  abode  of  the  Living  Spirit  wa-s  the  Air. 

*  Here  the  Klanicheans,  like  the  Gnostics,  mlopted  the  Docctic  view  of 
Christ's  human  person.  '  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  141. 


Cent.  l.-III.  MANICHEAN  DOCTRINES.  227 

be  finished  in  this  life.  The  Sun  and  Moon  were  'two  ships'  for 
the  conveyance  of  tlie  elect  souls  to  bliss  ;  on  leaving  the  baiy, 
such  souls  were  transferred  to  the  Sun  by  the  revolution  of  a  vast 
wheel  with  twelve  buckets  (probably  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac). 
The  Sun,  after  purging  them  b}-  his  rays,  delivered  them  over  to  the 
Moon,  where  they  were  for  fifteen  days  to  undergo  a  further  cleansing 
by  water;  and  they  were  tlien  to  be  received  into  primal  light. 
The  less  sanctified  souls  were  to  return  to  earth  in  other  forms — 
some  of  them  alter  undergoing  intermediate  tortures.  Their  new 
forms  were  to  be  such  as  would  subject  them  to  retribution  for  tlie 
misdeeds  of  their  past  life  ;  and  thus  the  purgation  of  souls  was  to 
be  carried  on  in  successive  migrations  until  they  should  become 
fitted  to  enter  into  the  bliss  of  the  elect.  When  this  world  should 
have  completed  its  course,  it  would  be  burnt  into  an  inert  mass,  to 
which  those  souls  which  had  chosen  the  service  of  evil  would  be 
chained,  while  the  powers  of  darkness  would  be  for  ever  confined  to 
their  own  dismal  region."* 

This  conflict  and  ultimate  redemption  affected  not  the  human 
race  alone,  but  all  forms  of  animated  nature :  for  some  of  the 
particles  of  Light  and  Life,  absorbed  by  the  material  world,  resided 
both  in  the  lower  animals  and  in  vegetables,  "  hanging  on  every 
tree;"^  and  these  particles  are  always  being  disengaged  from  their 
abodes  in  the.  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  air,  by  the  working  of  Christ 
and  the  living  spirit.  Hence  both  animal  and  vegetable  life  were 
sacred  to  the  Manicheans,  who  must  consistently  have  starved, 
but  for  the  use  of  the  principle  of  dualism  within  their  own  com- 
munity. The  disciples  of  Manes  were  ranked  in  entirely  distinct 
classes:  the  "j)erfect,"  who  attained  to  the  full  emancipation  of 
their  spirits  from  matter  and  the  world;  and  the  "hearers."^  The 
latter,  being  still  in  bondage,  could  minister  to  the  jjerfect  in 
material  things,  and  therefore  fed  them  with  the  fruits  which  they 
might  not  pluck  themselves,  and  of  which  they  even  partook  under 
a  sort  of  protest.  -  When  about  to  eat  bread,  it  is  said  that  they 
thus  addressed  it : — "  It  was  not  I  who  reaped,  or  ground,  or  baked 
thee:  may  they  wlio  did  so  be  reaped,  and  ground,  and  baked,  in 
their  turn;"  a  sentence  which  was  held  to  be  literally  fulfilled 
by  the  transmigration  of  their  souls  into  the  ears  of  wheat  which 
imderwent  these  operations;  while  those  who  killed  any  animal 
became  animals  of  the  same  kind. 

§  15.  In  the  whole  system  of  Manes  we  trace  a  combination  of 

'  Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  142-.3. 

*  Augustin.  c.  Faust,  ii.  5,  et  alibi.     "  This  was  a  reference  to  the  Cruci- 
fixion" (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  141). 

*  It  was  to  this  class  that  Augustine  belonged  for  nine  yeais. 


228  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Chak  IX. 

various  elements  cast  into  the  mould  of  a  parody  of  Christianity  ; 
and  the  Scriptures  were  treated  in  the  same  spirit.  Tlie  Old  Testa- 
ment was  rejected,  together  with  the  whole  patriarchal  and  Jewish 
religion,  as  the  materialistic  work  of  the  powers  of  evil.  Manes 
denied  that  the  I'rophets  testified  of  Christ ;  as  Jews,  they  had  no 
claim  to  be  listened  to  by  the  Gentiles,  for  whom  chiefly  the 
Gospel  was  intended.  He  acknowledged  some  authority  in  the 
Gospels,  but  held  them  to  be  of  much  later  origin  than  the  age  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles,  and  also  to  be  greatly  corrupted,  so  that  he 
had  full  liberty  to  alter  them  to  suit  his  views.  In  the  same 
manner  he  treated  the  other  books  of  the  New  Testament.  In 
short,  by  announcing  himself  as  the  Paraclete,  Manes  claimed  for 
his  own  teaching  the  authority  of  a  revelation ;  and  his  followers, 
while  using  (like  the  Gnostics)  apocryphal  Gospels  and  other  forged 
Scriptures,  appealed  to  his  works  as  the  standard  of  tlicir  faith,  but 
still  in  subordination  to  the  light  of  their  own  reason,  emancipated 
from  the  bondage  of  authority. 

The  Manichean  morality  was,  in  profession  at  least,  severely 
ascetic.  The  "  perfect  "  were  bound  by  the  "  three  seals  " — "  of  the 
mouth,  of  the  hand,  and  bosom" — purity  in  words  and  diet; 
abstinence  from  all  labour,  even  in  tilling  the  ground,  and  renun- 
ciation of  profierty;  and  not  only  celibacy  but  virginity.  The 
"  hearers,"  on  the  other  hand,  were  permitted  to  eat  flesh  (though 
not  to  kill  it),  to  drink  wine,  to  engage  in  the  ordinary  business  of 
life,  and  to  marry.  But  it  appears  that  Manichean  asceticism 
degenerated  into  gro-ss  licence;  and  this  was  one  reason  why 
Augustine  left  them. 

The  Manichean  community  had  a  strict  hierarchical  organization. 
At  its  head  was  a  chief  priest,  as  the  successor  of  Manes,  with 
whom  were  associated  twelve  apostles  or  "  masters ;"  then  seventy- 
two  bishops ,  and  under  them  a  body  of  priests,  deacons,  and  itine- 
rant evangelists.  Their  worship  was  simple,  and  they  rejected  all 
symbolism.  Baptism  with  water  was  either  forbidden  or  esteemed 
indifferent ;  but  a  sort  of  baptism  with  oil  (or  unction)  appears  to 
have  been  used  in  the  initiation  of  the  elect;  and  that  class,  accord- 
ing to  Augustine,  partook  of  the  Eucharist,  but  so  privately  that  he 
could  learn  nothing  as  to  the  mode  of  celebration.  They  turned 
to  the  sun  in  prayer,  and  in  its  honour  they  observed  Sunday,  but 
as  a  fast,  in  opposition  to  the  universal  Christian  practice.  Their 
one  great  festival  was  the  anniversary  of  their  founder's  death,  in 
March. 

§  IG.  The  Gnostic  and  Manichean  heresies  belong  to  the  class 
called  in  modern  language  ratioitah'stic,  and  exhibit  the  earliest 
results  of  the  conflict  of  human  reason  and  sjicculation  against  faith 


Cent.  I.-III.  MONARCHIAN  HERESIES.  229 

in  a  divine  revelation.  They  were  tl;e  earliest  heresies  fully 
developed,  the  various  forms  of  Gnosticism  belonging  chiefly  to  the 
second  century.  To  the  third  especially  belong  the  second  class  of 
heresies,  which  may  be  called  more  distinctly  theological,  not  only 
as  lying  within  the  range  of  Christian  doctrine  rather  than  of 
heathen  speculation,  but  as  having  for  the  central  point  of  the 
conflict  the  doctrine,  to  express  which  is  one  of  the  earliest  uses  of 
the  word  Theology,  that  "the  Word  Avas  God."^  The  development 
of  this  doctrine,  and  of  the  Scripture  teaching  concerniii"-  the 
Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  into  the  do^ma  of  the  Trinity,  as  well 
as  of  the  union  of  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  the  jTerson  of 
Christ,  may  be  traced  throuL^h  the  Fathers  of  the  second  and  the 
early  part  of  the  third  centuries.^  Just  as  the  first  principles  con- 
cerning God  and  His  revelation,  and  the  authority  of  the  canonical 
Scriptures,  were  framed  into  a  Catholic  system  through  the  contest 
with  Gnosticism,  so  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Christ  and  the  Trinity 
was  moulded  by  defence  against  the  opposition,  of  which  the 
germs  have  already  been  seen  in  the  apostolic  age. 

The  opponents  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  equal  deity,  but 
distinct  personality,  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
were  called  by  the  general  name  of  Monarch iaris,^  the  Greek 
equivalent  of  the  later  Latin  word  Unitarians.  Under  this  term 
were  included  two  chief  schools :  first,  those  who  distinctly  denied 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  or  explained  it  as  a  mere  power  (dvvnfus)  with 
which  the  man  Jesus  was  filled;  whence  they  are  called  dynamical, 
as  well  as  rationalistic  Monarchians.  They  held,  however,  for  the 
most  part,  the  supernatural  generation  of  Christ  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  the  divine  power  resided  in  Him  essen- 
tially and  from  the  beginning,  and  not,  as  the  Gnostics  said,  from 
its  communication  at  His  baptism.  The  second  class  were  the  patri- 
^rtssm?**  Monarchians,  who  held  the  deity  of  Christ,  but  identified 
the  Son  with  the  Father,  and  explained  the  Trinity  as  only  a  three- 
fold'mode  of  revealing  God,  or,  in  other  words,  a  threefold  aspect 
of  the  Divine  Being.     "The  first  form  of  this  heresy  deistically 

'  John  i.  1  :  ©eis  ^j/  6  \6yos,  whence  John  was  called  6  Beo\6yos  and 
&  hyios  ®(o\6yos  (a  title  curiously  perpetuated  in  the  name  of  the  village 
Aynsahik,  on  the  site  of  Ephesus),  and  the  doctrine  was  calle<l  @(o\oyia. 
But  this  was  an  exceptional  use  of  the  word.  The  Greek  writers,  from 
Homer  and  Hesiod  downwards,  use  dfo\6yos,  0fo\oyia,  0fo\oytK6s,  and 
the  verb  dfoXoytu  in  the  general  sense  in  which  we  now  use   Tlicokxjy. 

-  This  is  adniirahly  done  hy  Professor  Schatf,  vol.  i.  pp.  266-287. 

••  From  Vlovapx'ia,  literally,  "  the  rule  of  one  alone,"  the  term  by  which 
they  expressed  the  unity  of  God,  the  fiovapx6s,  i.e.  "sole  ruler." 

*  This  name  was  applied  to  them   first  by  Tertullian,  to  express  that 
inference  from   their  views  which  ^as  urged   as  a  decisive  refutation   of 
them,  that  God  the  Father  must  have  suti'ered  upon  the  cross. 
12 


230  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Ciiap.  IX. 

sundered  the  divine  and  the  human,  and  rose  little  above  Ebionism. 
The  second  proceeded,  at  least  in  part,  from  pantheistic  preconcep- 
tions, and  ajiproached  the  ground  of  Gnostic  docetism.  The  one 
prejudiced  tlie  dignity  of  the  Son,  the  other  the  dignity  of  the 
Father ;  yet  the  latter  was  by  far  the  more  profound  and  Christian, 
and  accordingly  met  with  the  greater  acceptance." ' 

§  17.  The  chief  sects  of  dj'namical  Monarchians  were  : — 

(1)  The  Alo(jians^  "deniers  of  the  Logos,"  an  obscure  sect  in 
Asia  Minor  (about  a.d.  170),  who, 'together  with  the  doctrine  of 
John,  rejected  also  his  Gospel,  which  they  ascribed  to  the  heretic 
Cerinthus. 

(2)  The  Theodotians,  whose  leader,  Theodotus  of  Byzantium, 
a  currier  but  a  man  of  learning,  is  said  to  have  justified  his  denial 
of  Christ  in  a  jiersecution  by  saying  that  he  had  not  denied  God 
but  a  man,  but  still  held  him  to  be  the  supernaturally  begotten 
Messiah,  He  propagated  his  views  at  Rome,  and  was  excom- 
municated by  Victor l^A.D.  192-202). 

(3)  Artemon,  who  also  taught  at  Rome,  and  was  excommu- 
nicated by  Zephyrinus  (a.d.  202-217),  is  named  in  coimectiou  with 
Theodotus.  He  contended  that  his  views  were  the  true  primitive 
faitli,  which  had  been  only  recently  obscured  in  the  Roman  Church  ; 
and  it  has  now  been  discovered  from  the  Philosoplmmena  that 
Victor  and  Zephyrinus  favoured  the  opposite  heresy  of  the  Patri- 
passians,  as  taught  b}^  Praxeas  and  Noetus.  Tbe  Artemonites  had 
a  predilection  for  Greek  philosophy  and  mathematics,  and  are  said 
to  have  placed  the  works  of  Aristotle  and  Euclid  on  a  level  with 
tlic  Scriptures,  which  they  are  accused  of  corrupting  to  such  a 
degree  that  each  had  a  Bible  of  his  own. 

(4)  In  the  latter  half  of  the  third  century,  Monarchism  was  more 
fully  developed  by  Paul  of  Samosata,  bishop  of  Antioch  (a.d.  260 
and  onwards).  Paul  denied  the  distinct  personality  of  the  Logos 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  explained  them  as  merely  powers  of  God, 
like  reason  and  mind  in  man.  Christ,  he  said,  was  a  mart,  in 
whom  the  divine  Logos  dwelt  in  larger  measure  than  in  any  former 
messenger  of  God.  The  reluctance  to  break  with  tlie  language  of 
orthodox  doctrine,  which  was  common  to  many  of  the  Monarchians, 
was  seen  in  the  hymns  which  Paul  altered  from  those  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  in  which  he  called  Christ  "God,  of  the  virgin,"^  and  even 
ascribed  to  him  the  same  substance  with  the  Father.  In  a.d.  2G9 
Paul  was  deposed  by  a  council  of  Syrian  bishops  on  the  charge,  not 

»  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  288. 

^  The  name  seems  to  have  been  fastened  on  them  in  a  double  sense,  for 
the  word  6.\oyos  {i.e.,  *'  without  lo(jos"^,  applied  technically  to  deniers  of  the 
J.O'jO!',  has  the  common  meaning  of  irrational.  '  Gths  ^k  trapOffov. 


Cent.  I.-III.  PATRIPASSIAN  SECTS.  231 

only  of  heresy,  but  of  vanity  and  arrogance,  pompousness  and 
avarice,  and  undue  concern  with  secular  business.'  But  he  was 
protected  by  Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra ;  and  it  was  not  till  the 
Emperor  Aurclian  recovered  Syria  that  the  sentence  was  confirmed 
by  the  Italian  bishops,  and  Paul  was  deposed.  His  followers  were 
condemned  by  later  councils  under  the  names  of  Paulianists  and 
Samosatenians. 

§  18.  The  Patripassian  form  of  Monarchism  was  first  taught  at 
Rome  by  Pkaxeas,  who  came  from  Asia  Minor  with  the  renown  »f 
a  confessor  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  The  advocacy  of  his  doctrine 
was  mixed  up  with  a  vehement  opposition  to  Montanism,  whence 
TertuUian  charged  him  with  having  executed  at  Pome  two  com- 
missions of  the  devil,  "he  has  driven  away  the  Paraclete  and 
crucified  the  Father."  -  Praxeas,  however,  explained  his  doctrine 
as,  not  the  direct  suffering  {pati)  of  the  Father,  but  His  sjTiipathy 
in  the  sufferings  of  the  '6on  (compnti).  The  Father  and  the  Son 
were,  he  said,  the  same  subject,  winch,  as  Spirit,  is  the  Father,  but 
as  flesh,  the  Son.  He  regarded  the  Catholic  doctrine  as  tritheistic, 
and  perpetually  appealed  to  two  or  three  texts,  to  which  he  made 
all  tlie  rest  of  Scripture  Itend.'  'I'hc  later  history  of  Praxeas  is 
obscure.  After  being  condemned  by  the  Koman  Church,  notwith- 
standing the  favour  he  found  with  Bishop  Victor,  Praxeas  appears 
to  have  gone  to  Carthage  and  made  some  sort  of  recantation,  but  to 
have  renewed  the  teaching  of  his  heresy,  which  called  forth  the 
work  of  TertuUian  against  him.* 

(2)  NoiiTUS,  of  Smyrna,  or,  as  some  say,  of  Ephesus,  was  con- 
temporary in  part  with  Praxeas  (about  a.d.  200).  Little  is  known 
of  him  beyond  his  curious  defence  of  his  doctrine,  which  merged 
the  personality  of  the  Son  in  tiie  "monarchy"  of  the  Father.  For 
this  he  appealed  to  the  text  in  which  Christ  himself  is  called  God 
over  all,  blessed  for  ever,^  and  maintained  that  by  his  explanation 
he  did  but  glorify  Christ.  His  heresy  is  chiefly  important 
for  the  influence  exerted  at  Rome  by  some  of  his  disci])les,  who 
were  favoured  by  Pope  Zephyrinus,  as  Praxeas  had  been  by 
Victor.* 

(3)  Callistus  (Pope  Calixtns   I.)  was  among   those  who  sup- 
Besides  his  bishopric  Paul  held  a  civil  office  as  ducenarius  procurator. 

*  "Paracletum  fugavit  et  Patrem  cnicifixit." 

'  Especially  Isaiah  xlv.  5.  "I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else: 
thors  is  no  Ood  beside  me;"  John  x.  30:  "land  my  Father  are  one;" 
John  xiv.  9 :  "He  that  hath  sfen  nie  hath  seen  the  Father,"  &c. 

*  Adc.  Praxcan.  *  Rom.  ix.  >">. 

*  These  facts,  as  well  as  the  part  taken  in  the  controversy  by  Pope 
Oalixtus,  have  only  been  recently  learned  from  the  ninth  book  "of  th** 
Philosophumoia  of  Hippolytus.     (See  above,  Chap.  VI.  §  16.) 


232  DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES.  Chap.  IX. 

ported  the  Noetian  heresy,  to  which  he  gair.sd  over  Sabellius.^ 
When,  however,  he  succeeded  Zephyrinus  (a.d.  218),  Callistus 
excommunicated  Sabellius,  though  it  is  hard  to  distinguish  their 
doctrines  from  each  other.  "  The  Father  "  (said  Callistus),  "  who 
was  in  the  Son,  took  flesh  and  made  it  God,  uniting  it  with  him- 
self, and  made  it  one.  Father  and  Son  were  therefore  the  name  of 
the  one  God,  and  this  one  person  (Trpua-conov)  c.^mnot  be  two  ;^  thus 
the  Father  suffered  with  the  Son."  His  disciples  were  called 
CalUstians ;  but  from  his  death  (a.d.  223  or  224)  the  Eoman 
Church  appears  to  have  been  free  from  all  forms  of  Monarchism. 

(•4)  The  Patripassian  heresy  attained  its  fullest  development 
in  Sabellius,  whose  name  is  permanently  connected  with  the 
doctrine.  His  perversion  and  subsequent  excommunication  by 
Callistus,  at  Kome,  are  known  only  from  Hipiwlytus.  From  other 
authorities  we  find  him,  several  years  later,  propagating  his  tenets 
with  much  success  as  a  presbyter  at  Ptolemais  in  Egypt.  In  the 
year  261  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  assembled  a  council  at  that 
city,  which,  in  condemning  Sabellius,  and  insisting  on  the  distinct 
personality  of  the  Son,  declared  His  subordination  to  the  Father 
in  terms  almost  equivalent  to  the  heresy  which  soon  became  so 
famous  under  the  name  of  Arianism.  The  SabcUians  complained 
to  the  Bishop  of  Komc,  also  named  Dionysius,  who  controverted 
both  the  extreme  views  in  a  treatise.  In  conseqiience  of  his 
arguments  and  the  decision  of  a  council  which  he  called  at  Kome 
in  262,  his  namesake  of  Alexandria  readily  retracted  the  assertion 
of  the  subordination  of  the  Son,  and  the  Alexandrian  Church 
declared  their  assent  to  the  orthodox  "homoousian''  doctrine. 

The  tenets  of  Sabellius  are  clearly  stated  by  Professor  Schaff" :' — 
"  Sabellius  is  by  far  the  most  original,  ingenioiis,  and  profound  of 
the  Monarchians.  His  sj'stem  is  known  to  us  only  from  a  few  frag- 
ments, and  some  of  these  not  altogether  consistent,  in  Athanasius 
and  other  Fathers.  While  the  other  Monarchians  confine  their 
enquiry  to  the  relation  of  Father  and  Son,  Sabellius  embraces  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  his  speculation,  and  reaches  a  Trinity,  not,  however, 
a  simultaneous  Trinity  of  essence,  but  only  a  .succfssive  Trinity  of 
revelation.  He  starts  from  a  distinction  of  the  Monad  and  the 
Triad  in  the  Divine  nature.  His  fundamental  thought  is,  that  tlie 
unity  of  God,  without  distinction  in  itself,  unfolds  or  extends  itself 

'  It  is  possible  that  this  Sabellius  ni.-\y  be  a  different  person  from  the 
famous  heresiarch ;  but,  till  this  is  proved,  we  must  suppose  them  to  be 
one,  as  the  presence  of  Sabellius  at  Home  about  218  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  what  is  known  of  him  in  Kgypt  twenty  years  later. 

^  Hence  he  called  the  orthodox  JJithcists  {SiOfoi). 

»  Vol.  i.  p.  '2<Jo. 


Cent.  I.-llI.  HERESY  OF  SABELLIUS.  233 

in  the  course  of  the  world's  development  in  three  different  forms  * 
and  periods  of  revelation,  and,  after  tlie  completion  of  redemption, 
returns  into  unity.  The  Father  reveals  himself  in  the  giving  of 
the  Law,  or  the  Old  Testament  economy  (not  in  the  Creation  also ; 
this,  in  his  view,  precedes  the  trinitarian  revelation) ;  the  Son,  in 
the  incarnation  ;  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  inspiration.  He  illustrates  the 
trinit;irian  relation  by  comparing  the  Father  to  the  disc  of  the  sun, 
the  Son  to  its  enlightening  jwwer,  the  Spirit  to  its  warming  in- 
fluence. His  view  of  the  Logos,  too,  is  peculiar.  1'he  Logos  is  not 
identical  with  the  Son,  but  is  the  Monad  itself  in  its  transition  to 
the  Triad;  that  is,  God  conceived  as  vital  motion  and  creating 
principle,  the  speaking  God  (Geoy  XaXiv),  in  distinction  from  the 
silent  God  (Gfoj  cnwrTcov).  Each  person  (jrpocruyirov)  is  another 
utterance  (hioKiyeadai.),  and  the  three  jiersons  together  are  only 
successive  evolutions  of  Logos,  or  the  world-ward  aspect  of  the 
divine  nature.  As  the  Logos  proceeded  from  God,  so  he  returns  at 
last  into  him,  and  the  process  of  trinitarian  development  closes. 

"  Athanj^sius  traced  the  dqctrine  of  Sabellius  to  the  Stoic  philo- 
sophy. The  common  clement  is  the  pantheistic  leading  view  of  an 
expansion  and  contraction  *  of  the  divine  nature  immanent  in  the 
world.  In  the  Pythagorean  system  also,  in  the  Gospel  of  the 
Egyptians,  and  in  the  pseudo-Clementine  Homilies,  there  are 
kindred  ideas.  But  the  originality  of  Sabellius  cannot  be  brought 
into  question  by  these.  His  theory  broke  the  way  for  the  Nicene 
church  doctrine,  by  its  full  co-ordination  of  the  three  jwrsons.  He 
differs  from  the  orthodox  standard  mainly  in  denying  the  trinity  of 
essence  and  the  permanence  of  the  trinity  of  manifestation  ;  making 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  only  temporary  phenomena,  which 
fulfil  their  mission  and  return  into  the  abstract  monad." 

§  19.  This  is  the  best  place  to  notice  the  Millennarian  doctrine, 
or  Chiliasm,^  which  interpreted  the  promised  millenniuni  of  the 
Apocalypse*  as  a  literal  personal  reign  of  Christ  upon  earth,  with 
his  saints,  for  a  thousand  years  before  the  resurrection  and  last 
judgment.  But  this  doctrine,  though  ultimately  rejected  by  the 
Catholic  Church,  was  too  frequently  held  by  the  early  Fathers  to 
be  ranked  among  heresies.  Its  most  exaggerated  forms,  however, 
are  found  among  certain  heretics,  especially  the  Montanists ;  and 
Tertullian  supports  it  by  an  appeal  to  the  Montanist  prophecies, 
as  well  as  to  the  Apocalypse.     Even  the  orthodox  Fathers  (as,  in 

'  'Ov6naTa,  irp6(r<tnra.  '  "EKTaffis  or  itXaTviT^JiO^,  and  ffvffro\ii. 

'  XiAiacT/udr,  used  only  in  ecclesiastical  Greek  (from  xiKias,  '"the  number 
1000")  as  equivalent  to  the  Latin  term  derived  from  millennium,  "  the  period 
of  1000  years."  The  advocates  of  the  doctrine  were  called  chiliasts 
(X'^'ao-Toi  =  tnilletiarii).  *  Rev.  xx.,  xxi. 


234 


DOCTRINES  AND  HERESIES. 


Chap.  IX. 


particular,  Irenauis)  refer  to  an  Apostolic  tradition  in  support  of  a 
millenarian  interjiretatiou  of  that  book.  Though  the  doctrine  pro- 
voked much  opposition,  especially  at  Rome  and  Alexandria,  it  was 
not  branded  as  a  heresy  till  the  time  of  Constantine,  when  the 
imperial  establishment  of  Christianity  seemed  to  have  satisfied  the 
longings  of  the  persecuted  Church  for  an  earthly  reign  of  Christ, 
and  reconciled  them  to  a  more  spiritual  interpretation  of  His 
second  coming. 

§  20.  One  great  result  of  the  controversies  with  heretics  was  the 
attempt  to  frame,  in  the  simplest  possible  form  of  words,  a  summary 
of  Christian  doctrine  as  held  by  the  Catholic  Church.  The  settle- 
ment of  the  Canon  of  Scripture  was  a  work  made  doubly  needful 
by  the  forged  and  apocryphal  writings  to  which  controversy  gave 
birth.  But  besides,  or  at  least  as  a  guide  for  the  interpretation  of 
Scripture,  the  Fathers  (especially  Irenajus  and  TertuUian)  apjieal 
constantly  to  an  apostolical  tradition  ^  as  a  "  rule  or  standard  of  the 
faith  "^  or  of  the  truth  held  by  the  Church.  Of  the  doctrine  de- 
rived from  both  these  sources  summaries  seem  to  have  been  first 
prepared,  as  we  have  seen,  for  the  instruction  of  candidates  for 
baptism;  and  hence  these  "Creeds"  obtained  also  the  name  of 
Symbols  (avfi^oXov,  a  sujn  or  watclnoord)  from  the  rite  itself.  Such 
was  doubtless  the  original  form  of  the  "Apostles'  Creed,"  which  has 
no  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  formula  agreed  on  by  the  Apostles;^ 
but  it  expresses  the  gradual  development  of  Apostolic  doctrine,  which 
may  be  traced  through  the  writings  of  the  Fathers.  Different  fonns 
of  it  were  used  in  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches.  The  form 
familiar  to  us  is  that  which  was  finally  adopted  by  the  Church 
of  liomc,  whence  it  is  also  called  "  Symbolum  Ixomanum." 

'  HapaZoais  tS>v  o.iroaT6\<i>v. 

^  Kavoov  TTJs  ■KiffTi'jis  or  rrfs  a\ri6eias,  Kavoov  (KK\r}<TtouTTiK6s :  regula 
fidei,  lex  fidei. 

^  This  legend  is  first  mentioned  bv  Rufinus,  who  flourished  about  A.D. 
400. 


Agape.    From  the  Cemetery  of  S8.  Marcellinus  and  Petms  (Bosio), 


Tlie  Arch  of  Constantlne. 


BOOK  II. 


THE  CHUKCH  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 

CENTURIES   IV.-VI. 


CHAPTER   X. 
THE  FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND   ARIAN  CONTROVERSY : 

FROM  THE  EDICT  OF  MILAN  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  CONSTANTIUS  II. 
A.D.  313—361. 

§  1.  Motives  for  the  Ed!ct  of  Milan  —  Religion  of  Constantine  —  How 
his  inconsistencies  should  be  viewed.  §  2.  The  story  of  his  Vision  of 
the  Cross  —  The  banner  called  Labarum,  and  the  Christian  Monogram 
—  Origin  of  the  Symbol,  and  its  adoption  by  Constantino  —  The  out- 
ward victory  of  Christianity.  §  3.  Terms  and  spirit  of  the  Edict  of 
Milan  —  Its  universal  Toleration  :  in  what  sense.  §  4.  Constantine's 
Acts  in  favour  of  Christianity  —  His  Christian  Councillors:  EuSEluus 
of  Caisarea.  §  5.  His  final  victory  over  Liciuius  —  Foundation  of 
CoxsTAXTixoi'LE  as  a  Christian  city  —  Constantine  a  Christian  wor- 
shipper and  preacher  —  His  ecclesiastical  supremacy.  §  6.  Toleration 
of  Heathenism.  §  7.  Constantine's  late  baptism  —  His  probable  motives 
for  the  delay  —  His  death,  character,  and  ecclesiastical  position.     §8. 


236      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

The  sons  of  Constantine  :  Con'stantine  II.,  Co>"Stantius  II.,  and  CoN- 
STANS  —  Sketch  of  their  reign  —  Constant! us  sole  emperor  —  His 
character  and  ecclesiastical  policy.  §  9.  Relations  of  the  Flavian 
dynasty  to  the  Church  —  Constantino's  interference  invited  in  the 
Donatist  Schism  —  The  Circumcelliones  —  Augustine  and  the  Donatists. 
§  10.  The  Arian  Heresy  — >  Its  original  sources  —  Origen  on  the 
Trinity  —  Lucius  of  Antioch.  §11.  Rise  and  character  of  Arius  — 
His  opposition  to  Alexander,  bishop  of  Alexandria — Doctrine  of 
Arius.  §  12.  Ai-Jus  condemned  and  expelled  from  Alexandria  —  Be- 
friended by  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia  —  Writings  of  Arius  —  Spread  of 
the  controversy.  §  13.  Constantine's  view  of  the  dispute  —  His  Letter 
to  Alexandria  —  Idea  of  a  General  Council.  §  14.  The  fii-st  (Ecume- 
nical Council  gathered  at  Nicasa  —  Numbers  of  the  Bishops  and  Clergy 

—  The  chief  leaders  —  The  Archdeacon  Athanasius  of  Alexandria  — 
Parties  in  the  Council.  §  15.  Its  Meeting  and  Duration  —  Opening 
Speech  of  Constantine.  §  16.  Creeds  proposed  by  the  Arians  and  by 
Eusebius  —  Adoption  of  the  Nicene  Creed  —  The  Homoousian  formula 

—  Signing  of  the  Creed.  §  17.  Banishment  of  Arius,  and  severe 
laws  against  his  followers  —  Policy  of  Constantine.  §18.  Decision  of 
the  Council  about  Easter  and  the  Meletian  Schism  —  Its  other  dis- 
cussions and  Canons.  §  19.  Disputes  ensuing  upon  the  Council  — 
Reaction  at  the  Court — Recal  of  Arius  and    Eusebius    of  Nicomedia. 

—  Supremacy  of  the  "  Eusebian  "  or  "  Semi-Arian  "  party.  §  20.  De- 
position of  Eustathius  of  Antioch — Athanasius  made  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria—  His    resistance  to  Arius — Councils  held   against  Athanasius 

—  His  first  banishment  —  Death  of  Arius.  §21.  Restoration  and  second 
Exile  of  Athanasius  —  Disorders  at  Constantinople.  §  22.  Council  of 
Sardica  —  Second  Restoration  of  Athanasius  —  Arian  Councils  of  Aries 
and  Milan — Banishment  of  orthodox  bishops  —  Third  exile  of  Atha- 
nasius. §  23.  Parties  among  the  Arians  :  Homoioxisians  or  Semi-Arians  ; 
Anomceans  or  extreme  Arians;  Acacians,  or  middle  party — Various 
Arian  Councils. 

§  1.  No  view  of  history  is  more  fruitful  in  errors,  and  more  apt 
to  inflame  party  animosities,  than  tliat  wliich  makes  the  personal 
characters  of  leading  actors  the  standard  for  judging  of  the  events 
of  which  their  very  faults  and  even  vices  mark  them  the  more 
surely  as  instruments  in  the  hands  of  Him  who  brings  good  out  of 
evih  The  lesson  is  so  conspicuously  exhibited,  that  he  must 
be  blind  who  does  not  see  it  set  forth  in  such  characters  as  Con- 
stantine the  Great  and  Henry  VHI.,  who  had  much  in  common, 
both  in  their  better  and  their  worse  qualities.  We  are  concerned 
not  so  much  with  what  they  were,  as  with  what  they  did;  and  we 
must  regard  them  as  the  product  of  the  age  which  they  served, 
moulded  by  it  before  they  could  mould  it  in  their  turn. 
The  Edict  of  Milan  may  be  regarded,  from  the  lowest  point  of  view, 


A.D.  313.       THE  EMPEROR  CONSTANTLNE.  237 

as  an  act  of  policy,  more  solemnly  renewing  the  confession,  already 
made  by  Galerius,  that  Christianity  was  Hot  to  be  "stamped  out,"" 
and  that  the  time  had  come  to  find  for  its  moral  power  a  fit  and 
ecpial  place  among  the  other  social  forces  of  the  Empire.     But  the 
confession  extorted  from  the  dying  torments  of  Galerius  was  the 
free  expression  of  Constantine's  deliberate  judgment.      The  son  of 
Constantius  Chlorus  and  Helena,^  born  in  a.u.  272  (or  274)   and 
endowed  with  the  choicest  gifts  of  body  and  mind,  he  remained  at 
the  court  of  Diocletian  as  a  sort  of  hostage  for  his  father's  fidelity 
till  after  the  emperor's  abdication,  and  he  then  escaped  from  the 
jealousy  of  Galerius  just  in  time  to  receive  his  father's  virtual 
bequest  of  his  title  to  the  Empire.     With  that  claim  he  inherited 
the  spirit  of  tolerjition,  strengthened  doubtless  by  the  excesses  of 
persecuting  fury  which  he  had  witnessed  at  Nicomedia.     But  he 
was  still  a  heathen,  though  the  heathenism  which  he  had  learned 
from  his  father  was  (as  we  see  by  subsequent  examples)  of  that 
purer  type  which  recognized  one  supreme  God.     Still  he  worshipped 
the  gods  of  Rome,  and  professed  a  special  devotion  for  Apollo,  with 
whom  Constantine's  flatterers  compared  him  for  his  manly  beauty  ^ 
It  was  not  till  after  his  final  victory  over  his  last  remainin'-  rival 
Licinius,  that  he   made  a  distinct  profession  of  Christianiry    and 
recommended  all  his  subjects  to  embrace  the  religion  of  Christ 
(A.D.  324).     The  public  respect  which  he  had  paid  to  the  old  reliction 
up  to  that  time  was  even  continued  afterwards,  perhaps  in"his 
character  of  the  sovereign  of  subjects  of  whom  the  majority  were 
still  pagans.     Thus  his  new  capital  of  Constantinople  was  placed 
under  the  joint  protection  of  the  God  of  the  Martyrs  and  the  Goddess 
Fortune;  his  coins  bore  on  one  side  the  monogram  of- Christ  and 
on  the  other  the  image  of  the  Sun-god,  with  the  inscriptioii  Sol 
Jnvictus ;     and  he  retained  to  the  last  the  title  of  Pontifex  Maximus, 

'  His  full  name  was  Caius  Flavius  Valerius  Aurelius  Claudius  Con- 
stantinus  He  was  probably  born  at  Naissus  in  Upper  JlcPsia  (now  M.sa 
in  heryia).  His  mother  was  a  native  of  the  country,  of  low  onVin-! 
nccordmg  to  some,  the  daughter  of  an  innkeeper.  The  fabulous  British 
histories  (as  m  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  and  his  followers)  make  he"  the 
daughter  of  a  British  king,  Coel ;  but  the  truth  is  that  hir  husband  did 
not  land  m  Britain  till  tour  years  after  he  had  divorced  her  to  marry 
Iheodora  (Chap.  V  §  9),  and  when  her  son  Constantine  was  Xut 
wenty-hve  years  old  Instead  of  being  Constantine's  teacher  iu  Chr 
tiajiity,  Helena  seems  to  have  embraced  it  on  his  persuasion 

-  Some  writers  see  in  this  a  mystic  connection  with  Christianitv,  a<! 
Apollo  was  considered  to  be  a  pagan  representative  of  the  Siviour 
(Gieseler,  I.  i.  270;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  185.)  »<i^'oui. 

w!  ?n  ■'*''n  T.'^''r  ^''.V'  ?  "'■^■'^'''  """''"'*  ♦"  t''«  I-isjf^t  of  the  World, 
f  !•     1     /»      ^'''   ^"''^'  '^'^'  '-^"'"^"^'  »"^1   ''■'^™«   t-he  hicrhest  Christian 
festival,  of  His  resurrection, /rom  a  pagan  goddess;  and  sumo  astonishmen" 
12 


238      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chai'.  X. 

which  marked  the  emperor  as  the  priestly  head  of  the  pagan 
hierarchy.  It  may  have  been  in  the  like  spirit  that  Constantine 
deferred  baptism  till  he  was  at  the  jwint  of  death. 

These  inconsistencies,  to  which  very  striking  parallels  might  be 
found  in  the  history  of  religious  revolutions,  do  but  stamp  Constan- 
tine as  the  representative  of  his  age.^  The  difference  must  not  be 
forgotten  between  the  Christianity  which  sprang  up  in  its  first  purity 
as  the  fruit  of  a  real  "  conversion  " — a  complete  change  of  mind  and 
feeling:,  influencing  the  whole  life  thoroughly  thouL^h  gradually — 
and  the  more  deliberate  and  politic  choice  between  the  old  and  new 
religions,  especially  in  a  ruler.  When  Niebuhr  goes  so  far  as  to 
deny  that  Constantine  was  a  Christian  at  all,  and  urges  the  inconsis- 
tencies which  have  been  mentioned  above.  Dean  Stanley  well  rejoins  : 
"  This  is  true  in  itself.  But,  in  order  to  be  just,  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  it  probably  describes  the  religion  of  many  in  that  time 
besides  Constantine.  And  it  is  indisputable  that,  in  spite  of  all  these 
inconsistencies,  he  went  steadily  forward  in  the  main  purjwse  of  his 
life,  that  of  protecting  and  advancing  the  cause  of  the  Christian 
religion.  The  Paganism  of  Julian,  if  judged  by  the  Paganism  of 
Cicero  or  of  Pericles,  would  appear  as  strange  a  compound  as  the 
Christianity  of  Constantine,  if  judged  by  the  Christianity  of  the 
Middle  Ages  or  of  the  Keformation.  But  Julian's  face  was  not 
more  steadily  set  backwards  than  was  Constantine's  set  forwards. 
The  one  devoted  himself  to  the  revival  of  that  which  had  waxed 
old  and  was  ready  to  vanish  away ;  the  other  to  the  advance- 
ment of  that  which  year  by  year  was  acquiring  new  strength  and 
life." 

§  2.  "We  'can  easily  believe  that  Constantine's  first  favourable 
disposition  towards  Christianity  amounted  to  the  recognition  of  the 
power  of  the  Christians'  God,  and  of  Christ  himself,  side  by  side  with 
the  heathen  deities.  In  this  state  of  mind  he  would  naturally  be 
deeply  impressed  with  any  supposed  sign  of  divine  favour  in  his 
enterprise  against  those  enemies  and  rivals  who  were  also  perse- 
cutors of  Christianity ;  and  his  conviction  of  the  reality  of  such  a 
sign  would  grow  at  each  step  of  his  course  and  be  magnified  in  the 

might  be  raised  by  citing  all  the  examples  of  existing  compromises  with 
the  nnriics  and  forms  of  heathenism. 

'  The  most  obvious  case  is  that  cited  by  Dean  Stanley,  from  the 
wavering  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  in  which  Elizabeth 
presents  as  striking  a  parallel  to  Constantino's  professions  as  Henry  VIII. 
does  to  his  moral  faults.  As  to  these,  it  is  the  shame,  not  of  Christianity 
but  of  human  nature,  that  so  many  examples  of  C(iual  crimes  may  be 
drawn  from  the  lives  of  Christian  sovereigns.  (See  Stanley's  Lectures 
on  the  Eastern  Church,  Lect.  vi.,  and  Dean  Merivale's  Bampton  Lectures, 
"  On  the  Conversion  of  the  Roman  Empire.") 


A.D.  312.        COXSTANTLNE'S  VISION  OF  THE  CROSS.  239 

retrospect.  For  it  was  not  till  some  years  afterwards  that  he  related 
to  his  biographer,  Eusebius/  the  story  of  the  famous  vision  which 
some  have  accepted  as  a  parallel  to  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul. 
Constantine's  narrative  of  the  vision  bears  witness  to  the  state  of 
his  mind  at  the  time,  after  making  all  allowance  for  colouring  added 
in  the  retrospect,  without  conscious  flilsehood.^  On  his  march  from 
Gaul  (.\.D.  312)  to  the  decisive  conflict  with  Maxentius,  who  w-as 
known  to  be  seeking  the  aid  of  magic  for  the  coming  struggle, 
Constantine  felt  the  need  of  the  most  powerful  heavenly  help. 
Remembering  how  his  father  had  prospered,  and  the  miserable  ends 
of  persecuting  princes,  he  resolved  to  forsake  idols,  and  prayed  to 
the  one  supreme  God,  whom  Constantius  had  worshipped.  In  the 
midst  of  these  thoughts,^  he  beheld  in  the  heavens,  surmounting 
and  outsliining  tlie  noonday  sun,  a  figure  of  the  Cross,  with  the 
legend,  By  this  Conquer.'' 

He  was  still  perplexed  by  the  vision  when  he  fell  asleep,  and 
dreamed  that  Christ  himself  appeared  to  bim,  holding  the  same  sign, 
which  he  directed  him  to  have  displayed  on  a  banner,  and  to  bear 
it  on  against  Maxentius  and  all  enemies  in  fall  assurance  of  victory. 
On  rising  in  the  morning,  Constantine  caused  the  sacred  symbol  to  be 

'  Vit.  Constant,  i.  27-32.  Comp.  De  Mori.  Pcrsecut.  44  ;"|  Socrates, 
//.  E.  i.  2 ;  Sozom.  //.  E.  i.  3. 

*  On  this  point  it  seems  rash  to  form  a  decided  opinion  either  way. 
We  hare  the  twofold  question  of  the  truthfulness  and  judgment  of  the 
Emperor  and  his  biographer  (and  Eusebius  often  shows  both  weakness  of 
judgment  and  partiality) ;  and  the  evil  principle  of  pious  frauds  had 
already  found  a  place  among  Christians.  But  all  this  atlects  the  details 
rather  than  the  main  story,  which  appears  to  be  above  the  suspicion 
of  conscious  fabrication. 

'  It  is  a  point  very  significant  for  the  criticism  of  the  story,  that 
no  mention  is  made  of  the  place  or  date.  Of  the  later  writers,  spme 
place  the  scene  in  Gaul,  others  near  Kome,  both  being  evidently 
guesses.  • 

*  Tovr(f  [t(J3  (TTjAteiV]  v'lKa,  or,  in  Latin,  Ilac  (sc.  cimce)  or  Hoc  (so. 
sifino)  vince.  Eusebius  seems  to  imply  that  the  motto  was  in  Greek  ; 
Nicephorus  and  Zonaras  say  that  it  was  in  Latin.  The  incredible  state- 
ment that  the  vision  was  seen  by  the  whole  army — in  which  case  the 
fact  must  have  been  notorious  long  before  Eusebius  learnt  it  from  Con- 
stantine's sole  testimony — may  have  been  added  by  Eusebius.  We  think  we 
can  trace  in  several  details  an  attempt  (consciously  or  not)  to  assimilate  the 
vision  to  that  of  St.  Paul,  with  which  its  comparison  furnishes  an  admi- 
rable critical  exercise,  as  in  all  other  cases  of  scriptural  and  ecclesiastical 
miracles.  On  this  we  cannot  enter;  but  the  irsult  is  a  test  of  the  whole 
It  is  incredible  that  a  man  could  have  thus  "  seen  Christ,"  without  hence- 
forth becoming  a  complete  and  zealous  believer  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  un- 
critical believers  in  the  miracle  accept  it  to  the  full  extent  of  Constantine's 
instant  conversion.  Theodoret  (//.  E.  i.  2)  goes  so  far  as  to  say  (in  Paul's 
own  words,  Gal.  i.  1),  that  Constantine  was  called,  not  of  men  or  by  men, 
but  from  heaven,  after  the  manner  of  the  divine  Apostle. 


240      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 


* 


emblazoned  on  the  standard  called  Laharxun,^  so  as  to  form  at  once 
a  cross  and  the  monogram  of  the  name  of  Christ 
in  Greek  letters.  Under  this  banner  he  led  his 
army  to  the  battle  at  the  Milvian  bridge,  after 
which  he  set  up  at  Rome  a  statue  of 
himself,  holding  the  sacred  symbol  in 
his  hand,  with  the  inscription,  "  By  this 
saving  sign  "  (or  "  By  this  the  sign  of  salva- 
tion "),^  "  the  true  proof  of  courage,  I  delivered 
your  city  from  the  yoke  of  the  tyrant." 

The  use  of  the  Labarum,  with  its  symbol, 
is  the  one  certain  fact,  which  seems  to  contain 
the  key  to  the  whole  story.  It  became  the 
sacred  standard  of  Constantine  and  his  family 
and  their  successors  in  the  Empire,  on  whose 
coins  it  is  frequently  displayed.'  It  was  com- 
mitted to  a  guard  of  fifty  men,  whom  it  was 
believed  to  shield  from  all  the  dangers  of 
battle.  It  was  a  long  spear  overlaid  with  gold, 
with  a  crown  of  gold  and  jewels  at  the  top, 
and  with  a  transverse  rod,  from  which  tiung 
a  flag  of  purple  cloth  or  silk  bearing  the  symbol, 
and  emblazoned  with  gold  and  jewels;  or,  some- 
tiiiies,  the  monogram  was  fixed  in  gold  on  the  top  of  the  staff,  and 
the  banner  Avas  embroidered  with  the  figure  of  Christ,  or  with  those 
of  the  Emperor  and  bis  children.  The  sacred  monogram  was  also 
displayed  on  the  shields  and  helmets  of  the  soldiers.*  It  was  used 
privately,  as  well  as  publicly,  engraved  on  gems  and  on  the  small 

*  Adfiwpoy  and  ydfiovpov.  The  meaning  and  etymology  of  this  word 
are  quite  uncertain.     It  seems  to  have  been  an  old  standard,  converted 

"P      ^y   Constantine    to  its    Christian   form.      The    transverse    form 
i«    [     I    of  the  cross  (as  in  the  margin)  is  somewhat  later.     Some  of  the 
I         Roman  standards  already  bore  some  likeness  to  a  cross,  as  the 
early  Apologists  reminded  the  heathen. 

*  Euseb.  //.  IJ.  ix.  9,  Tovrcfi  rtf  ffwTTtptiiSd  ff7ifie((f>.  There  seems  much 
reason  in  Gibbon's  doubt,  whether  this  statue  and  inscription  were  set  up 
before  Constantine's  second  or  third  visit  to  Rome.  On  his  triumphal 
arch,  built  expressly  in  honour  of  the  victory,  his  success  is  ascribed,  in 
general  terms,  to  the  inward  impulse  of  the  Deity  and  his  own  greatness 
of  mind  (^i/istmctu  Divinitatis  ct  vwntis  imvjnitudine).  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  the  arch  was  erected  by  the  Senate ;  and  the  in- 
scription might  be  interpreted,  both  by  the  Emperor's  Christian  and 
heathen  subjects,  in  their  own  sense. 

^  On  one  of  Constantius  II.  it  is  accompanied  with  the  motto  Hoc  siqno 
vinces. 

*  According  to  Lactantius,  this  was  first  done  by  Constantine  before 
the  battle  with  Maxentius. 


The  Labarum. 
From  a  coin. 


A.D.  312. 


THF  SACRED  STANDARD. 


241 


caskets  worn  round  the  neck,  and  hence  called  encolpia^  (breast- 
lockets),  which  usually  contained  relics  or  a  copy  of  the  Gospels. 
The  frequent  addition  of  the  motto  "  By  this  Conquer  "  (rovTot  viKo) 


Engraved  stone  of  earliest  epoch. 
(Didron, '  Ic.  Cbretienue,'  vol.  i.  p.  396.) 


An  Encolpion  of  gold  found  in 
the  Cemetery  of  the  Vatican. 


A.  On  a  single  Tomb,  Callixtine  Catacomb. 
(Boldetti,  lib.  ii.  c.  iii.  p.  353.) 


B.  In  Cemetery  of  St. 
Agnes. 


proves  the  importance  attached  to  the  watchword,  and  the  prevalent 
belief  in  its  origin.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  belie"\ie  (and  here  is 
the  turning-point  of  the 
whole  question)  that  the 
symbol  itself  originated 
in  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine.  The  cross  was  in 
common  use  as  an  em- 
blem among  Christians  in 
the  time  of  Tertullian  -^ 
and  it  seems  not  impro- 
bable that  the  figure 
which  was  significant  of  the  name  of  Christ  was  at  least  as  old  as,  if 

'  ^EyK6\viov,  "  worn  on  the  breast." 

-  Dc  CoroTux  Mil.  c.  iii.     On  the  whole  subject  see  the  Diet,  of  Christian 
Antiqq.,  Art.  CROSS. 


D.  In  Cemetery  ot  Domitia. 
(Boldetti,  lib.  ii.  c.  iii. 
p.  353.) 


1242      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 


'not  older  than,  the  simpler  and  less  significant  form.  In  the  Cata- 
combs and  all  the  earlier  records  the  sign  of  the  cross  is  constantly 
vised  in    connection  with  the  monogram  of  Christ.' 

The  emblem  would  as- 


suredly  be  known  to  Con- 
stantino, esjx'cially  at  the 
crisis  when  every  form 
of  inquisition  was  made 
into  Christianity.  In  the 
state     of     Constantine's 

own  mind  towards  Chris- 
E.  Cross  on  Tomb  of   Flavia  Jovina,  referred  by    ,•      •.  j      -.i    .-,      , 

Baronius  to  a.d.  367.  (Boidetti,  lib.  i.  c.  ii.  p.  211.)  tianity,  and  With  the  ba- 
lance of  opinion  through- 
out the  Empire  poised  in  suspense  between  him  and  his  enemies, 
what  was  more  natural  than  his  adopting,  among  his  other  military 
standards,  one  which  would  at  once  raise  the  enthusiasm  of  his 
Christian  soldiers  (for  many  such  doubtless  followed  him  from  Gaul, 
Spain,  and  Britain)  and  rally  the  oppressed  Christians  everywhere 
to  his  side  ?  And  what  more  natural  than  tliat  his  strong  disj^osi- 
tion  to  make  such  an  appeal  to  the  force  of  Ciiristian  feeling  should 
be  reflected  in  the  dream,  which  we  must  suppose  to  have  suggested 
the  vision,  or  at  least  its  significance  ?  Of  the  vision  itself  there  is 
no  need  to  seek  a  precise  explanation,  especially  remembering  the 
lapse  of  time  before  Constantino  related  it,  and  the  temptation  to 
assimilate  its  details  to  those  of  St.  Paul's  conversion.  History  is 
too  full  of  the  records  of  o|'tical  illusions  and  atmospheric  appear- 
ances—haloes, luminous  clouds,  and  mock  suns,  often  arranged  in 
the  form  of  crosses,''  which  have  been  taken  for  signs  and  omens—  to 
leave  any  difficulty  in  supposing  that  some  such  phenomenon  had 
raised  the  wmider  and  excited  the  sui>erstition  of  Constantine^and 
his  army,  though  it  was  not  till  afterwards  that  his  imagination 
gave  it  a  definite  form. 

There  remains  the  distinct  foct,  that  Constantino  adopted  the 
Christian  symbol  as  at  least  one  standard  of  his  cause.     "  It  seems 

'  In  the  te.xt  are  some  of  the  chief  forms  found  in  the  catacombs  and 
cemeteries,  but  of  various  ages.  The  examples  A  and  D  have  another 
sort  of  interest,  as  showing  the  cross  in  the  form  of  the  Oriental  stuistifi'i, 
which  was  widely  spread  long  before  the  Christian  era,  and  has  been 
found  on  pottery  dug  up  by  Dr.  Schliemann  at  Troy.  (See  Schliemann's 
Troi/  and  its  licinains,  passim.) 

^  Gieseler  (i.  §  56)  mentions  cruciform  clouds  which  appeared  in  Ger- 
many in  1517  and  1522,  and  were  taken  by  the  Lutherans  for  supernatural 
signs.  Dean  Stanley  {Lectures  <iii  the  Eastern  Church,  p.  288)  cites,  as  a 
recent  illustration,  the  aurora  borealis  of  November  1848,  which  was 
interpreted,  in  France,  as  forming  the  letters  L,  N.  (Louis  Napoleon). 


A.D.  313.  SPIIIIT  OF  THE  EDICT  OF  MILAN.  243 

as  if  he  really  liopcd  to  use  the  Christian  symbol  as  a  token  of 
union  for  his  vast  empire,  with  that  mixture  of  sincere  faith,  super- 
stition, anil  ability,  which  characterised  most  of  his  actions."  '  And 
another  fact  is  equally  clear.  Whatever  might  be  his  motives, 
"  the  victory  of  Constantino  over  Maxentius  was  a  military  and 
political  victory  of  Christianity  over  heathenism  ;  the  intellectual 
and  moral  victory  having  been  already  accomplished  by  the 
literature  and  life  of  the  Church  in  the  preceding  period."  ^ 

§  3.  Of  the  real  attitude  of  Constantino  towards  religion  we  have 
the  evidence  of  that  great  public  monument,  the  Edict  af  Milan  for 
universal  religious  toleration.^  Its  tone  is  that  of  a  simple  mono- 
theism, with  a  sjiccial  favour  towards  Christianity  as  the  Avorship 
that  needed  special  protection  after  the  late  persecution.  The 
motive  avowed  by  the  two  emperors  was  "  the  humane  intention  of 
consulting  the  peace  and  happiness  of  their  people,  and  the  pious 
hope  that  by  such  conduct  they  shall  please  and  propitiate  the 
Deity,  whose  seat  is  in  heaven."  While  reinstating  the  Christians 
in  their  civil  and  religious  rights,  and  commanding  their  churches 
and  other  proj^erty  to  be  restored  (with  compensation  to  private 
owners  who  had  suflered  loss),  the  edict  went  beyond  all  former 
acts  of  toleration,  which  had  only  protected  Christianity  within 
existing  limits,  but  had  )mi»sed  restrictions  on  its  profession  by 
new  converts.  Now,*  for  the  first  time,  the  emperors  "  granted  both 
to  the  Christians  and  to  all  a  free  power  of  following  the  religion 
which  each  willed  toclioose,  and  that  none  who  had  given  his  mind 
to  the  rites  of  the  Christians,  or  to  whatever  religion  he  thought 
fittest  for  himself,  should  in  any  case  be  denied  its  full  exercise, 
all  sorts  of  conditions  being  abolished;^  so  that  each  of  those 
who  have  the  same  will  to  observe  the  Christian  religion,  may 
devote  themselves  to  its  free  and  simple  observance  apart  from  all 
inquietude  and  molestation." 

'  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  vol.  i.  p.  495. 
^  Schaff,  vol.  ii.  p.  28. 

*  The  edict  is  extant,  both  in  Greek  and  Latin. 

*  The  following  are  the  principal  clauses  of  the  edict,  as  £;iven  by 
Lactantius  (De  Mort.  Pcrscc.  c.  48) : — "  ILtc  ordinanda  esse  credidimus  . . . 
ut  (laremus  et  Christianis  et  omnibus  liberam  potestatem  sequendi  n;- 
lirjiouem  quam  quisque  voluisset  .  .  .  ut  nulli  oninino  facultatem  abne- 
sjandani  putai'cmus,  qui  vel  observation!  Christiauorum  vel  ei  religioni 
inentom  suam  doderet  quam  ipse  sibi  aptissimam  esse  sentiret,  .  .  .  ut, 
amotis  omnibus  omnino  conditionibus,  nunc  Hbere  ac  simpliciter  unus- 
quisque  eorum  qui  eandein  observanda;  religioni  Christianorum  gerunt 
voluutatem,  citra  ullam  inquietudinem  et  molestiam  sui  id  ipsum  ob- 
servare  contendant."  Our  translation  follows  the  peculiar  grammatical 
construction  of  the  original. 

*  An  evident  allusion  to  the  restrictions  imposed  by  former  edicts, 
especially  of  Gallienus. 


244    FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

Our  admiration  of  this  grant  of  full  religious  toleration  need  not 
be  lessened  by  the  qualifications  -which  have  been  justly  pointed 
out  by  Professor  Schaff:' — "In  this  notable  edict,  however,  we 
should  look  in  vain  for  the  modern  Protestant  theory  of  religious 
liberty  as  one  of  the  universal  and  inalienable  rights  of  man. 
Sundry  voices,  it  is  true,  in  the  Christian  Church  itself,  at  that  time 
and  even  before,  declared  firmly  against  all  compulsion  in  religion.'^ 
But  the  spirit  of  fhe  Roman  Empire  was  too  absolute  to  abandon 
the  prerogative  of  a  supervision  of  public  worship.  The  Con- 
stantinian  toleration  was  a  temporary  measure  of  state  policy,  which 
(as  indeed  the  edict  expressly  states  the  motive)  promised  the 
greatest  security  to  the  public  jieace,  and  the  protection  of  all 
divine  and  heavenly  powers  for  emperor  and  empire.  It  was,  as 
the  result  teaches,  but  the  necessary  transition  to  a  new  order  of 
things.  It  opened  the  door  to  the  elevation  of  Christianity,  and 
specifically  of  the  Catholic  hierarchical  Christianity,  with  its  exclu- 
siveness  towards  heretical  and  schismatical  sects,  to  be  the  religion 
of  the  state." 

§  4.  In  this  spirit  Constantine  always  speaks  of  the  "  Catholic ' 
Church,  in  the  series  of  edicts  through  which  we  trace  his  successive 
steps  in  the  support  and  public  establishment  of  Christianity,  but 
without  any  persecution  or  even  positive  disfavour  of  heathenism. 
"  He  exempted  the  Christian  clergy  from  military  and  municipal 
duty  (313) ;  abolished  various  customs  and  ordinances  ofl"ensive  to 
the  Christians  (315);  facilitated  the  emancipation  of  Christian  slaves 
(before  316);  legalized  bequests  to  Catholic  churches  (321);  en- 
joined the  civil  observance  of  Sunday,  though  not  as  Dies  Domini, 
but  as  Dies  Solis,  in  conformity  to  his  worship  of  AiX)llo,  and 
in  company  with  an  ordinance  for  the  regular  consulting  of  the 
haruspex  (321) ;  contributed  liberally  to  the  building  of  churches 
and  the  support  of  the  clergy;  erased  the  heathen  symbols  of 
Jupiter  and  Apollo,  Mars  and  Hercules,  from  the  imperial  coins 
(323);  and  gave  his  sons  a  Christian  education."^  Some  of  the 
most  eminent  of  the  Christian  clergy  became  his  intimate  coun- 
sellors. Among  them  was  Hosius,  bishop  of  Corduba  in  Spain, 
as  early  as  313 ;  and  afterwards  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Ca^sarea,  in 
Palestine,  the  biographer  of  Constantine  and  historian  of  the  Church, 
and  Lactantius,  the  most  eloquent  of  the  Latin  Fathers. 

§  5.  The  last  effort  of  the  heathen  party  for  ascendancy  was 
crushed  by  the  defeat  of  Licinius  in  the  battles  of  Adrianople  and 

'  Vol.  ii.  pp.  30-1. 

*  See  especially  TertuUian,  ad  Scapulam,  c.  2,  "Tamen  fiumani  juris  et 
naturulis  potcstntis  est  unieuiiiue  quod  putaverit  colere,"  &c. ;  and  Lac- 
tantius, Inst.  Div.,  19,  20. 

'  iSchafl',  vol.  ii.  p.  31. 


A.D.  324.  CHRISTIANITY  ESTABLISHED.  245 

Chrysopolis  (324),  which  left  Constantine  in  possession  of  the  re- 
united empire  and  of  the  city  of  Byzantium,  where  he  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  "  New  Rome,"  whicli  was  soon  called,  after  the 
name  of  its  founder,  Constantinople.^  The  new  capital  of  the  Em- 
pire was  marked  from  the  first  as  a  Christian  city,  while  Old  Rome 
retained  the  outward  asiiect  of  heathenism.  Instead  of  idol  temples 
and  altars,  churches  and  crucifixes  rose  in  the  new  city,  which 
never  witnessed  a  heathen  sacrifice  except  during  the  brief  reaction 
under  Julian.  The  hall  of  the  palace  was  adorned  with  pictures 
of  the  Crucifixion  and  other  scenes  from  Scripture  history.  The 
prohibition  of  gladiatorial  shows  was  the  first  great  public  fruit 
of  the  humanizing  influence  of  Christianity.  The  foundation  of 
Constantinople  may  well  be  taken  also  as  the  epoch  of  the  public 
recognition  of  Christianity,  which  Constantine  now  recommended 
all  his  subjects  to  adopt,  though  he  still  left  them  to  their  free 
choice. 

The  Emperor  was  now  a  regular  attendant  on  Christian  worship, 
and  he  observed  the  festival  of  Easter.  He  himself  composed  and 
delivered  discourses  enforcing  the  claims  of  Christianity,  which 
were  applauded  by  the  j^ople  who  flocked  to  the  palace,  as  well  as 
by  the  courtiers,  whose  avarice  and  rapacity  were  among  the 
themes  of  the  august  i)reacher.  He  called  himself  the  Bishop  of 
bishops,  and  in  the  year  after  his  victory  over  Licinius  he  as- 
sumed a  sort  of  headship  of  the  Church  on  earth,  by  convcnino- 
and  presiding  over  the  first  of  those  councils  whose  very  title 
of  OECUMENICAL  2  marked  tlie  connection  of  the  Church  with  the 
organization  of  the  Empire.  'J'he  occasion  and  history  of  that 
Council  will  be  stated  presently. 

§  6.  This  more  and  more  decided  adoption  and  establishment 
of  Christianity  did  not  lead  Constantine  to  violate  the  toleration 
promised  by  the  Edict  of  Milan,  except  within  the  Church  itself, 
where  the  civil  jwwer  was  used  to  enforce  the  orthodox  decrees  of 
the  Nicene  Council  for  the  worship  of  Christ,  while  the  worship 
of  Jove  was  left  free.  In  this  the  Emperor  must  be  regarded  as 
acting,  not  as  the  enforcer  of  a  State  religion,  but  in  the  cause  of 
what  he  deemed  necessary  order,  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the 
Church  as  declared  by  its  own  authoritative  voice.  Towards  the 
heatlien  worship  liis  only  acts  of  repression  were  in  the  interests 
of  morality,  as  when  lie  prohibited  the  obscene  worship  of  Venus 
in  Phccnicia ;  or  for  the  jjrotection  of  Christians  in  cases  where 
Heathen  rites  would  have  been  si)eciallyofleusive,as  at  the  sepulchre 
of  Christ.     The  issue  of  an  edict  for  the   general  prohibition  of 

'  The  new  buildings  were  begun  in  324,  and  the  city  was  dedicated 
>°  330.  «  See  Chap.  VII.  at  end. 


246      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.    Ciiai'.  X. 

heathen  sacrifices,  towards  the  end  of  his  reign,  is  indeed  mentioned 
bt)th  by  Eusebius  and  in  its  re-enactment  by  his  sons  in  341. 
But  the  new  edict  proves  that  tlie  first  was  not  enforced  by  Con- 
stantine  himself,  and  the  difference  is  characteristic  of  his  caution 
and  moderation,  as  contrasted  with  the  fanaticism  of  his  sons. 

§  7.  The  like  caution  was  i)robably  his  chief  motive  for  post- 
poning his  baptism  till  his  last  illness.^  It  must  be  remembered 
that  baptism  had- long  been  regarded,  not  simply  as  the  seal  of 
Christian  profession,  but  as  a  sacramental  remission  of  past  sins, 
connected  with  an  idea  of  the  almost  inexpiable  character  of  sins 
committed  after  baptism.  We  have  seen  Tertullian  opposing  hasty 
baptism  on  this  very  ground.  To  say  that  Constantine  deliberately 
kept  open  (so  to  speak)  the  account  with  heaven  and  his  own  con- 
science, may  be  left  to  those  historians  who  can  only  paint  human 
character  in  black  or  white.  Taking  a  fairer  view  of  his  feelings 
and  motives,  without  being  less  severe  on  his  faults  and  crimes, 
we  can  understand  how  the  prince  who  had  won  the  Empire  by  his 
sword  and  governed  it  with  the  pride  and  pomp  of  an  Eastern 
despot — the  man  whose  conscience  was  burdened  with  the  execu- 
tions of  the  two  Licinii  and  of  his  own  son  Crispus  '^ — should  shrink 
to  the  last  from  the  baptismal  font.  As  Schaff  well  says,  "  Death- 
bed baptisms  were  to  half-Christians  of  that  age  what  death-bed 
conversions  and  death-bed  communions  are  now."  May  there  not 
also  have  been  a  hesitation  of  policy  in  taking  the  decisive  step  of 
severance  from  his  heathen  subjects  ?  An  excuse  to  his  Christian 
friends,  and  perhaps  to  his  own  conscience,  was  always  at  hand  in 
his  wish  to  be  baptized,  after  the  example  of  Christ,  in  the  waters 
of  the  Jordan. 

To  add  another  feature  of  inconsistency,  the  prince  who  had 
presided  over  the  Nicene  Council,  and  persecuted  alternately  the 

'  This  indisputable  fact  h.ns  been  questioned  in  support  of  one  of  the 
most  unblushing  claim's  of  the  Papal  See,  the  alleged  "  Donatio  Con- 
stantini,"  as  the  foundation  of  the  Pope's  temiioralities.  On  this  Schaff 
observes,  "The  pretended  baptism  of  Constantine  by  the  Roman  bishop 
Sylvester,  in  3"24,  and  his  bestowment  of  lands  on  the  Pope  in  connection 
with  it,  is  a  mediaval  fiction,  still  unbrushingly  defended  indeed  by  Baronius, 
but  long  since  given  up  by  other  Roman  Catholic  historians,  such  as  Noris, 
Tillemont,  and  Valesius.  It  is  sulHciently  refuted  bv  the  contemporary 
testimony  of  Kusebius  alone  (lit.  Const,  iv.  61,  6'J).  who  j)laces  the 
bajitism  of  Constantine  at  the  end  of  his  life,  and  minutely  describes  it; 
and  Socrates,  Sozomen,  Ambrose,  and  .lerome  coincide  with  him." 

The  only  foundation  for  Constantino's  alleged  enilowniont  of  the  Romaji 
See  is  his  grant  of  the  Lateran  Palace  as  a  residence  for  the  bishop,  when 
he  himself  removed  to  the  New  Rome. 

*  Still,  the  guilt  of  tiiis  deed  must  not  be  exaggerated.  Niebuhr  has 
shown  that  Crisi>us  was  probably  guilty  of  the  conspiracy,  for  which,  as 
the  son  of  the  divorced  Fausta,  he  had  a  strong  motive  in  the  fear  that 


A.D.  337.  CONSTANTINE'S  BAPTISM  AND  DEATH.  247 

Arians  and  Athanasius,  was  at  last  received  into  the  Church  by 
tlie  Arian  (or  rather  semi-Ariau)  bishop,  Eiisebius  of  Nicomedia; 
but  this4ieretical  baptism  was  the  eflect  of  accident  rather  than 
design.'  Tlie  rite  was  performed  in  the  65th  year  of  the  Emperor's 
age,  at  his  palace  in  the  suburbs  of  Nicomcdia,  and  he  died  a  few 
days  later,  in  the  white  baptismal  robe,  at  Pentecost,  May  22nd, 
A.D.  337.  His  heretical  baptism  did  not  prevent  the  Greek  Church 
from  canonizing  him  with  the  extravagant  title  of  "  Isapostolos  " — 
the  "equal  of  the  Apostles'' — but  he  is  not  enrolled  among  the 
saints  of  the  Latin  Church.  His  ecclesiastical  position  is  thus 
summed  up  by  an  Anglican  divine  : — "  So  passed  away  the  first 
Christian  emjieror,  the  first  Defender  of  the  Faith,  the  first  im- 
perial patron  of  the  Papal  See  and  of  the  whole  Eastern  Church  ; 
the  first  founder  of  the  Holy  Places ;  Pagan  and  Christian,  orthodox 
and  heretical,  liberal  and  fanatical;  not  to  be  imitated  and  ad- 
mired, but  much  to  be  remembered  and  deeply  to  be  studied."^ 

§  8.  With  all  his  faults,  Constantine's  character  is  as  brightly 
contrasted  as  is  his  government  with  those  of  his  three  sons,  who 
did  no  honour  to  their  Christian  education.  A  few  words  respecting 
them  are  necessary  before  turning  to  the  controversies  of  the  Church 
under  the  Flavian  dynasty.  Constantine  II.,  Coxstaktius  II., 
and  CoNSTAKS  were  youths  of  the  ages  of  twenty-one,  twenty, 
and  seventeen  at  their  joint  accession.  Constantius,  the  ablest  of 
the  three,  being  at  Nicomedia  when  his  father  died,  made  the 
succession  sure  by  the  savage  Oriental  method  of  putting  to  death 
his  two  uncles  and  seven  of  his  cousins.  Two  others  were  saved 
by  their  tender  age  and  the  care  of  their  guardians,  and  one  of 
these  was  the  future  Emperor  Juliax. 

The  three  brothers  divided  the  Empire,  Constantino  retaining 
the  government,  which  he  alreadj-  held,  of  the  Western  provinces — 
Spain,  Gaul,  and  Britain  ;3  Constans  that  of  Italy,  with  Africa  and 

the  succession  might  pass  to  his  step-brothers.  '•  It  appears  to  me  "  (says 
Niebuhr)  "highly  probable  that  Constantine  himself  was  quite  convinced 
of  his  son's  guilt ;"  and  the  story  of  his  remorse  is  certainly  false. 

'  Eusebius  (who  must  not  be  confounded  with  his  namesake  of  Caesarea) 
was,  as  Schaff  observes,  probably  the  nearest  bishop,  and  acted  here  not  as 
a  party  leader.  Constantine,  too,  in  spite  of  the  influence  which  the  Arians 
had  over  him  in  his  later  years,  considered  himself  constantly  a  true 
adherent  of  the  Nicene  faith,  and  he  is  reported  by  Theodoret  to  have 
ordered  the  recal  of  Athanasius  from  exile  on  his  death-bed,  in  spite 
of  the  opposition  of  the  Arian  Eusebius.  He  was  in  these  matters  fre- 
quently misled  by  misrepresentations,  and  cared  more  for  peace  than  for 
truth.  The  deeper  significance  of  the  dogmatic  controversy  was  entirely 
beyond  his  sphere. 

*  Stanley,  Lectures  on  the  Eastern  Church,  p.  320. 

*  For  Constantine's  division  of  the  Empire  into  Prefectures,  see  the 
History  of  the  Ancient  World,  vol.  iii.  p.  707. 


248      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.    Chap,  X. 

Greece ;  wliile  Constantius  kept  Thrace  and  the  East,  with  the 
possession  of  the  new  capital,  to  which,  however,  he  acknowledged 
his  elder  brother's  right.  But  discord  soon  broke  out  beMveen  the 
emperors.  Constantine,  dissatisfied  with  his  share,  made  war  with 
Constans,  and  was  killed  in  a  skirmish  while  crossing  the  Alps 
(a.d,  340).  Constans,  alter  holding  the  re-united  empire  of  the 
West  for  ten  years,  was  killed  in  an  insurrection  of  Gaul,  provoked 
by  his  misgoveYnment  (a.d.  350).  Constantius,  after  ruling  as 
sole  emjxjror  for  eleven  years  longer,  cKed  just  as  he  was  preparing 
to  defend  his  throne  against  the  insurrection  of  his  cousin  Julian 
(Nov.  A.D.  3(31).  He  alone  of  the  three  brothers  is  of  ioiportance 
in  the  history  of  the  Cliurch. 

His  character  and  ecclesiastical  policy  are  well  drawn  by  Schaflf:* 
"  Constantius,  a  temperate  and  chaste,  but  jealous,  vain,  and  weak 
prince,  entirely  under  the  control  of  eunuchs,  women,  and  bishops, 
entered  upon  a  violent  sup^jression  of  the  heathen  religion,  pillaged 
and  destroyed  many  temples,  gave  the  booty  to  the  Church,  or  to 
his  eunuchs,  flatterers,  and  worthless  favourites,  and  prohibited, 
under  penalty  of  death,  all  sacrifices  and  worship  of  images  in  Rome, 
Alexandria,  and  Athens,  though  the  prohibition  could  not  be  carried 
out.  Hosts  now  came  over  to  Christianity,  though,  of  course,  for 
the  most  part  with  the  lips  only,  not  with  the  heart.  But  this 
emperor  proceeded  with  the  same  intolerance  against  the  adherents 
of  the  Nicene  orthodoxy,  and  punished  them  with  confiscation  and 
banishment.  His  brothers  supported  Athanasius,  but  he  was 
himself  a  fanatical  Arian.  In  fact,  he  meddled  in  all  the  aflairs  of 
the  Church,  which  was  convulsed  during  his  reign  with  doctrinal 
controversy.  He  summoned  a  multitude  of  councils,  in  Gaul,  in 
Italy,  in  lUyricum,  and  in  Asia ;  aspired  to  the  renown  of  a 
theologian,  and  was  fond  of  being  called  Bishop  of  bishops  ;  though, 
like  his  father,  he  postponed  baptism  till  shortly  before  his  death." 
As  the  personal  and  political  weakness  of  Constantius  ensured  the 
popularity  of  Julian,  so  his  religious  violence  provoked  the  reaction 
attempted  by  that  prince. 

§  9.  In  following  the  relations  of  Con.stantine  and  his  sons  to  the 
Church,  we  are  met  by  the  striking  fact,  that  the  ecclesiastical  ]X)wer 
which  they  acquired  was  first  invited  by  the  dissensions  of  the  Church 
herself.  Before  Constantine  was  received  into  her  bosom  as  a  convert, 
he  was  called  to  act  for  her  as  a  judge.  This  first  appal  was  made 
to  him  in  the  year  after  his  victory  over  Maxentius,  in  connection 
with  the  DoxATiST  Schism,  which  had  sprung  up  in  Africa.  It  was 
a  fruit  of  the  old  controversy  in  the  African  church  between  the 
advocates  of  a  severe  or  gentler  treatment  of  those  who  had  fallen 

»  Vol.  ii.  p.  38. 


A.D.  313.  THE  DONATIST  SCHISM.  249 

away  in  persecution.  We  have  seen  how  the  milder  penitential 
discipline,  sanctioned  by  the  Koman  church,  had  prevailed  over  the 
stricter  treatment  maintained  in  Africa,  especially  by  the  Montanist 
and  Xovatian  sects.  Their  surviving  adherents,  and  others  who  were 
moved  by  the  enthusiasm  which  seemed  indigenous  in  the  African 
l)rovince,  courted  martyrdom  with  a  zeal  which  was  rebuked,  as 
formerly  by  Cyprian,  so  now  by  the  present  Bishop  of  Carthage, 
Mensurius,  whose  measures  to  check  such  a  sj)irit  were  aided  and 
carried  out  by  his  archdeacon,  Ca^cilian.  The  death  of  Mensurius, 
in  311,  gave  the  .signal  for  a  contest  between  the  two  parties  for 
the  vacant  see,  to  which  Cajcilian  was  elected.  His  opponents^ 
assembled  a  synod  of  seventy  Kumidian  bishops  at  Carthage,  who 
deposed  and  excommunicated  Ca'cilian,  chiefly  on  the  ground  that 
he  had  been  consecrated  by  a  traditor,^  Felix,  bishop  of  Aptunga ; 
and  they  appointed  in  his  place  JMajorinus,  w-ho,  dying  in  315  or 
earlier,  was  succeeded  by  Doxatus,  called  the  "  Great,'*  ^  whose  name 
was  given  to  the  schism  which  continued  for  more  than  a  century. 

Meanwhile,  Constantine,  soon  after  liis  victory  over  Maxentius, 
liad  sent  relief  to  the  African  Christians ;  but,  in  consequence  of  the 
reports  which  had  reached  him,  he  ordered  that  not  only  his  gifts, 
but  even  the  benefits  secured  by  the  edicts  of  toleration,  should  be 
restricted  to  the  adherents  of  Cajcilian ;  and  he  added  some  harsh 
language  about  the  "  madness  "  of  the  other  party.  The  malcontents 
ajijiealed  to  the  Emperor,  asking  for  an  examination  of  their  cause 
by  the  bishops  of  Gaul,  who  might  be  supjx)sed  impartial  judges  of 
the  case  of  the  traditores,  as  their  province  had  been  free  from  the 
late  persecution.  This  is  most  noteworthy  as  the  first  .appeal  made 
by  any  section  of  the  Christian  Church  for  the  aid  of  the  civil 
}X)wer  towards  deciding  her  internal  controversies ;  and,  as  the 
Catholics  did  not  fail  to  remind  the  Doiiatists,  the  ajipcal  was  first 
made  by  those  who  afterwards  most  strongly  repudiated  all  such 
civil  interference. 

Constantine  issued  a  commission,  imder  which  the  case  was  heard 
by  a  synod  of  twenty  bishojis  in  the  Lateran  at  Kome  (then  the 
palace  of  the  Empress  Fausta),  who  decided  in  favour  of  Ca>cilianus 
(Oct.  313).  The  decision  was  confirmed  by  a  council  of  200  bishops 
(by  lar  the  largest  ever  yet  assembled)  which  Constantine  convened 
at  Aries  (Aug.  314);  and  again  by  the  Emperor  himself,  who  heard 
the  case  in  j^erson  at  Milan,  at  the  request  of  the  Donatist  party 
(316).    Their  pertinacity  was  now  treated  as  contumacy  against 

•  It  is  needless  to  complicate  our  brief  narrative  with  the  corrupt  and 
unworthy  motives  which  were  charged  upon  the  malcontents. 

-  Sec  ahove,  Chap.  V.  §  17. 

^  This  title  was  given  to  distinguish  him  from  one  of  the  first  leaders 
of  the  schism,  Donatus,  bishop  of  Casae  Nigiae. 


250     FLAVIAN  DYxNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

the  Emperor :  edicts  were  issued,  depriving  them  of  their  churches, 
and  sentencing  tliem  to  banishment,  confiscation,  and  even  death, 
thougli  it  does  not  appear  that  tlie  extreme  penalty  was  enforced 
during  the  reign  of  Constantine, 

But  persecution  only  hardened  the  resolution  of  the  sectaries,  which 
was  strengthened  by  the  character  of  their  new  chief.  Donatus 
united  great  learning  and  eloquence  and  austerity  of  life  with 
arrogance  and  spiritual  pride;  and  his  followers  boasted  of  his 
miracles  and  the  special  answers  which  he  received  to  prayer.  1'he 
sectaries  practised  an  extreme  austeritj',  which  they  were  accused 
of  substituting  for  the  plain  duties  of  religion  and  morality ;  they 
claimed  to  be  the  only  true  and  holy  Church  of  Christ ;  boasted  of 
miracles  and  revelations ;  and  required  converts  to  their  party  to 
renew  their  baptism.  They  arc  not  charged  with  doctrinal  heresy  ;* 
on  the  contrary,  they  rejected  the  attempts  of  the  Ariaus  to  open  a 
corresiwndence  with  them. 

When  Constantine  found  severity  ineffectual  against  their  fana- 
ticism, with  his  usunl  prudence  he  issued  an  edict  granting  the 
Donatists  liberty  of  foith  and  worship,  and  declaring  that  he  left 
them  to  the  judgment  of  God.  The  sect  became  stronger  in  Africa 
than  the  Catholics :  their  synod  in  a.d.  330  was  attended  by  270 
bishops,  and  the  whole  number  of  their  bishops  is  said  to  have  been 
at  one  time  as  great  as  400. 

Enthusiastic  ideas  of  religion  and  ascetic  professions  have  ahvaj's 
been  pushed  to  extremes  of  wild  extravagance,  for  which  their  more 
moderate  votaries  are  held  responsible.  Thus,  out  of  the  Donatists 
arose  a  disorderly  mendicant  fraternity,  who  called  themselves  the 
Soldiers  of  the  Agonizing  Christ,*'  but  were  commonly  known  as 
Circumcellions,^  from  their  going  about  among  the  cottages  of  the 
peasantry  to  beg,  instead  of  working  for  their  living.  But  they  are  re- 
presented as  banditti  rather  than  mere  beggars ;  both  sexes  committing 
every  excess  of  rapine,  lust,  and  violence  ;  plundering  and  torturing 
the  Catholic  clergy  esiTccially ;  beating  their  victims  with  clubs,* 
often  to  the  death ;  and  at  the  same  time  fanatically  courting  death, 
which  they  called  martyrdom,  from  travellers  whom  they  attacked, 
demanding  it  at  the  hands  of  the  judges,  or  committing  suicide  in 

'  "St.  Augustine  sars  th.-it  Donntus  left  writinsjs  which  were  heretical 
as  to  the  doctrines  relating  to  the  Godhead,  but  that  the  sect  neither 
adopted  his  hetei-odo.xy,  nor  apparently  knew  of  it  {De  Uteres.,  69)." 
(Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  199.) 

-  Milites  Christi  Aijonistici. 

^  Circumrcllioncs,  i.e.  "  ceilas  cirrumienfcs  rustironim." 

*  This  weajion,  which  they  called  "  Israel,"  was  chosen  because  Christ 
had  forbiilden  I'eter  to  use  the  sword  (Matt.  .xxvi.  52),  but  the  zeal  of  the 
fanatics  overcame  the  scruple,  and  they  armed  themselves  also  with  swords 
and  hatchets,  lances  and  slings. 


A.D.  313-415.       SEQUEL  OF  THE  DONATIST  SCHISM,  251 

various  forms,  except  hanging,  which  they  eschewed  because  Judas 
was  a  traditor  I  These  excesses  were  condemned  by  the  great  body 
of  the  Donatists ;  but  when  Constans  sent  commissioners  to  com- 
pose the  troubles  and  win  over  the  sectaries  by  presents,  Donatus 
spurned  the  offer,  exclaiming,  "  Wliat  has  the  Emperor  to  do  with 
the  Church '?"  The  Circumcellions  rose  in  a  revolt  which  was  ])ut 
down  by  Jorce  of  arms ;  the  whole  sect  were  involved  in  the 
ensuing  persecution,  conducted  by  the  imperial  officer  Macarius  ;  ^ 
and  Donatus  himself  was  driven  into  exile  (a.d.  348). 

The  history  of  the  schism  may  be  most  conveniently  here  fol- 
lowed to  its  end.  Julian's  universal  toleration  restored  to  them 
their  churches,  which  they  repaired  and  adorned  ;  but  his  Christian 
successors  renewed  the  persecution.  The  sect  suffered  also  from 
internal  divisions,  while  its  quarrel  with  the  Catholics  grew  in 
bitterness,  and  affected  all  the  transactions  of  daily  life.  "We  are 
told,  for  example,  that  the  Donatist  bishop  of  Hippo  forbad  the 
members  of  his  church  to  bake  bread  for  their  Catholic  fellow- 
citizens.  In  a  very  different  spirit  the  Catholic  bishop  of  that  see, 
the  great  Augustine,  attempted  at  once  to  refute  and  reconcile  the 
Donatists  by  argument  and  persuasion.  In  a.d.  411,  the  renewed 
controversy  was  brought  to  a  decisive  issue  in  an  assembly  of  286 
Catholic  and  279  Donatist  bishops,  convened  at  Carthage  by  order 
of  Honorius.  Tlic  debate  was  led  by  Axigustine  on  the  Catholic 
side,  and  by  Petilian  on  the  part  of  the  Donatists,  who,  besides 
the  original  questions  at  issue,  argued  strongly  against  all  compul- 
sion and  all  interference  of  the  civil  power  in  matters  of  religion. 
Though  the  even  balance  of  numbers  made  a  show  of  fairness,  the 
decision  was  left  entirely  to  the  iircsidcnt,  Marcellinus,  the  imperial 
tribune  and  a  friend  of  Augustine,  who  gave  it  against  the  Donatists. 
Fresh  edicts  were  issued,  banishing  their  clergy,  confiscating  their 
churches,  imposing  fines  upon  their  laity,  and,  at  last,  forbidding 
their  religious  assemblies  on  pain  of  death  (415).  Even  Augustine 
now  advocated  forcible  means  of  reclaiming  them,  and  ixjrvertcd 
the  words  in  which  Christ  enjoined  self-sacrificing  urgency  on  his 
servants,  into  a  command  to  destroy  those  whom  they  were  sent 
forth  to  save  : — "  Compel  them  to  come  in  "  (Luke  xiv.  23).  A  few 
years  later  (428)  Africa  was  overrun  by  the  Vandals,  who  had 
become  fanatical  converts  to  Arianism,  and  crushed  out  the  contro- 
versy in  the  oppression  of  both  parties.'-  But  a  remnant  of  the 
Donatists  is  still  traced  as  late  as  the  seventh  century,  when  African 

'  la  Augustine's  time  they  spoke  of  this  persecution  as  "the  times 
nf  Macarius  "  {tempora  Macarii),  and  they  gave  the  name  of  Macarians  to 
the  Catholics,  who,  however,  disapproved  of  these  severities. 

-  See  Chap.  XVII   §§  3,  4. 


252     FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

Christianity  was  swept  away  by  the  Saracen  conquest.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  errors  of  the  Donatists,  and  however  intolerant 
their  party  spirit,  they  deserve  respect  for  their  witness  in  behalf  of 
the  purity  and  unworldly  nature  of  the  invisible  Church  of  Christ. 

§  10.  Tiie  second  and  more  famous  controversy,  for  the  decision 
of  which  Constantine  used  his  power  as  the  temporal  head  of  the 
Church,  as  well  as  the  ruler  of  the  Roman  world,  was  that  between 
the  Catholic  and^ARlAN  parties.  Under  this  new  name,  the  dis- 
pute was  the  sequel  and  climax  of  that  which  we  have  traced  in  the 
third  century  concerning  the  Trinity,  and  more  esix;cially  the 
divinity  of  the  Son.  It  must  oiot,  however,  be  regarded  as  a  branch 
of  the  Monarchian  heresy.  It  arose  in  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic 
Church  out  of  the  attempt  to  explain  the  mode  of  e.flstence  in  that 
Trinity,  which,  as  all  agreed,  was  distinctly  taught  from  the  first 
by  Christ's  own  formula  of  baptism. 

In  the  Alexandrian  Church,  the  speculative  mind  of  Origen  had 
attempted  to  explain  the  mystery  of  a  Trinity  of  Persons  in  the 
Unity  of  the  Divine  Essence.  While  attributing  to  the  Son  eternity 
and  other  divine  attributes,  he  taught  a  distinction  of  essence  or 
substance  ^  between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  the  subordination 
of  the  Son,  as  a  "  second  God,"  to  the  Fatlier — "  God"  absolutely, 
the  "  root  and  fountain"  of  the  Godhead;^  and  he  explained  the 
eternal  generation  of  the  Son  from  the  Father  as  the  connnunication 
of  a  secondary,  though  still  a  divine  substance.  In  all  this,  however, 
lie  not  only  stops  short  of  making  the  Son  a  being  created  by  the 
Father,  but  he  distinctly  represents  Christ  as  intermediate  between 
the  uncreated  Father  and  the  creature  {Cont.  Celsum,  iii.  34). 

But  the  source  of  Arianism  was  not  purely,  nor  perhaps  even 
chiefly,  Alexandrian ;  and  it  sprang  up  there  in  antagonism  to  the 
teaching  of  that  church.  *'  In  general,  Arianism  was  much  more 
akin  to  tlie  spirit  of  the  Antiochian  school  than  to  that  of  the 
Alexandrian.  Arius  himself  traced  his  doctrine  to  Lucius  of 
Antioch,  who  advocated  the  heretical  views  of  Paul  of  Samosata 
on  the  Trinity."^  It  was  from  insisting  on  the  Origenistic  view  of 
the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son  from  the  Father,  and  inferring  from 
it  (against  Origen)  the  imity  of  substance,  h&moousia  (onoovata,  from) 
6^6s,  "the  same,"  and  ouo-ia),  or  consubstaiitialify  of  the  Father 

'  'ErepfiTTjr  rrjs  ovaias,  ov .  rov  uTTo/cfijueVoi;  (A;  Orat.  c.  15).  It  will 
be  seen  presently  that  the  whole  controversy  turns  on  this  word  ovaia, 
"  beint?,"  from  dixi,  "  I  am  "),  and  it  is  not  a  little  allecteJ  by  the  two  L:itin 
translations  of  this  Greek  term  as  essentia  and  subiitantiij. 

^  He  not  only  insists  on  a  distinction  of  6f(^s  (without  the  article)  and 
6  6(6^  (see  John  i.  1),  but  amplifies  the  d  OtSs  into  avT66fos  {Dext6  per  se), 
and  calls  the  Lo£;os  Sdrfpos  6(6s. 

*  Schaflf,  vol.  iii.  p.  620. 


A.D.  318  f.  ALEXANDER  AND  AKIUS.  253 

and  the  Son,^  tliat  Alexander,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  incurred  the 
charge  of  l?abellianisni  from  one  of  liis  presbyters,  named  Arius.  ^ 

§  11.  Arius  is  said  to  liave  been  born  about  a.d.  256,  a  Libyan 
of  Cyrenaica,  and  therefore  a  fellow-countryman  of  Sabellius.  In 
person  he  was  tail  and  thin,  with  a  grave  and  austere  aspect,  but 
fascinating  manners,  and  an  air  of  modesty  which  covered  (so  said 
his  enemies)  a  vain  and  ambitious  spirit.  He  was  famed  for  liis 
learning  and  strict  morality  ;  and  his  zeal  for  the  purity  of  the  Church 
had  already  led  him  to  join  the  schism  of  Meletius,  bishop  of  Lyco- 
polis,  who  had  condemned  the  moderation  of  Peter,  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria, towards  the  lapsed.  For  this  Arius  was  excommunicated  by 
Peter,  by  whom  he  had  been  ordained  a  deacon  ;  but  he  was  restored 
to  communion  and  ordained  a  presbyter  by  the  next  bishop,  Achillas. 
His  disappointment  of  ihc  succession  to  the  see,  -when  Achillas  died 
soon  after,  is  alleged  by  some  writers  as  a  motive  for  his  opposition 
to  Alexander,  who  obtained  it ;  but  there  is  no  clear  evidence  that 
Arius  was  a  candidate.  His  first  collision  Avith  Alexander  is 
variously  rei^rted  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that,  in  opposition  to  the 
bisliop's  humooHsiaii  doctrine,  Arius  maintained  that  the  Son, 
though  the  Creator  of  the  world  and  invested  with  divine  power  in 
high  measure,  was  not  truly  divine,  but  was  a  creature  of  God,  the 
first  created  of  all  beings  (so  he  interpreted  "  first  begotten")  out  of 
nothing,^  and  a  perfect  type  of  created  excellence.  The  novelty  and 
logical  clearness  of  this  view  gained  Arius  many  adherents,  amongst 
whom  wci'c  two  bishops,  about  twelve  presbyters  and  as  many 
deacons,  and  a  great  number  of  virgins. 

§  12.  After  trying  to  reclaim  Arius  by  persuasion,  till  his  leniency 
threatened  to  provoke  a  schism,  Alexander  held  at  Alexandria 
a  council  of  a  hundred  Egyptian  and  Libyan  bishops,  by  whoni 
Arius  was  condemned  and  excommunicated  as  a  heretic  (a.d.  321). 
He  went  first  to  Palestine,  where  Eusebius  of  Caisarea  in  vain  inter- 
ceded with  Alexander  on  his  behalf,  and  afterwards  to  the  imperial 
capital  of  Nicomedia,  where  he  found  more  decided  support  from  the 
otlier  Eusebius.  This  bishop,  the  old  fellow-student  of  Arius  in  the 
school  of  Lucian,  procured  the  declaration  of  his  friend's  orthodoxy 
from  a  synod  of  Bitbynian  bishops.  From  Nicomedia  Arius  issued 
a  number  of  works,  designed  to  diffuse  his  doctrines  among  the 

'  The  distinction  between  the  Orisjenist  and  Athanasian  doctrine  of  the 
eternal  generation  is  well  expressed  by  Schaff:  that  the  latter  denotes 
"  the  generation  of  a  person  of  the  same  substance  from  the  su'istance  of 
the  Father,  not  of  a  person  of  different  substance  fi-om  the  nill  of  the 
Father." 

*  ""Aptios,  which,  by  a  curious  coincidence,  means  martial. 

'  Hence  Alexander  called  the  Arians  Exucontians  (ot  i^  ovk  oinwv,  i.e. 
"out  of  things  not  existing."  Conip.  the  /xtj  (KipaivoufvaivoiWch.  xi.  '2). 
13 


254     FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

people  of  all  classes.  They  Averc  set  forth  both  in  prose  and  verse 
in  his  Thalia,  '  the  Banquet,' — a  title  which  denoted  his  purpose 
that  the  pieces  in  it  might  be  used  for  social  recitation ;  and  with 
the  like  object  he  wrote  songs  for  millers,  sailors,  and  travellers. 
Meanwhile  his  doctrines  w^ere  denounced  in  circular  letters  from 
Alexander  to  all  the  churches  of  Syria  and  Asia  Minor.  The  contest 
filled  all  the  East,  and,  says  Eusebius,  "  Bishop  rose  against  bishop, 
district  against  district,  only  to  be  compared  to  the  Symplegades. 
dashed  against  each  other  on  a  stormy  day." 

§  13.  That  this  state  of  things  raised  genuine  and  sincere  dis- 
turbance in  the  mind  of  Constantino,  to  whom  Eusebius  of  Kico- 
media  wrote  on  behalf  of  Arius,  we  have  the  proof  in  a  remarkable 
letter  addressed  by  the  Emperor  to  the  Alexandrian  Churck  (a.d. 
324).  At  the  very  epoch  when,  by  his  final  victory  over  Licinius 
and  the  foundation  of  his  new  capital,  he  seemed  to  have  attained 
his  great  idea  of  a  re-united  empire  bound  together  by  the  moral 
force  of  Christianity,  he  had  found  the  Christian  Church  itself 
falling  asunder.  The  unity  of  the  Empire  was  threatened  in  the 
very  principle  in  which  he  had  sought  its  vital  bond.  He  had 
turned  (he  says)  with  lively  hope  from  the  distracted  West  to.  the 
Eastern  regions  of  his  empire,  as  those  from  Avhich  Divine  light  had 
first  sprung ;  "  but  oh  !  divine  and  glorious  Providence,  what  wound 
has  fallen  on  my  ears — nay,  rather  on  my  heart !"  He  makes  an 
earnest  a^opeal  to  the  combatants  to  abandon  these  futile  and  inter- 
minable disputes,  and  to  return  to  the  harmony  which  became  their 
common  faith;  for  he  plainly  cared  nothing  for  theological  subtle- 
ties, but  everything  for  the  stability  and  peace  of  the  system  he  had 
established.  Yet  it  is  no  cold  policy  which  breathes  in  the  apj^eal, 
"  Give  me  back  my  calm  days  and  my  quiet  nights,  light  and  cheer- 
fulness instead  of  tears  and  groans."  1'his  letter  was  followed  by 
the  mission  of  Constantine's  earliest  Christian  councillor,  the  vene- 
rable Bishop  Hosius  of  Corduba  (Cordova  in  Spain),  who  returned 
from  Alexandria  bringing  no  hoj)e  of  peace,  but  a  report  unfavour- 
able to  Arius.  Then  it  was — Constantine  himself  tells  us — that, 
"  by  a  sort  of  divine  inspiration,"  ho  conceived  the  idea  of  con- 
vening a  council  of  the  representatives  of  the  whole  Church.  This 
first  attempt  to"  fix  a  standard  of  Catholic  doctrine  by  the  yoice  of 
a  majority  in  such  an  assembly  was  the  first-fmit  of  the  union  of 
the  supreme  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority.  By  this  precedent, 
as  well  as  by  the  very  title  of  O'^.atmenkal,^  a  General  (^ouncil  was 
exhibited  as  jxirt  of  the  constitution  of  the  Christian  Empire,  and 

'  This  title  is  precisely  cqiiivalent  to  imperud  ;  for  the  technical 
meaning  of  ^  o'lKovixivt)  (literally,  "the  inhabited  world")  was  the 
Roman  Empire,  as  in  Luke  ii.  1.    (Compare  Chap.  VII.  at  end.) 


A.D.  324.     THE  FIRST  UNIVERSAL  COUNCIL  CONVENED.  255 

the  doctrine  was  established,  that  "  General  Councils  may  not  be 
gathered  together  but  by  tlie  commandment  and  will  of  princes."  ' 

§  14.  The  machinery  for  gathering  tlie  Council  was  also  im- 
perial. Eusebius  tells  us  that  the  Emperor  sent  respectful  letters/ 
inviting  the  bishops  from  all  quarters  to  come  with  all  speed  to 
Nicaja,*  putting  the  public  conveyances  at  their  service,  and  i^ro- 
vidinf  liberally  from  the  imperial  treasury  for  their  expenses 
during  the  Council  as  well  as  on  the  journey  to  and  fro.  Each 
bishop  was  to  bring  with  him  two  presbyters  or  deacons,  with  three 
servants.  They  travelled  in  the  public  post  carriages,  or  ou  horses, 
mules,  and  asses,  but  some  of  them  came  on  foot.  The  number  of 
bishops  who  assembled  was,  at  most,  318,  or  about  one-sixth  of 
the  total  number  tliroughout  the  Empire,  who  are  estimated  at 
about  1000  in  the  Greek  provinces  and  800  in  the  Latin.  Includ- 
ing the  presbyters,  deacons,  and  otiier  attendants,  the  whole  number 
may  have  amounted  to  between  1500  and  2000.*  The  great 
inequality  in  the  representation  of  the  East  and  West  seems  to 
indicate  their  different  degree  of  interest  in  the  question  at  issue, 
rather  than  tlie  difficulties  of  the  journey.  The  Latin  churches  sent 
only  seven  bishops ;  and  the  fact  deserves  special  notice,  that  this 
first  representative  assembly  of  all  the  churches^  decided  on  the 
Catholic  faith  without  the  presence  or  voice  of  the  Bishop  of  Kome, 
though  the  aged  Sylvester  was  represented  by  two  presbyters, 
Victor  (or  Vitus)  and  Vincentius.  The  Church  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  Empire  had  two  representatives ;  a  Persian  bishop,  John, 
and  a  Gothic  bishop,  Theophilus,  the  forerunner  and  teacher  of 
Ulfilas. 

Among  the  bishops  conspicuous  for  their  rank  were  the  patri- 
archs of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  Alexander  and  Eustathius,  the 
former  of  whom  then  bore  the  title  of  Pope  {Papa  or  Ah-ahha,  i.e. 
Pater  jidtmra).  These  two  patriarchs  appear  to  have  been  the 
ordinary  presidents  of  the  Council  in  turn  with  Hosius  of  Corduba 

'  Articles  of  Religion,  Art.  XXL  See  Stanley's  Lectures  on  the  Eastern 
Church.  -  rpdu/j-afft  rtfir)TiKo7s. 

'  Nicaa  (Ni»cai'o),  at  that  time  the  most  important  of  several  cities 
of  the  name  in  Asia  and  Europe,  was  the  second  city  of  Bithynia,  about 
twenty  miles  from  Niconv;dia.  It  is  now  a  miserable  Turkish  village, 
called  Isni/:  (from  els  'NtKaiav),  just  as  Nicomedia  is  called  Isni/anid  or 
Jsinid  (fis  tiiKOfiriSfiai'),  and  Constantinople  Istamboul  (els  riiu  ir6\iv, 
"  the  Citj'  "  pur  excellence).  The  common  abbreviation,  Nice,  is  the  more 
unfortunate  from  its  identity  with  the  better  known  town  of  Provence. 

*  Schair,  vol.  iii.  p.  G24-. 

*  Observe  that  this  is  strictly  accurate,  for  all  the  churches  had  the 
opportunity  of  sending  representatives  ;  and  the  primitive  assembly 
(Acts  XV.),  which  some  call  the  First  Council,  was  one  of  the  Church 
of  Jerusalem  onlv. 


256      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  AKIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

and  Eusebius  of  Csesarea  (Metropolitan  of  Palestine),  \vho  were  the 
special  advisers  of  the  Emperor  and  sat  at  his  right  and  left  when 
he  presided  in  person.  The  patriarch  Alexander  was  attended  by  his 
archdeacon,^  Athanasius, — a  small,  insignificant-looking  young  man, 
but  of  bright  serene  countenance,  hardly  twenty,  years  of  age.  He 
was  probably  a  Copt,  or  pure  Egyptian,  and  he  had  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  Alexander  through  a  curious  incident.  From  the  windows 
of  a  lofty  house,  in  which  the  patriarch  was  entertaining  his 
"clergy,  his  attention  was  drawn  to  some  children  who  were  play- 
ing a  strange  game  on  the  sea-shore.  On  being  brought  before 
Alexander,  they  reluctantly  confessed  that  they  had  been  acting  a 
baptism,  and  that  one  of  them,  having  been  chosen  to  play  the  part 
of  a  bishop,  had  dipped  them  in  the  sea.  Finding  that  this  boy- 
bishop  had  administered  the  rite  with  all  the  proper  forms,  Alex- 
ander declared  it  to  be  a  valid  sacrament,  himsclt  added  the  oil  of 
confirmation,  and,  struck  with  the  knowledge  and  gravity  of  the 
young  Athanasius,  he  took  under  his  charge  the  boy  who  was 
destined  to  be  his  successor  as  anything  but  a  mock  bishop  of 
Alexandria. 

In  the  debates  of  the  Council — in  wliich  the  inferior  clergy  had  a 
voice,  though  the  bi.shops  only  had  a  vote — the  young  archdeacon 
already  outshone  most  of  the  fathers  and  dignitaries  by  the  skill 
and  vehemence  of  his  arguments.  Arius,  too,  was  present,  by 
command  of  the  Emperor,  and  was  often  called  upon  to  state  his 
views,  which  were  supported  by  many  of  the  Egyptian  clergy. 
The  leader  of  his  party,  which  numbered  about  twenty  bishops,  was 
Eusebius  of  Nicomcdia.  Eusebius  of  Ca^sarea  led  a  middle  party, 
composed  chiefly  of  his  suffragan  bishops  from  Palestine.  This 
middle  party  seem  to  have  formed  the  majority,  but  in  the  end 
they  sided  with  the  high  orthodox  party,  who  were  led  by  Hosius 
of  Corduba  and  the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch. 

§  15.  At  the  Pentecost  or  Whitstmtide  of  the  year  325,  which  was 
also  the  epoch  of  Constantine's  Vicennalia^  the  representatives  of 
the  churches  were  gathered  at  Nica3a,  and  the  Emperor  arrived  on 
the  l-ith  of  June.  The  session  was  closed  on  the  25th  of  July,  the 
anniversary  of  the  accession  of  Constantine,  on  whose  invitation  the 
njembers  remained  for  a  month  to  celebrate  his  Vicenntdia?  The 
sittings  were  held  partly  in  a  church  or  other  building,  and 
partly  in  the  jialace.  Eusebius  gives  a  glowing  description  of 
the  opening  scene:*  "After  all  the  bishops  had  entered  the  central 

1  This  title  was  then  used,  as  it  still  is  in  the  Eastern  Church,  in  its 
literal  sense,  for  the  "  chief  of  the  deacons." 

^  The  festival  in  celebration  of  the  twentieth  year  of  his  roign. 

^  These  are  the  dates  of  Hefele  {ConcUicnqeschichte,  i.  p.  261),  a<loj)ted 
bv  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  624.  *  Euseb.  Vit.  Const,  iii.  10,  abridged. 


A.D.  325.  THE  COUNCIL  OF  NIC.EA.  257 

building  of  the  royal  palace,  on  the  sides  of  which  very  many  seats 
were  prepared,  each  took  his  place  with  becoming  modesty,  and 
silently  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Emperor.  The  court  officers 
entered  one  after  another,  but  only  such  as  professed  faith  in  Christ. 
The  moment  the  signal  was  given  which  announced  tlie  Emperor's 
approach,  they  all  rose  from  their  seats,  and  the  Emperor  appeared 
like  a  heavenly  messenger  (or,  angel)  of  God,  covered  with  gold  and 
gems, — a  glorious  presence,  very  tall  and  slender,  full  of  beauty, 
strength,  and  majesty.  With  this  external  adornment  he  united 
the  spiritual  ornament  of  the  fear  of  God,  modesty  and  humility,  as 
might  be  seen  in  his  downcast  eyes,  his  blushing  face,  the  motion  of 
his  body  and  his  walk.  AVhen  he  reached  the  golden  throne  pre- 
pared for  him,  he  stopped,  and  sat  not  down  till  the  bishops  gave 
him  the  sign  ;  and  after  him  they  all  resumed  their  seats." 

After  the  bishop  on  his  right  hand  (probably  Eusebius  of 
Caisarea)  had  addressed  to  him  a  brief  si:ieech  of  salutation,  Con- 
stantino delivered  the  opening  address  in  Latin,  which  was  imme- 
diately translated  into  Greek.  God's  greatest  blessing  (he  said)  had 
now  lultilled  his  own  highest  wish,  to  see  them  all  gathered  together 
in  harmony.  Victory  had  been  granted  him  over  the  enemy  of 
Christ  (thus  he  glanced  at  Licinius);  but  discord  in  the  Church  was 
more  fearful  and  iiainful  than  any  other  war.  As  soon  as  he  heard 
of  their  divisions,  desiring  to  aid  by  his  service,  he  summoned  them 
without  delay.  He  exhorted  them,  as  his  friends  and  the  servants 
of  God,  to  put  away  all  causes  of  strife  and  loose  all  knots  of  discord 
by  the  laws  of  peace.  "  Thus,"  he  added,  "  shall  you  accomplish  the 
work  most  pleasing  to  God,  and  confer  upon  me,  your  fellow-servant, 
an  exceeding  great  joy."  Having  thus  spoken,  Constantine  left  the 
regulation  of  the  debates  to  the  ordinary  presidents,  but  he  con- 
tinued to  take  an  active  part  in  the  deliberations. 

§  10.  After  long  discussions,  in  which  the  views  of  Arins  were 
fully  stated  by  himself,  and  combatted  especially  by  Marcellus, 
bishop  of  Ancyra,  and  Athanasius,  the  Arians  were  the  first  to 
ofler  a  creed,  signed  by  eighteen  bishops;  but  it  was  tuniultuously 
rejected,  and  even  torn  to  pieces;  ujwn  which  all  its  proposers, 
except  two  Egyptian  bishops,  withdrew  from  the  cause  of  Arius 
for  the  sake  of  imauimitj'.  Eusebius  and  the  middle  party  offered, 
as  a  ground  of  common  agreement  an  ancient  confession  used  in  the 
churches  of  Palestine,  which  acknowledged  the  divinity  of  Christ 
in  general  terms  derived  from  Scripture.  This  confession  had  been 
approved  by  the  EmfXTor,  and  would  have  been  accepted  by  the 
Arian  partj' ;  but  the  high  orthodo.K  leaders  would  be  content  with 
nothing  short  of  the  use  of  the  word  homoousios  (dfioovcrios)^  to 

•  This   word  is   also  used   iu   the  contracted   form   &iJu>vatos.     la  tlje 


258      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.    Chap.  X. 

express  the  sameness  of  essence  or  substance  of  the  Son  with  that 
of  the  Father.  On  their  part  Hosius  announced  that  a  creed  was 
prepared,  which  was  read  by  the  secretary  of  the  Council,  Her- 
mogenes,  a  deacon  (and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Cassarea).  This  was, 
in  substance,  the  well-known  Nicene  Creed.  But  as  the  deity  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  had  not  been  a  subject  of  special  discussion,  the 
Council  were  content  simply  to  affirm  the  doctrine,  and  the  creed 
ended  with  the  words,  "  And  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  further 
enlargement  was  added  by  the  Council  of  Constantijiople  in  381.^ 

To  the  original  creed  a  clause  was  appended,  anathematizing 
Arius  and  liis  followers;  and  henceforth  no  affirmation  of  truth 
was  deemed  forcible  enough  without  a  curse  on  its  deniers.  The 
creed  was  signed  first  by  Hosius,  then  by  the  two  Roman  presbyters, 
as  representing  Sylvester,  and  by  nearly  all  the  bishops.  Eusebius 
of  Ca3sarea  subscribed  his  name  after  taking  a  day  to  consider  his 
course.  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia  and  Theognis  of  Nica^a  would  only 
consent  to  sign  the  creed  without  the  anathema ;  and  their  con- 
demnation by  a  local  synod  soon  afterwards  (probably  on  the 
charge  of  holding  fellowship  with  Arius)  was  followed  by  a 
sentence  of  temporary  banishment,  but  they  ultimately  accepted 
all  the  acts  of  the  Council.^ 

§  17.  The  two  Egyptian  bishops  who  alone  positively  refused  to 
sign  the  Creed,  Theonas  and  Secundus,  were  banished  to  Illyria 
with  Arius,  against  whom  and  his  followers  severe  penalties  were 
decreed.  His  books  were  publicly  burnt,  and  it  was  even  made  a 
capital  offence  to  possess  them.  Thus  the  principle  of  punishment 
by  tlie  civil  power  for  heresy,  which  we  have  before  seen  acted  on  in 
some  particular  cases,  was  for  the  first  time  established  as  a  law. 
Constantino  applied  terms  of  bitter  contumely  to  those  who  dared  to 
stand  out  against  his  scheme  of  unity,  condescending  in  his  letters  to 
pim  on  the  name  of  Arius  and  to  ridicule  his  personal  appearance, 
and  ordering  his  followers  to  be  called  For phyr inns,  after  the  last 
great  heathen  writer  against  Christianity.  The  Emperor's  position 
at  this  crisis  is  well  described  by  Dean  Stanley : — "  His  leading  idea 
was  to  restore  peace  to  the  Church,  as  he  had  restored  it  to  the 

passage  of  the  Creed  it  is  in  the  accusative  case  (governed  by  ino-TfJco 
els),  and  hence  the  dogma  is  often  described  by  the  abstract  tJI*  b^oovaiov, 
*'  the  (term)  homoousion."  '  See  Chap.  XI.  §  7. 

-  The  statement  of  the  Arian  historian,  Philostorgius  (i.  c.  it),  who 
appears  to  accuse  these  bishops  of  an  insincere  substitution  of  the  senii- 
Arian  term  6fjioiov<Tios  for  the  orthodox  d/iaova-ios  by  the  advice  of  the 
Emperor,  is  generally  rejected.  But,  as  tJanon  Robertson  observes  (vol.  i.  j). 
211),  his  words  seem  rather  to  mean  that  they  concealed  their  heretical 
opinion  under  their  adoption  of  the  orthodox  term  (jh  dfioiovaiof  iv  rfj 
Tov  dfxoovffiov  <pii>v^  viroKKfipamfs^. 


A,D.  325.  SETTLEMEST  OF  EASTER.  259 

Empire.  In  the  execution  of  this  idea  two  courses  of  action  pre- 
sented themselves  to  him,  as  they  have  to  all  ecclesiastical  states- 
men ever  since.  He  stands  at  the  head  of  all  in  the  fact  that  he 
combined  them  both  in  himself.  In  him  both  the  latitudinarian 
and  tlic  persecutor  mny  find  their  earliest  precedents,  which  were 
both  alike  approved  by  the  ecclesiastics  of  that  age,  though  in  later 
times  he  has  been  as  severely  condemned  for  the  one  as  he  has  been 
praised  for  the  other.  No  scheme  of  comprehension  has  been 
broader,  on  the  one  hand,  than  that  put  forward  in  his  letter  of 
advice  to  Alexander  and  Arius ;  and,  on  the  other,  when  this  Aiiled, 
he  still  pursued  the  same  end,  with  the  same  tenacity,  by  the 
directly  opposite  means  of  enforcing  uniformity,  to  us  long  familiar, 
but  first  introduced  by  him  into  the  Church, — the  hitherto  unknown 
practice  of  subscription  to  the  articles  of  a  written  creed,  and  the 
infliction  of  civil  penalties  on  those  who  refused  to  conform." 

In  this  view,  Athanasius  calls  the  Council  of  Nicaia  "  a  true  monu- 
ment and  token  of  victory  over  every  heresy." 

§  18.  The  deliberations  of  the  Council  were  not  confined  to  the 
Arian  controversy.  It  fixed  the  time  of  Easter  in  the  manner 
already  described,'  and  made  an  attempt  to  compose  the  Meletlan 
schism,  which  ended  in  the  Meletians  joining  the  Arians.  A 
pro}X)sal  to  impose  restrictions  on  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  was 
brought  forward,  but  rejected  by  the  Council.  It  enacted  twenty 
canons  on  minor  points  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  and  jurisdiction. 
The  Creed  and  Canons  of  the  Council  were  written  in  a  volume  and 
again  subscribed  by  the  bishops.  They  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Egyptian  and  Libyan  churches  on  the  three  chief  questions 
decided;  and  the  Emperor  issued  edicts  giving  to  their  decrees, 
which  he  ascribed  to  divine  inspiration,  the  force  of  laws  of  the 
Empire, 

§  19.  But  the  settlement  arrived  at  with  such  outwai'd  unanimity 
was  immediately  followed  by  a  reaction,  and  the  decisive  formula 
seemed  only  to  have  defined  the  irreconcilable  difl'ereuce  between 
the  homoousian  and  homoiousian  dogmas.  The  question  of  agreement 
with  the  Council  raised  a  new  controversj'  throughout  the  churches. 
"While  the  Arians  held  to  their  opinions  with  all  the  zeal  of  a 
persecuted  sect,  and  surpassed  the  orthodox  in  violence  and  intole- 
rance, Constantine,  who  understood  and  cared  little  about  the 
doctrinal  question,  was  induced  by  Eusebius  of  Ciesarea,  and  esfx;- 
cially  by  the  dying  request  of  his  sister  Constantia  (a  friend  of 
Eusebius  of  Nicomedia),  to  recal  Arius  and  give  him  a  new  hearing. 
Arius  produced  a  creed  which  the  Emperor  declared  satisfactory ; 
while  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia  and  Theognis  of  Nica;a  also  obtained 
>  Chap.  VIII.  §  16. 


260      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

their  recal,  protesting  that  they  had  no  sj'mpathy  witli  the  errors  of 
Arius,  and  had  only  doubted  whether  he  really  held  such  errors. 
The  "  Eusebian  "  or  "  semi-Arian  "  party  now  recovered  full  ascen- 
dancy at  Court ;  and  they  soon  contrived  to  place  the  chief 
orthodox  leaders  in  the  invidious  position  of  antagonism  to  the 
Emperor's  authority. 

§  20.  Attacks  were  soon  made  on  the  two  great  Eastern  patriarchs, 
who  were  uncompromising  supporters  of  the  homoousian  doctrine. 
The  Bishop  of  Antioch,  Eustathius,  who  had  charged  Eusebius  of 
Csesarea  with  a  leaning  to  Arianism,  was  in  his  turn  accused  by  Euse- 
bius of  Sabellianism.  His  deposition  was  procured,  on  false  charges 
of  immorality  as  well  as  heresy,  by  a  party  synod  held  by  his  opix)- 
nents  at  Antioch,  and  the  discontent  of  his  people  furnished  a 
pretext  for  his  banishment.  Far  fiercer  was  the  strife  at  Alexandria, 
where  at  the  very  moment  when  restoration  to  communion  was 
claimed  for  Arius,  the  Nicene  party  obtained  their  recognized  head 
by  the  election  of  Athanasius  to  the  bishopric  on  the  death  of 
Alexander  (April  328).  Knowing  his  resolute  spirit,  Eusebius  of 
Nicomedia  first  attempted  to  intercede  with  him  for  Arius,  and,  when 
persuasion  failed,  Constantine  himself  wrote  to  Athanasius,  requiring 
the  reinstatement  of  Arius  and  his  followers,  on  pain  of  deposition 
and  banishment.  But  the  reply  of  Athanasius,  that  he  could  not 
restore  the  heretic  who  had  been  condemned  by  the  whole  Church, 
Avas  too  reasonable  to  be  treated  as  disobedience  to  the  Emperor; 
and  the  attempts  of  the  Ariaus  to  use  the  grievances  of  the  Meletiaus 
af'ainst  Athanasius  only  damaged  their  cause  with  Constantine. 

At  leno-th  the  Arian  party  in  Palestine  summoned  Athanasius  before 
a  council  at  Caesarea  (a.d.  334);  and,  on  his  refusal,  the  authority  of 
the  Emperor  was  used,  backed  by  threats  of  personal  violence,  to 
compel  him  to  appear  before  another  council  at  Tyre,  over  which 
Eusebius  presided  (335).  The  charges  against  Athanasius  were  so 
unfounded  and  the  procedure  so  unfair,  that,  without  waiting  for  the 
result,  he  sailed  to  Constantinople,  where  his  bold  personal  appeal 
obtained  from  Constantine  a  promise  that  the  case  should  be  heard  in 
his  own  presence. 

The  Emperor  wrote  a  letter  of  reproof  to  the  Council,  Avhich  had 
condemned  Athanasius  in  his  absence,  and  which  then  adjourning 
to  Jerusalem  to  dedicate  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  had, 
amidst  the  solemnities  at  the  sacred  city,  pronounced  the  formal 
ac(iuittal  of  Arius.  The  Arian  loaders,  whom  Constantine  had 
summoned  to  the  capital,  attacked  Athanasius  on  the  new  charge, 
well  suited  to  inflame  the  Emperor's  wrath,  that  he  had  threatened 
to  prevent  the  sailing  of  the  Egyptian  corn-fleet,  on  which  the 
capital  depended  for  its  supplies.  Whether  Constantine  believed 
the  char;'e  or  only   saw  in   the  suspicion  another  proof  of  the 


A.D.  336.  DEATH  OF  AKIUS.  2G1 

bishop's  dangerous  power,  or  from  a  mere  ]X)licy  of  prudence,  he 
banislied  him,  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace  of  the  Church,  to  Treves, 
where  Athanasius  was  received  with  honour  by  the  younger  Con- 
stantine  (33G). 

He  was  not,  however,  deposed  from  his  bishopric,  and  his  church 
adhered  to  tlio  refusal  to  receive  Avius.  The  act  of  restitution  was 
about  to  be  perfomied  in  tlie  church  of  Constantinople,  and,  on  the 
eve  of  the  Sunday  appointed  for  the  act,  Arius  was  parading  tlie 
streets  on  horsebaclc,  when  he  was  seized  with  sudden  illness,  and 
died  in  a  manner  which  the  orthodox  relators  liken  to  the  end  of 
Judas '  (336).  In  this  sudden  death  the  zealous  Catholics  saw  an 
answer  to  the  prayer  of  the  patriarch  Alexander — that  either  the 
heresiarch  or  himself  might  be  taken  from  the  world  before  his 
church  was  profaned  by  the  intended  ceremony ;  while  the  Arians 
ascribed  it  to  magical  arts.  The  latter  explanation  shows  that  no 
suspicions  were  entertained  at  the  time  of  that  foul  play  which  the 
sceptical  historian  i^roposes  as  the  only  alternative  to  a  miracle.''^ 

§21.  Constantino  died  next  year;  and  in  compliance,  as  they 
said,  with  his  dying  orders,  his  sons  recalled  the  other  exiled  bishops. 
Athanasius  was  received  at  Alexandria  "  more  joj^ously  than  ever 
was  an  emperor  "  (Nov.  338) ;  but  the  Arian  or  Eusebian  party  set 
up  one  Pistus  as  a  rival  bishop,  and  renewed  their  complaints 
of  Athanasius  to  Constantius.  Besides  reviving  old  charges,  they 
objected  to  the  legality  of  his  episcopate,  which  he  had  resumed  by 
virtue  of  the  secular  authority  alone,  though  he  had  been  deposed 
by  a  council.  This  view  received  the  sanction  of  one  of  several 
canons  enacted  by  a  council  held  at  Antioch  (340,  341) ;  and, 
though  the  Catholics  had  a  majority  ^  in  the  council,  the  Arian  or 
Eusebian  party  became  strong  enough  to  ajjply  the  canon  to  the  con- 
demnation of  Athanasius.  Besides  their  twenty-five  canons,  which 
were  generally  received  in  the  Catholic  Church,  this  council  framed 
four  creeds,  in  which,  while  Arianism  was  rejected,  the  homoousian 
formula  was  avoided.*  They  consecrated,  as  successor  to  Athanasius, 
a  Cappadocian  named  Grcgorj^  of  a  coarse  and  violent  character, 
who  entered  Alexandria  with  a  military  escort  at  Lent;  and  the 
whole  Paschal  season  was  profaned  by  the  hori-ible  outrages  com- 
mitted by  the  soldiers  and  a  mob  of  Arians,  Jews,  and  heathens. 

'  Acts  i.  18,  last  clause. 

-  "Those  who  press  the  literal  narrative  of  the  death  of  Arius  must 
make  their  option  between  ]x>iso>i  and  viiracle."    (Gibbon,  vol.  ii.  p.  212.) 

^  It  is  stated  that  out  of  ninety-seven  bishops  forty  were  Arians  or 
Eusebians.  Some  of  the  majority  may  have  gone  home,  or  the  support  of 
Constantius,  who  was  present,  may  have  turned  the  scale  in  f;ivour  of  the 
Arians.     (Socrat.  ii.  8 ;  Rpbertson,  vol.  i.  p.  223.) 

*  The  second  of  these  was  that  known  as  the  Creed  of  the  Dedication. 
13* 


262      FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

Meanwhile  Athanasius  retired  to  Koine,  where  he  was  declared 
innocent  by  a  synod  of  fifty  bishops  })resided  over  by  Pope  Julius 
(341).  At  the  same  time  Constantinople  also  was  disturbed  by  the 
quarrels  of  the  two  parties  about  the  bishopric.  Paul,  who  had  been 
designated  by  the  dying  patriarch  Alexander  (336),  had  been  elected, 
but  was  deprived  by  an  Arian  council.  Restored  to  his  see  after  the 
death  of  Constantine,  he  was  again  forced  to  give  way  to  the  transla- 
tion of  Eusebius  from  the  see  of  Nicomedia.  On  the  death  of  Eusebius 
(342),  Macedonius  was  set  up  as  a  rival  to  Paul,  and  murderous 
riots  broke  out  in  the  city.  Other  cities  were  disturbed  by  similar 
tumults. 

§  22.  Alarmed  by  this  growing  violence,  and  seeing  the  Eastern 
and  Western  churches  at  open  variance,  Constantius  arranged  with  his 
brother  Constans,  who  supported  Athanasius,  for  the  assembly  of 
a  General  Council.  About  100  Western  and  76  Eastern  bishops 
met  at  Sardica  in  Illyria,  under  the  presidency  of  the  aged  Hosius, 
and  adopted  the  Nicene  Creed  (a.d.  343) ;  but  not  till  the  Eastern 
bishops  of  the  Arian  party,  protesting  against  the  admission  of 
Athanasius,  had  withdrawn  to  Philippopolis  in  Thrace,  where 
they  held  a  separate  synod.  Each,  council  anathematized  its  op- 
ponents, and  pronounced  sentence  of  deposition  against  their  leaders. 
Athanasius,  though  accpiitted  by  the  bishops  at  Sardica,  remained 
in  exile ;  but  some  years  later  Constans  prevailed  on  Constantius  to 
restore  him  to  his  see  (345  or  34G). 

But  on  the  death  of  Constans  (350)  the  Arians  renewed  their 
attacks;  and,  when  the  defeat  of  the  usurper'  Magnentius  made 
Constantius  master  of  the  whole  Empire  (353),  he  took  active 
measures  against  Athanasius.  The  champion  of  orthodoxy  was  con- 
demned by  a  synod  at  Arelate  (Aries)  in  Gaul  (353),  and  again  at 
Milan  by  a  council  of  300  Western  bishops,  with  a  few  from  the  East, 
who  were  overawed  by  the  presence  of  Constantius  and  his  armed 
attendants  (355).  The  Emperor  propounded  an  edict  embodying  the 
Arian  doctrine,  which  he  professed  to  have  received  by  revelation ; 
and  put  down  discussion  by  saying,  "  Whatever  I  will,  let  that  be 
esteemed  a  canon;  for  the  bisho])s  of  Syria  let  me  thus  speak."' 
Many  of  tlie  most  eminent  orthodox  bishops  w-ere  deposed  and 
banished ;  among  them  the  venerable  Hosius  of  Corduba,  who  was 
styled  "  father  of  the  bishops,''^  and  Liberius,  the  Bishop  of  Pome. 

The  sentence  against  Athanasius  was  executed  with  outrageous 
violence  by  the  governor  of  Egypt,  Avho,  at  the  head  of  5000  soldiers 

'  Athanas.  Hist.  Arian.  iv.  8  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  231. 

-  Hosius  gave  way  to  the  rigour  of  a  long  imprisonment  and  the  threats 
of  the  Em])eror,  so  as  to  sign  the  Arian  formula  of  the  second  council  of 
Sirmium  (357)  ;  but  he  repented  of  his  unfaitlifulness,  and  condemned  the 
Arian  heresy  shortly  before  he  died,  at  the  age  of  about  a  hundred  years. 


A.D.  355.  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  ARIANS.  263 

and  an  Arian  mob,  entered  the  church  where  the  primate  was  j^er- 
forming  a  niglit  service,  killed  some  of  the  congregation,  beat  others, 
and  plundered  the  ornaments  of  the  church ;  while  Athanasius 
was  carried  away  by  his  clergy  against  his  will  (Feb.  9,  356),  and 
took  refuge  among  the  monks  in  the  deserts  of  Egypt.  Tlience, 
during  a  concealment  of  six  years,  he  continued  to  send  forth 
writings,  encouraging  the  fiiithful,  combatting  the  Arians,  and 
denouncing  the  Emperor  as  Antichrist.  His  place  was  supplied  by 
George  of  Cappadocia,  a  man  of  discreditable  character,  who  inflicted 
every  cruelty  and  exaction  on  the  bishops  and  clergy,  monks  and 
virgins,  and  the  laity  of  the  orthodox  party.  The  Arians,  triumphant 
throughout  the  Empire,  persecuted  the  Catholics  with  a  vengeance 
unsurpassed  by  the  pagan  emperors. 

§  23.  The  divisions  of  the  dominant  party,  liithcrto  concealed  by 
common  opposition  to  the  homoousian  formula,  now  became  appa- 
rent. We  have  seen  that  the  dissenters  from  the  orthotlox  creed 
had  generally  united  in  proposing  symbols  which  difiered  from  it  as 
little  as  possible.  Such  confessions  expressed  the  real  views  of  a 
moderate  section,  headed  by  Eusebius  of  Ct^isarea,  but  not  recognized 
till  some  time  after  his  death  as  a  distinct  party,  under  the  name  of 
semi-Ariuns,  or  Homoiousians,  from  the  word  which  they  adopted 
in  place  of  the  Homoousion  of  the  Creed,  to  express  that  the  essence 
of  the  Son  -vas  like  *  that  of  the  Father,  though  not  the  same. 

Saving  this  identitj/  of  essence,  they  held  that  the  Son  was  in 
all  things  like  the  Father,  and  that  he  was  not  a  creature,  but 
truly  a  Son,  begotten  beyond  time  and  before  all  worlds.^  This 
party,  led  by  Basil  of  Aucyra  and  Gregory  of  Cappadocia,  included 
the  majority  of  the  Eastern  bishops,  whom  even  the  most  vehe- 
ment orthodox  champions — Athanasius  and  Hilary — recognized  as 
brethren,  imputing  their  scruples  against  the  "co-essential"  dogma 
to  the  belief  that  it  favoured  Sabelliaiiism. 

At  the  other  extreme  were  the  thorough  Arians,  who  held,  even 
more  distinctly  than  Arius  himself  had  avowed,  the  doctrine  that 
the  Son  was  essentially  a  creature,  unlike  the  Father,  not  only  in 
substance  but  in  will ;  whence  they  were  called  Anomoeans.^  This 
consequence  of  the  Arian  doctrine  was  first  distinctly  maintained  by 
Aetius,  a  man  of  low  origin,  ignorant  and  disputatious,  who  was 
ordained  a  deacon,  but  afterwards  dejwsed,  by  Leontius,  bishop  of 

'  'Ofiotovffios,  "of  like  essence  or  substance." 
*  Newman  on  Arianism,  317-19  ;  Itobertson,  vol.  i.  p.  236. 
^  'AvofioTos,  in  contrast  to  the  'Ofx-oioiKTios  of  the  semi-Arians.  By  way 
ot  further  contrast,  the  party  were  called  Iletcrousiasts  (from  eTepoovfftos, 
of  another  substance).  They  were  also  called  Exuconlians  (from  holding 
that  the  Son  was  created  out  of  nothing,  ^{  ovk  Svtwv),  and  Eunomians, 
from  their  leader  Eunomius. 


264     FLAVIAN  DYNASTY  AND  ABLVN  CONTROVERSY.     Chap.  X. 

Antioch.  His  disciple,  Eimomius,  who  became  bishop  of  Cyzicus, 
carried  his  views  further,  into  what  would  now  be  called  rationalism. 
"  Although  he  professed  to  refer  to  Scripture,  his  system  was  not 
founded  on  it,  but  was  merely  a  work  of  reasoning.  It  was  purely 
intellectual,  excluding  all  reference  to  the  aflections.  He  discarded 
the  idea  of  mystery  in  religion  :  he  held  that  God  knows  no  more  of 
His  own  nature  than  man  may  know  of  it ;  that  the  Son  resembles 
the  Father  in  nothing  but  his  working  ;  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
created  by  the  Son.  He  denied  all  sacramental  influences,  and — 
unlike  Arius,  who  was  himself  a  man  of  rigid  life — he  opposed 
everything  like  asceticism." ' 

A  middle  party,  who  differed  from  the  Anomceans,  not  in  their 
principles,  but  in  the  policy  of  avowing  or  disavowing  them  according 
to  circumstances,  were  called  Acacians,  from  their  leader,  Acacius, 
who  succeeded  Eusebius  in  the  see  of  Ca^sarea.  It  was  this  party, 
through  Acacius  himself,  and  Valens,  bishop  of  Mursa  in  Fannonia, 
that  had  most  influence  with  Constantius. 

These  differences  gave  rise  to  a  number  of  councils,  of  which  two 
were  held  at  Sirmium  ^  (a.d.  357  and  358),  one  at  Antioch  (358), 
one  at  Anoyra  (358),  two  simultaneously  for  the  West  and  East, 
at  Ariminum  {liimini)  and  at  Seleucia^  in  Isauria  (359),  one  at 
Constantinople,  which  deposed  the  bishop  Macedonius  (360),  and  one 
at  Antioch  (3G1),  But  all  these  attempts  to  compose  the  diflferences 
of  the  party  were  fruitless ;  and  the  heathen  spectators  derided  the 
Christians  as  having  still  to  learn  in  what  their  faith  consisted. 

»  Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  236-7. 

'  These  were  the  second  and  third  councils  of  SuTnium. 

'  This  council  was  summoned  first  at  Nicaca,  and  afterwards  at  Nice- 
media,  and,  on  the  destruction  of  that  city  by  an  earthquake,  its  sittings 
were  transferred  to  Seleucia. 


Constanllne  (from  bis  Arch  Constantine  (from  medal), 

at  Rome). 


liisilica  of  St.  Paul  outside  llie  Walls,  built  by  Houorius. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM. 
rnoM  Tiii:  accession  of  julian  to  the  end  of  the  dynasty  of 

THEODOSIUS   (A.D.    361-455). 

§  1.  Early  Life  of  Julian — His  Education  and  Apostasy — Spirit  of  his 
Heathenism — His  virtues  and  abilities — His  public  life  and  accession  to 
the  Empire.  §  2.  His  Profession  of  Heathenism — Persecution  of  the 
Christians  in  the  name  of  Toleration — His  Edict  against  Learning  among 
the  Christians — Futility  of  his  attempt  to  restore  Paganism — Christianr, 
m  the  Army.  §  3.  Encouragement  of  popular  outbreaks  of  Persecution. 
§  4.  Liberty  restored  to  Christian  Sects — Recal  of  the  exiled  Bishops — 
lieturn  and  fourth  Banishment  of  Athanasius.  §  5.  Accession  of  Jovian, 
.■md  Restoration  of  Christianity — Reign  of  Valentinian  L  and  Valens 
— Prohibition  of  bloody  Sacrifices  and  Divination — Arian  Persecution  by 
Valons — Union  of  semi-Arians  with  the  Catholics — Cruelties  of  \  alens 
— Death  of  Athanasius.  §  G.  Reigns  of  Gratian.  Valentinian  II.,  and 
TllEODOSlUS  I.  THE  Great — Gratian's  Edict  of  Toleration — Baptism  of 
Theodosius,  and  his  Edicts  against  the  Arian  Heresy.  §  7.  Mission  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen  to  Constantinople — First  Council  of  Constanti- 
nople:  the 'Second  General  Council — ^^accJonian  Heresy  —  Consecra- 
tion and    Retirement  of  Gregory  —  Addition     to    the    Nicene    Creed — 


206  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chap.  XI. 

Canons  of  the  Council — The  Apollinarian  Heresy.  §  8.  State  of  the 
Western  Church — Election  of  Ambrose  to  the  Bishopric  of  Milan — His 
previous  Life  and  Character — Conduct  in  his  Bishopric— His  Influence 
with  the  Imperial  Family — His  Missions  to  JIa.ximus.  §  9.  Contest  of 
Ambrose  with  the  Empress  Justina,  who  demands  a  Church  for  the  Arians 
— Ambrose  introduces  Antiphonal  Singing.  §  10.  Discovery  of  the  Relics 
of  the  Martyrs  Gervasius  and  Protasius,  and  Miracles  wrought  by  them 
— Their  Genuineness  rejected.  §  11.  Relations  of  Ambrose  to  Theodosius 
—  Massacre  of  Thessalonica — Ambrose  excludes  Theodosius  fi-om  the 
Church — The  Emperor's  Penance — Deaths  of  Theodosius  and  Ambrose 
— Works  of  Ambrose.  §  12.  Measures  against  Heathenism — Gratian 
withdraws  its  public  Support — Removal  of  the  Altar  of  Victory  from 
the  Senate-house — The  Plea  of  Symmachus,  and  the  Reply  of  Ambrose. 
§  13.  Measures  of  Theodosius  in  the  East — Closing  of  the  Temples,  and 
their  Destruction  by  popular  Violence.  §  14.  Plea  of  Libanius  for  the 
Temples — Tumults  at  Alexandria — Destruction  of  the  Serapeum,  and 
Fall  of  Idolatry  in  Egypt — Violence  against  Idolatry  rebuked  by  Christian 
Fathers.  §  15.  General  Edict  of  Theodosius  against  Heathenism — Its 
imperfect  Enforcement — His  own  Impartiality — His  Apotheosis.  §  16. 
His  edicts  against  heretics — Priscillian.  §  17.  Division  of  the  Empire  : 
Arcadius  in  the  East,  and  HONORius  in  the  West.  §  18.  Theodosius 
II.  and  PuLCiiERiA  in  the  East;  Valentinian  HL  in  the  West.  §  19. 
Edicts  against  Paganism.  §  20.  Effect  of  the  barbarian  invasions  in 
destroying  it — Epoch  of  its  Extinction  in  the  Empire. 

§  1.  One  generation  only  had  passed  away  since  Christianity 
became  the  established  religion  of  the  Empire,  when  the  still  nu- 
merous heathens  had  an  unexpected  opportunity  of  trying  whether 
the  old  faith  had  yet  life  enough  to  be  revived  by  imperial  patronage. 
Julian,^  whom  the  death  of  Coustantius  secured  in  the  quiet 
possession  of  the  Empire,  was  a  grandson  of  Constantius  Chlorus 
in  the  line  of  his  second  wife,  being  the  younger  son  of  Julius 
Constantius,  who  was  the  eldest  son  of  Theodora.^  Saved,  as  we 
have  seen,  from  the  massacre  of  the  Flavian  family  after  the  death 
of  Constantine,  he  and  his  brother  Gallus  were  brought  up  by 
Constantius  with  the  honours  due  to  their  birth,  but  in  strict 
seclusion  and  surrounded  with  spies.  They  were  educated  in  the 
principles  of  Christianity,  and  in  Greek  and  Latin  learning,  by 
Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,  and  by  two  eminent  rhetoricians,  under  the 
care  of  the  eunuch  Mardonius,  who  appears  to  have  been  secretly  a 
Pagan.  It  is  no  wonder  that  a  generous  spirit  like  Julian's  revolted 
from  the  religion  of  his  oppressors,  whom  he  saw  disputing,  and 

'  His  full  name  was  Flavius  Claudius  Julianus. 

-  Gallus,  the  elder  brother  of  Julian,  had  received  from  Constantius  II. 
the  title  of  Caesar,  and  the  hand  of  his  sister  Constantin.a ;  but  his  cruel 
government  of  the  Eastern  provinces,  and  his  resistance  to  the  imperial 
prefect,  led  to  his  recal  and  his  imprisonment  at  I'ola,  where  he  was  put 
to  death  (a.d.  354). 


A.D.  361.  JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE.  267 

quarrelling  even  to  bloodshed,  about  the  essentials  of  their  faith ; 
and  before  he  came  forth  to  public  life  he  had  secretly  made  the 
change  of  faith  which  has  fastened  on  him  the  title  of  Julian  the 
Apostate.^    But  it  does  not  appear  that  his  conversion  to  Paganism 
was  the  result  of  a  calm  examination  of  the  claims  of  the  two 
faiths,  or  that  he  had  any   genuine  belief  in   the   old    religion. 
There  is  a  sort  of  politic  tanaticism  in  the  support  of  heathenism, 
to  be  traced  both  in  Aurelius  and  Julian ;  but  the  better  knowledge 
of  the  latter  makes  it  harder  to  give  him  credit  for  any  share  of 
sincere  conviction.     The  j^^ssmi,  which  was  certainly  one  of  his 
ruling  motives,  was  proved  by  his  actual  persecution  of  Christianity, 
in  spite  of  his  tolerant  professions ;  and  the  shortness  of  his  reign 
leaves  it  more  than  doubtful  to  what  lengths  his  persecution  would 
have  been  carried.    But,  in  denying  Julian  the  credit  of  philosophic 
moderation,  there  is  no  occasion  to  withhold  the  praise  due  to  his 
unsullied  virtue,  his  strict  justice,  his  imtiring  industry,  of  which 
Gibbon  well  says  that  "  by  this  avarice  of  time,  he  seemed  to  protract 
the  short  duration  of  his  reign,"  or  his  earnest  desire  to  reform  the 
corruptions  of  the  age.     To  the  highest  civil  and  military  abilities 
he  added  a  literary  excellence  of  which  such  a  judge  as  Niebuhr 
says  :  "  He  was  a  true  Attic,  and  since  the  time  of  Dion  Chrysostom 
Greece  had  not  produced  such  an  elegant  author." ^ 

When  G alius  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  Constantius,  Julian, 
now  twenty-three  years  old,  was  brought  from  his  residence  in  Ionia 
to  Milan  as  a  prisoner;  and  he  would  probably  have  shared  his 
brother's  fate,  but  for  his  being  the  sole  surviving  scion  of  the  im- 
perial house.  The  Empress  Euscbia  procured  him  an  interview  with 
Constantius,  whose  suspicions  lie  succeeded  in  calming,  and  he  was 
permitted  to  live  a  private  life  at  Athens  (a.d.  355).  Here  he  spent 
a  few  happy  months  in  converse  with  the  leaders  in  art  and  learning 
and  with  a  body  of  fellow-students,  am^ng  whom  were  Gregory  and 
Basil,  afterwards  famous  as  the  bishops  of  Nazianzus  and  Cresarea.^ 
Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year  Julian  was  summoned  to  the 
imperial  court  at  Milan,  where  he  was  proclaimed  CcTsar,  married 
to  Helena,  the  daughter  of  Constantino  the  Great,  and  appointed  to 
the  government  of  the  provinces  beyond  the  Alps.     The  distaste 

'  He  himself  tells  us  that  he  was  a  Christian  up  to  his  twentieth  year. 

2  The  extant  works  of  Julian  (all  in  Greek)  are  his  Letters  and  Oratioris, 
which  are  of  very  great  importance  for  the  history  of  the  time ;_  the 
Casar'!,  or  the  Banquet,  a  satirical  discussion  of  the  characters  ot  his 
predecessors  in  the  Empire  ;  Misopogon  (the  Enemij  of  the  Bcnrd),  a  satire 
on  the  licentious  people  of  Autioch,  who  had  ridiculed  the  Emperors 
austeritv,  and  especially  his  long  beard.  The  work  of  Julian  A-jaimt  the 
Christians  is  lost,  but  extracts  from  it  are  preserved  in  the  reply  of  Cyril 
of  Alexandria.  *  See  Chap.  XIII. 


26S  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chap.  XI. 

betrayed  in  the  exclamation — "  0  Plato  !  Plato !  what  a  task  for  a 
philosopher!" — did  not  prevent  the  brilliant  success  in  war  and 
administration,  which,  on  the  first  demonstration  of  the  Emperor's 
jealousy,  caused  the  Caisar's  troops  to  proclaim  him  as  Augustus. 
He  was  far  advanced  on  his  successful  march  to  Constantinople, 
when  Constantius  died  in  Cilicia  (Nov.  3),  and  Julian  entered  the 
capital  in  triumph  on  the  11th  of  December,  3G1. 

§  2.  The  open  proclamation  which  Julian  now  made  of  his  pagan 
faith  was  accompanied  by  an  edict  of  universal  religious  toleration. 
But  it  soon  appeared  that  this  meant  no  more  than  that  the  Chris- 
tians were  to  be  spared  the  enforcement  of  a  heathen  profession  and 
acts  of  heathen  worship,  and  that  they  were  not  to  be  allowed  to 
enforce  their  peculiar  views  upon  one  another.  Julian  plainly 
declared  that  the  Christians  were  entitled  to  Ins  justice,  Pagans 
alone  to  his  friendship.  He  deprived  the  Church  of  all  outward 
honour,  and  ranked  the  Christian  clergy  with  the  lowest  of  the 
people.  The  rites  of  heathenism  were  restored  with  the  greatest 
pomp  at  the  public  cost,  the  Emperor  himself  officiating  as  Pontifes 
Maximus.  All  civil  and  military  offices  were  committed  to  Pagans 
only ;  and  this  public  discouragement  of  Christianity  was  followed 
by  measures  tending  directly  to  its  suppression.  The  most  insidious 
of  these  was  Julian's  edict  forbidding  Christians  to  teach  rhetoric 
and  grammar  in  the  schools ;  a  testimony  to  the  Christian  learning 
of  the  age,  and  a  perpetual  lesson — (^fas  est  et  ah  hoste  doceri) — in 
favour  of  culture  in  connection  with  religion.  His  encouragement 
of  the  Jews,  as  beiiig  the  enemies  of  Christianity,  is  stamped  with 
insincerity  by  the  contempt  which  he  avowed  for  both  "super- 
stitions alike." ^  The  whole  spirit  and  result  of  Julian's  religious 
policy  have  been  admirably  described  by  Niebuhr : — "  His  attempt 
to  restore  the  pagan  religion  was  a  senseless  undertaking,  even 
irrespective  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.     The  pagan  religion  in  its 

'  The  well-known  legend  of  the  miraculous  frustration  of  Julian's  at- 
tempt to  rebuild  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  has  long  since  been  shown  to 
be  as  unfounded  as  it  is  unworthy  of  the  cause  which  it  was  invented  to 
support.  The  success  of  such  an  attempt  would  have  no  more  frustrated 
prophecy  than  it  could  have  revived  tlie  Jewish  economy  ;  and  those  who 
attach  any  importance  to  the  story  fail  to  see  that  the  design  of  Provi- 
dence and  the  word  of  prophecy  were  already  fulfilled  in  the  destruction 
of  the  Temple  and  the  old  Jewish  system,  and  could  gain  nothing  from 
such  marvels.  All  such  inventions  of  miracles  are  as  useless  as  they  are 
dishonest.  We  are  equally  bound  to  reject  the  picture  drawn  by  Christian 
rhetoric  of  tlie  wounded  apostate  clutching  the  sand  with  his  dying  grasp, 
and  crying,  *' 0  Galilean,  thou  hast  conquered!"  The  sober  history  of 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  who  was  in  Julian's  army,  shows  a  scene  more  like 
the  death  of  Socrates,  not  without  the  confession  that  the  Emperor  studied 
to  die  like  the  philosopher. 


A.D.-362.  HEATHENISM  RESTORED.  269 

ti-iith — that  is,  its  popular  belief — had  long  since  become  extinct. 
New  Platonism,  which  properly  aimed  at  monotheism,  and  was 
artificially  decked  out  with  Oriental  demonology  and  theology,  with 
theursy  and  thaumaturgy,  had  taken  its  place ;  the  ancient  mytho- 
lo<Tical  fables  were  allegorized ;  people  saw  in  Homer,  and  the  other 
ancient  writers,  everything  except  wliat  the  Greeks  had  seen  in 
them.  Had  Paganism  still  had  a  living  tradition,  it  miglit  have 
been  able  to  struggle  for  existence;  but  this  was  now  impossible. 
The  artificial  system,  partly  adopted  from  Christianity  itself,  was 
at  best  <'Ood  for  a  few  philosophers.  With  the  exception  of  Julian, 
his  advisers,  and  the  court  philosophers,  there  were  perhaps  not  five 
hundred,  or  at  the  utmost  a  thousand  persons,  who  embraced  it.  In 
the  provinces,  moreover,  the  Emperor  had  many  negative  followers, 
who  only  opposed  Christianity  without  believing  in  the  rival 
doctrines.  Julian's  undertaking  was  thus  a  truly  counter-revolu- 
tionary attempt :  he  wished  to  introduce  into  Paganism  a  hierarchy, 
to  institute  a  new  Paganism,  which  was  more  akin  to  Gnosticism 
than  to  Hellenism :  to  the  latter  .  in  fact  it  was  diametrically 
opposed.  The  impossibility  of  carrying  this  plan  into  effect  led 
Julian  to  commit  acts  of  tyranny  and  fraud ;  but  he  was  neverthe- 
less unable  to  succeed.  Christianity,  it  is  true,  had  not  yet  been 
adopted  by  anything  like  the  majority  of  the  population,  but  it  had 
taken  firm  root."  The  very  efforts  which  Julian  made  to  reform  the 
heathen  priesthood  after  the  model  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  to 
infuse  Christian  morality  into  the  corrupt  mythology  of  Paganism, 
were  a  practical  confession  of  his  mistake.  He  himself  expresses 
bitter  disappointment  at  his  failure,  and  on  one  occasion  accuses  his 
priests  of  being  in  secret  league  with  the  Christian  bishops.  TJie 
scornful  hatred  and  sarcastic  mockery  with  which  Julian  always 
spoke  of  *'  the  Galileans'''  are  the  sure  signs  of  dissatisfaction  with 
himself.  Many  who  had  made  a  profession  of  Christianity  under 
the  family  of  Constantine  were  equally  compliant  to  a  heathen 
emperor ;  but  there  seems  a  lurking  satire  in  Julian's  boast,  that 
his  soldiers  assisted  with  fervent  devotion  and  voracious  appetite  at 
the  sacrifice  of  whole  hecatombs  of  fat  oxen.  To  such  soldiers  as 
refused  to  join  in  heathen  riles,  or  came  forward  to  declare  that 
they  repented  of  the  act,  Julian  denied  the  crown  of  martyrdom, 
but  he  took  measures  to  remove  Christian  soldiers  from  the  army. 

§  3.  The  attempts  of  Julian  to  restore  the  public  exercise  of 
heathen  worship  led  to  the  infliction,  under  the  name  of  civil 
punishment,  of  those  persecutions  from  which  he  professed  to 
refrain ;  as  in  the  notable  instance  of  the  riots  provoked  at  Antiocli 
by  his  restoration  of  the  licentious  rites  of  his  favourite  Sun-god  in 
the  grove  of  Daphne.     ^Many  examples  are  related  of  death,  with 


270  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chap.  XL 

tortures  unsurpassed  in  any  persecution,  being  inflicted  on  those 
who  destroyed  the  newly-restored  shrines  and  images.  The  dis- 
favour of  the  Emperor  towards  Christianity  encouraged  a  renewal 
of  the  old  form  of  persecution  by  popular  outrages  against  the 
Christians,  in  places  where  the  majority  of  the  common  people  were 
still  heathens  ;  and  appeals  to  the  "justice"  which  he  professed  to 
owe  the  Christians  were  answered  with  scorn  and  sarcasm.  "It 
was  the  duty  of  Christians,"  said  the  Emperor,  "to  suffer  patiently 
and  not  to  seek  revenge  against  their  persecutors."  When  the  governor 
of  Gaza  arrested  the  ringleaders  of  a  mob  who  had  tortured  and 
slain  many  Christian  citizens,  Julian  praised  the  zeal  of  the  rioters, 
and  deposed  the  governor  with  the  rebuke,  "  What  right  had  he  to 
arrest  the  citizens  merely  for  retaliating  on  a  few  Galileans  the 
insults  and  injuries  offered  by  them  to  the  gods?" 

§  4.  Within  the  Church,  one  great  effect  of  the  impartial  dis- 
favour, which  Julian  called  toleration,  was  to  deprive  the  dominant 
party  of  the  aid  of  the  civil  authority  in  enforcing  its  decrees.  The 
course  which  the  Emperor  professed  as  justice  he  also  boasted  of  as 
policy ;  leaving  the  Christians  full  liberty  to  destroy  the  influence 
of  their  faith  by  their  dissensions.  The  effect  of  this  policy  on  the 
great  controversy  of  the  age  was  to  wrest  from  the  Arians  the 
supremacy  which  they  had  obtained  over  the  Catholic  majority. 
The  exiled  bishops  were  allowed  to  return  to  their  dioceses;  and 
among  the  rest  Athanasius  was  restored  to  the  see  of  Alexandria, 
where  the  populace  had  risen  and  murdered  the  hated  George,  as  soon 
as  they  heard  of  the  deatli  of  Constantius  (Dec.  2-i,  361).  He  called 
a  council  which  provided  for  the  restoration  (under  certain  conditions) 
of  the  clergy  who  had  conformed  to  Arianism;  but  its  new  decrees 
on  the  nice  distinction  which  had  been  raised  between  nature  and 
person^  and  which  had  already  caused  a  schism  at  Antioch,  gave 
rise  to  another  schism  headed  by  Lucifer,  bishop  of  Caralis  (Cagliari) 
in  Sardinia,  who  had  ibeen  sent  bj''  Athanasius  to  compose  the 
quarrel  at  Antioch.  The  decisions  of  the  Alexandrian  Synod  were 
adopted  in  the  West,  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  Ensebius, 
bishop  of  Vercella)  (Vercelli),  and  Hilary  of  Poitiers  (Limonum)  ; 
and  thus  the  Nicene  faith  was  again  triumphant. 

But  the  troubles  of  its  great  champion  -were  not  ended.  His 
energetic  character  marked  him  as  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of 
Paganism,  and  tiie  Emperor's  jealousy  was  inflamed  by  tlie  represen- 
tations of  "magi,  philosophers,  haruspices,  and  augurs."^     On  the 

*  OixTia  (essence)  and  {nr6<Tra(ris  {subsistence)  had  both  been  held  equi- 
valent to  the  Latin  substantia ;  but  some  iuterprt'ted  the  latter  as  persotif 
rejecting  the  term  irpSaw-trov  (persoiM)  as  savouring  of  Sabelliauisni. 

'^  liulin.  i.  '-iO,  31 ;  Socrat.  iii.  10 ;  liobertson,  vol.  i.  p.  257. 


A.D.  364.  VALENTINIAN  I.  AND  VALENS.  271 

ground  that  he  had  baptized  sonie  heathen  ladies  of  rank,  and  that 
the  edict  recalling  the  exiled  bishops  was  not  meant  to  restore  them 
to  their  ecclesiastical  functions — a  manifest  pretext — an  imperial 
mandate  banished  Athanasius  from  Alexandria  (3G2) ;  and  the 
petition  of  his  people  only  exasperated  the  Emperor  to  extend  the 
sentence  to  all  Egypt ;  but  the  bishop  again  found  shelter  with  the 
monks  till  the  death  of  Julian. 

§5.  With  the  death  of  Julian  in  the  desert  of  Assyria  (June  26, 
363),  his  hollow  fabric  of  revived  heathenism  collapsed.  The  army 
declared  itself  Christian,  displayed  the  sacred  labarum,  and  conferred 
the  purple  on  Jovian,  a  Christian.  The  new  Emperor  proclaimed 
full  toleration  both  for  his  pagan  subjects  and  for  the  various  sects 
of  Christians ;  while  he  himself  adhered  to  the  Nicene  faith,  and 
invited  Athanasius  to  a  chief  place  in  his  councils.  On  Jovian's 
death,  in  the  eighth  month  of  his  reign  (Feb.  364),  his  successor, 
Valentinian  L,  divided  the  Empire  with  his  brother  Valens.  The 
new  reign  was  marked  by  the  prohibition  of  bloody  sacrifices  and 
divination ;  and  at  Rome  persons  found  guilty  of  magic,  including 
many  of  the  Roman  aristocracy,  were  burnt  alive  or  put  to  other 
cruel  deaths.  With  this  exception,  the  sagacious  Valentinian 
adopted  in  the  West  the  policy  of  full  toleration,  and  adhered  to  tlie 
Nicene  faith  without  interfering  in  religious  disputes.^  But  the 
Empress  Justina  was  a  zealous  Arian,  and  hence  perhaps  it  was 
that  the  bishopric  of  Milan,  the  imperial  residence,  alone  of  all  the 
Western  sees,  remained  in  the  hands  of  an  Arian,  Auxentius. 

The  Eastern  emperor,  Valens,  whom  Gibbon  describes  as  "  rude 
without  vigour,  and  feeble  without  mildness,"  had  also  an  Arian 
wife,  who  persuaded  him  to  receive  baptism  from  Eudoxius,  the 
Arian  bishop  of  Constantinople  (367).  The  Arian  persecution  was 
now  renewed  throughout  the  East.  An  edict  was  issued  for  the 
ejection  of  the  restored  bishops  who  had  been  banished  by  Constan- 
tius;  and  Athanasius  is  said  to  have  sought  refuge  in  his  fiither's 
tomb.  But  Valens  found  it  prudent  to  yield  to  the  petition  of  the 
excitable  Alexandrians ;  and  Athanasius  remained  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  his  see,  till  his  death  ended  the  wonderful  career 
summed  up  in  the  motto :  "Athanasius  against  the  World  "^  (373). 

>  In  this  reign  we  first  find  heathenism  officially  designated  as  Paganis- 
mns,  i.e.  the  peasant-religion.  "  The  word  pagani  (fVom  pagus),  properly 
villagers,  pcasantri/,  then  equivalent  to  rude,  simple,  ignorant  ((Siojttjs, 
&<()po)v),  first  occurs  in  a  religious  sense  in  a  law  of  Valentinian,  of  3G8 
(Cod.  Theodos.  xvi.  tit.  2,  1.  18),  and  came  into  general  use  under  Theodo- 
sius,  instead  of  the  earlier  terms,  gentes,  gentiles^  nationes,  Graci,  cultores 
simulacrorum,  &c."    (Schaff,  vol.  ii.  p.  Gl.) 

*  Athanasius  contra  Mundum. 


272  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chap.  Xl. 

He  was  succeeded  by  an  Arian  bishop,  lAicius ;  Lis  own  nominee, 
PettT,  being  driven  out  by  violence ;  but  the  populace  again  rose 
against  Lucius,  and  Peter  was  reinstated.  The  Arian  zeal  of  Valens 
was  shown  against  the  semi-Arians  as  well  as  the  Catholics ;  and 
the  two  parties  consequently  drew  nearer  to  each  other.  The 
homoiousian  bishops  having  held  a  council  at  Lampsacus,  and  pro- 
nounced the  deposition  of  Eudoxius,  were  threatened  by  Valens 
with  banishment.  They  sent  deputies  to  Italy  to  ask  the  support 
of  Valentinian  (who  was,  however,  absent  in  Gaul),  and  of  Liberius, 
bishop  of  Rome,  who  recognized  them  as  in  communion  Avith  the 
Catholic  Church,'  on  their  signing  the  homoiousian  confession  with 
the  interpretation  of  the  word  as  equivalent  to  homoousian  (366). 

The  Arian  bishop  of  Constantinople,  Eudoxius,  died  in  370 ;  and 
two  rival  bishops  were  set  up, — Evagrius  by  the  Catholics,  and 
Demophilus  by  the  Arians.  Evagrius  was  driven  out  by  vio- 
lence, and  outrages  were  committed  upon  his  followers.  Eighty 
presbyters  of  the  orthodox  party  carried  their  complaint  to 
Valens  at  Nicomedia ;  but,  instead  of  obtaining  redress,  they  were 
sent  away  in  a  ship,  which  the  crew  deserted  and  set  on  fire,  and  all 
the  passengers  perished.  On  another  occasion  Valens  is  said  to  have 
ordered  a  number  of  the  orthodox  party  at  Antioch  to  be  drowned 
in  the  Orontes.  He  was  especially  severe  against  the  monks  of 
Pontus  and  Egypt,  both  as  the  zealous  defenders  of  orthodoxy,  and 
as  men  who  withdrew  from  their  duties  to  the  State  to  live  a  life  of 
indolence.  He  ordered  them  to  be  dragged  from  their  retreats,  and 
compelled  to  perform  their  duties  as  citizens,  on  pain  of  being  beaten 
to  death ;  and  many  of  them  were  killed  by  the  soldiers  who  were 
sent  into  the  deserts  of  Egypt. 

§  6,  The  death  of  Valens,  in  the  fatal  battle  of  Adrianople  against 
the  Goths  (Aug.  378),  re-united  the  empire  xmder  Gratian,  who 
had  succeeded  his  fatlier  Valentinian  in  the  West  three  years  before. 
He  had  nominated  as  his  colleague  his  half-brother,  Valentikiait 
II.,  a  child  only  four  years  old.  As  Gratian  himself  was  only 
sixteen,  there  was  need  of  a  strong  hand  to  save  the  Eastern 
Empire  from  the  invasion  of  the  Goths,  and  his  choice  fell  on 
Theodosius  I.,  afterwards  surnamed  the  Great  (Jan.  379).  The 
new  emi)erors  adopted  a  more  decided  course,  both  towards  Pagan- 
ism and  heresy.  Gratian  again  recalled  the  bishops  banished  by 
Valens,  and  proclaimed  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  excepting  Maui- 
cheans,  Eunomiaus,  and  Photinians ;  but  in  the  following  year  all 
heresies  were  forbidden.  Theodosius,  a  native  of  Sjwin,  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  orthodox  tiiith  of  the  Western  Church.  lie  was 
only  a  catechumen ;  Lut,  falling  dangerously  ill  at  Thessalonica,  lie 
Bought  and  received  baptism  from  the  bishop  of  that  city.     His 


A.D.  381.  THE  SECOND  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  273 

admission  into  the  Church  was  signalized  by  an  edict,  that  those 
only  should  be  acknowledged  as  Catholic  Christians  who  adhered 
to  the  faith  of  the  co-essential  Trinity,  and  that  all  who  denied  that 
doctrine  should  be  deemed  heretics  and  discouraged  ^  (Feb.  380). 

§  7.  Theodosius  reached  Constantinople  in  the  ensuing  November. 
The  city  had  long  been  a  chief  stronghold  of  Arianism;  but  the 
orthodox  faith  had  now  a  distinguished  champion  in  Gregory, 
surnamed  Nazianzen,  from  the  city  of  Nazianzus,  where  he  had 
been  brought  up,  and  in  the  bishopric  of  which  he  had  assisted  his 
father  (of  the  same  name)  and  administered  it  after  his  death.'^ 
Gregory  had  been  induced  by  his  friend,  the  great  Basil  (of  Ca'sarea 
in  Cappadocia),  to  undertake  a  mission  to  Constantinople  on  the 
death  of  Valons.  Here  he  preached  and  taught  at  first  in  the  house 
of  a  friend,  which  was  consecrated  by  the  name  of  Anastasia,  as 
the  scene  of  the  resurrection  (anasfasis')  of  the  true  faith,  and 
which  his  success  caused  to  be  enlarged  into  a  splendid  church. 

On  arriving  at  Constantinople,  Theodosius  required  the  Arian 
bishop  Demophilus  to  sign  the  Nicene  Creed.  The  bishop  accepted 
the  alternative  of  deprivation  and  exile ;  all  the  Arian  clergy  were 
dispossessed;  and  Gregory  was  j^ut  into  possession  of  the  principal 
church.  Theodosius  summoned  a  second  Oecumenical  Council  to 
bring  to  a  close  the  long  Arian  controversy,  in  which  questions  of 
the  divinity  and  personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost  had  now  become 
prominent.  The  heresy  against  which  Athanasius  had  written  as 
that  of  the  Pneumatomachi  (or  adversaries  of  the  Spirit)  was 
held  by  the  section  of  the  semi-Arians  known  as  Macedonians,^ 
who  had  now  come  to  acknowledge  the  Godhead  of  the  Son,  but 
they  held  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  related  to  the  Godhead  as  only 
a  minister,  like  one  of  the  angels. 

The  First  Council  of  Constantinople  met  on  the  2nd  of  May, 
381.  It  consisted  of  only  150  bishops,  as  Theodosius  summoned 
none  but  adherents  of  the  Nicene  faith,  and  those  only  from  the 
East.  Yet,  as  its  decrees  were  adopted  in  the  West,  it  is  regarded 
as  the  Second  Oeneral  Council.  Its  first  president,  Meletius, 
bishop  of  Antioch,  died  during  the  session,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  whose  consecration  as  Bishop  of  Constantinople 
was  one  of  its  first  acts.     But   a  rival  claimant  to  the  see,  an 

'  Cod.  Theodos.  i.  2  ;  Sozom.  vii.  4 ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  269.  The  edict 
w.is  at  first  limited  to  Constantinople,  but  it  was  extended  next  year  to 
the  whole  Eastern  Empire.  -  See  Chap.  XIIL  §  h.' 

^  From  Macedonius,  a  late  Bishop  of  Constantinople,  who  had  been  ejected 
from  his  see  by  the  Acacians.  This  name  was  not,  however,  given  to  the 
sect  till  some  time  after  the  death  of  JIacedonius ;  and-  there  is  no  proof 
that  he  held  their  opinions. 


274  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chap.  XL 

Egyptian  named  Maximus,  had  been  set  up  some  time  before  by 
Peter  of  Alexandria ;  and  the  Asiatic  bishops  were  offended  by  the 
part  which  Gregory  took  in  a  dispute  about  the  succession  to  the 
see  of  Antioch.  To  avoid  contention,  Gregory  willingly  resigned 
the  bishopric  and  retired  to  Nazianzus.  The  Council  added  to  the 
>.  Nicene  Creed  the  paragraph  affirming  the  deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
His  procession  from  the  Father,'  and  His  equality  with  the  Father 
and  the  Son ;  *  whence  the  Nicene  Creed  is  often  more  properly  called 
the  Symholum  Nicceno-Constantinopolifanum.  The  Council  pro- 
mulgated seven  canons,  one  of  which  gave  precedence  to  the  Bishop 
of  Constantinople,  next  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  "  forasmuch  as  it  is 
a  new  Kome."  Among  the  heresies  condemned  by  this  Council  was 
that  oiApoUinarianism,  which  held  that  Christ,  in  assuming  human 
nature,  took  "  a  real  body "  but  not  a  "  rational  soul,"  the  place 
of  which  was  supplied  by  the  Divine  Logos.  The  propounder  of 
this  doctrine,  Aix)llinaris*  (or  ApoUinarius,  bishop  of  Laodicea  in 
Syria,  a.d.  362),  was  the  son  of  an  Alexandrian  rhetorician  of  the 
same  name ;  and  both  father  and  son  composed  a  number  of  works 
in  imitation  of  the  classic  authors,  when  Julian  forbad  these  to  be 
taught  by  Christians.  He  was  the  friend  of  Athanasius ;  and  he 
meant  to  serve  the  cause  of  orthodoxy  by  propounding  a  view  which 
would  remove  the  difficulty  that,  if  Christ  had  a  human  soul.  He 
must  have  had  freedom  of  will,  and  therefore  a  tendency  to  sin. 
But  Avheu  he  found  this  doctrine  rejected,  he  set  up  a  distinct 
sect,  which  did  not  long  survive  his  death,  before  the  close  of 
the  centur}'. 

§  8.  While  orthodoxy  was  thus  triumphant  in  the  East,  the 
battle  with  Arianism  broke  out  anew  in  the  West,  and  called  forth 
tlie  energies  of  one  of  the  greatest  Fathers  of  the  Church.  The 
death  of  Auxentius,  the  Arian  bishop  of  Milan  (374),  had  given  the 
signal  for  a  warm  contest  about  the  succession  to  the  see,  in  which 
Valentinian  I.  refused  to  interfere.  The  Catholic  and  Arian  parties, 
assembled  in  the  principal  church  of  the  city,  seemed  about  to  come 
to  blows,  and  Ambrose,  the  popular  governor  of  LigTiria,  was 
exerting  his  influence  to  ])ersuade  peace,  when  the  cry  was  heard, 
— first  raised,  it  is  said,  by  a  little  child,  and  caught  up  by  the 
whole  multitude, — "Ambrosius  EpiscoprisV  —  "Ambrose  Bishop!" 

'  The  words  "and  the  Son  "  {Filioq'ic)  were  a  Western  addition,  made  in 
Spain  about  two  centuries  later.  They  first  appear  in  the  Creed  as 
atiirmed  by  tlie  first  Council  of  Toletum  (Toledo),  a.d.  589;  and  they  still 
tbrm  a  point  of  division  between  the  Kasfern  and  Western  Churches. 

-  The  statement  of  this  doctrine  was  taken  in  substance  from  a  work 
of  Epiphanius,  written  some  years  before. 

'  He  must  of  course  not  be  confounded  with  St.  Apollinaris,  bishop  of 
HierapoHs,  the  early  Apologist,  in  the  second  century.        See  Ch.  XV.  §  2. 


A.D.  374.  AMIiROSE,  BISHOP  OF  MILAN.  275 

The  voice  was  hailed  as  an  oracle  from  heaven,  and  the  bishops  of 
both  parties  joined  in  accepting  one  who  was  a  stranger  to  their 
contlicts.  Ambrose  was  not  only  a  layman,  but  as  yet  a  mere  cate- 
chumen, and  he  now  adopted  strange  devices  to  prove  his  unfitness 
for  the  sacred  office ;  but  all  in  vain.  He  then  fled  from  Milan  in 
the  night,  but  lost  his  way,  and  found  himself  in  the  morning 
before  the  gate  of  the  city.  At  length  he  yielded  to  the  express 
command  of  the  Emperor,  and  was  consecrated  within  a  week  after 
he  had  received  baptism. 

Ambrose,  who  was  now  thirty-four  years  old,'  w%is  the  son  of  a 
praetorian  prefect  of  the  Gauls,  and  was  probably  born  at  Augusta 
Trevirorum  (Treves).  His  infancy  is  said  to  have  been  marked 
by  those  portents  of  his  future  eloquence  and  distinction,  with 
which  coincidence,  or  recollection  stimulated  by  the  event,  so  often 
adorns  the  cradle  of  great  men ;  like  most  of  whom,  Ambrose  had 
a  mother  fit  to  train  him  for  their  fulfilment.  His  father  dying 
while  he  was  still  a  boy,  he  was  taken  by  his  mother  to  IJome^ 
where  he  was  educated  for  an  advocate,  one  of  his  teachers  being 
Symmachus,  the  last  great  apologist  for  heathenism.  After  gaining 
the  highest  reputation  by  his  eloquent  forensic  pleadings  at^Milan'', 
Ambrose  had  been  lately  appointed  consular  prefect  of  the  provinces' 
of  Liguria  and  ^Emilia,  whose  scat  of  government  was  at  that  im- 
perial city.  He  can-ied  into  his  sacred  oflice  the  skill  of  an  able 
administrator,  with  the  religious  zeal  naturally  quickened  by  his 
almost  supernatural  elevation,  and  prompt  to  imbibe  the  spirit  then 
prevalent  in  the  Church.  His  nature  and  circumstances  united  to 
form  "a  mixture  of  qualities  which  might  almost  seem  incompatible 
—of  manliness,  commanding  dignity,  and  strong  practical  sense, 
with  a  fanciful  mysticism  and  a  zealous  readiness  to  encourage  and 
forward  the  growing  superstitions  of  the  age."^  His  first  act  was  to 
sell  his  great  projierty  for  the  lx;uefit  of  the  poor,  and  to  adopt  a  life 
of  ascetic  self-tlenial.  While  giving  the  greatest  diligence  to  the 
work  of  his  office,  to  preaching  and  the  instruction  of  the  cate- 
chumens, and  always  accessible,  especially  to  the  poor  and  the 
distressed,  he  laboured  hard  at  the  sacred  studies  to  which  he  had 
liitherto  been  a  stranger,  and  in  the  composition  of  theological 
works.-"'  He  dedicated  his  first  essay,  "  On  Virgins,*'  to  his  sTster 
Marcellina,  who  had  adopted  the  monastic  life,  of  which  Ambrose 
was  a  zealous  advocate.     He  composed  treatises  "On  the  Faith" 

'  Some  authorities  place  his  birth  in  334,  but  340  is  the  more  probable 
date. 

*  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  278. 

*  His  theological  tutor  was  Simplicius,  a  presbyter  of  Rome,  who  beaune 
his  successor  in  the  bishopric. 


276  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chap.  XI. 

(De  Fide)  and  "  On  the  Holy  Spirit "  (De  Spiritu  Sancto)  for  the 
instruction  of  Gratian,  with  whom,  as  well  as  his  father,  he  had 
great  influence.  Even  the  Empress  Justina,  though  at  open 
variance  with  Ambrose  on  religion,  claimed  his  protection  for  her 
infant  son,  Valontinian  II.,  when  the  news  arrived  of  Gratian's 
murder  by  !Maximus,  and  entrusted  him  with  a  mission  to  the 
usurper.  Ambrose  prevailed  on  Maximus  to  content  himself  with 
the  empire  of  the  Gallic  provinces  (383).  Either  now,  or  on  a 
second  mission  (in  387),  Ambrose  proved  his  courageous  fidelity 
by  refusing  the  request  of  Maximus  for  church  fellowship,  till  he 
should  have  done  sincere  penance  for  the  murder  of  Gratian. 

§  9.  The  decided  part  which  Ambrose  took  in  the  Arian  contro- 
versy was  a  chief  cause  of  the  triumph  of  Catholicism  in  the  West ; 
and  his  conflict  with  the  court  of  Milan  fonns  one  of  the  most 
striking  episodes  of  church  history.  The  Empress  Justina,  as 
already  stated,  was  a  zealous  Arian,  and  brought  up  her  young 
son,  Valentinian  II.,  in  the  same  faith.  But  during  the  life 
of  Gratian,  she  had  been  defeated  by  Ambrose  in  the  attempt 
to  appoint  an  heretical  bishop  at  Sirmium  (379).  The  death  of 
Gratian  left  the  imperial  power  in  the  hands  of  Justina,  as  guardian 
for  her  infant  son.  The  whole  population  of  Milan  had  been 
secured  to  the  orthodox  faith  by  the  efforts  of  Ambrose,  and  the 
only  Arians  were  some  officers  of  the  court  and  some  Gothic 
soldiers.  For  their  use  the  Empress  demanded,  first  a  church  with- 
out the  walls,  and  afterwards  a  new  basilica,  the  largest  in  the 
city.  Ambrose,  summoned  before  the  council,  and  enjoined  to 
yield  on  his  allegiance,  replied,  "Palaces  are  for  the  Emperor: 
churches  are  for  the  priests  of  God."  The  populace  rose  ;  even  the 
soldiers  showed  reluctance  to  enforce  the  order ;  and  the  Empress 
yielded  for  the  time  (a.d.  385). 

Early  in  the  next  year,  an  edict  was  issued  giving  freedom  of 
worship  to  all  who  professed  the  Arian  creed  of  Eimini,  on  pain  of 
death  to  such  as  should  molest  them.  Ambrose  was  next  required, 
on  imn  of  deprivation,  to  argue  the  questions  at  issue  with  the 
Gothic  Arian  bishop,  who  was  Justina's  chief  adviser,*  before  the 
Emperor  and  his  court ;  but  Ambrose  replied  that  a  council  of  the 
Church  was  the  only  projwr  court  for  the  discussion.  On  the 
approach  of  Easter,  the  demand  for  the  church  was  renewed,  and 
again  refused.  Ambrose  was  now  ordered  to  leave  the  city;  he 
replied  that  he  would  only  yield  to  force ;  and  the  people  showed 
their  resolution  to  resist  any  such  attempt  on  his  person  or  the 
church.     While  some  kept  watch  about  the  Bishop's  house,  the 

1  He  had  assumed  the  name  of  Auxentius,  the  late  bishop  of  Milan. 


X.D.  385.  CONTEST  WITH  THE  ARIANS.  277 

body  of  the  faithful  filled  the  church  by  day  and  night.  Ambrose 
sustained  their  spirits  by  the  practice  of  antiphonal  singing,  which 
made  the  contest  bear  lasting  fruit  in  the  worship  of  the  Cliurch. 
It  was  the  practice  (at  least  in  the  Western  Churcli)  to  leave  the 
psalmody  to  the  choristers ;  but  Ambrose,  following  an  exam])le 
lately  set  at  Antioch  on  a  similar  occasion,  divided  the  whole  con- 
gregation into  two  choirs,  which  sang  the  chants  in  alternating 
response. 

§  10.  The  contest  had  been  long  maintained,  when,  ns  is  alleged 
by  Ambrose  himself,  by  his  secretary  Paulinus,  and  by  his  pupil 
Augustine,  who  was  then  at  Milan,*  a  miracle  decided  it  in  favour  of 
the  bishop  and  people.  Ambrose,  being  about  to  consecrate  a  new 
church  on  the  site  of  that  which  now  bears  his  nanie,^  wished  to 
give  it  the  iieculiar  sanctity  derived  from  the  relics  of  martyrs.  On 
digging  beneath  the  pavement  of  another  church,  two  skeletons  were 
found  of  extraordinary  size,  "such  as  the  olden  time  produced," 
with  the  heads  severed  from  the  bodies,  and  about  them  was  a 
quantity  oi  fresh  blood}  They  w-ere  pronounced  to  be  the  remains 
of  martyrs ;  and  some  old  rncn  now  remembered  to  have  heard  of 
the  martyrdom  of  Gervasius  and  Frotasius,  of  whose  very  names 
there  was  no  record.  The  relics  were  dejwsited  in  the  new  church, 
after  being  exjwsed  for  two  days  to  the  admiring  zeal  of  the  faithful, 
which  was  excited  to  the  highest  pitch  by  the  miracles  wrought  by 
their  power.  Demoniacs  brought  near  them  were  fiercely  agitated, 
and  some  of  the  demons  denounced  torments  like  their  own  on  all 
deniers  of  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as  taught  by  Ambrose. 
Miracles  were  wrought  by  the  more  touch  of  the  cloth  which 
covered  the  remains,  and  by  their  shadow  as  they  were  bonie 
through  the  streets.*  The  critical  case  of  all  was  that  of  a  blind 
butcher,  well  known  in  the  city,  who  recovered  his  sight  on  touching 
the  hem  of  the  pall,  and  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  in  charge  of  the 
relics  as  sacristan. 

Such  was  the  impression  produced,  that  Justina  withdrew  her 
demand,  though  the  Arians  questioned  and  derided  the  miracles. 

>  See  Chap.  XIV.  §  3.  -  S.  Ambrogio  at  Milan. 

'  Those  circumstances  nlone  are  sufficient  to  throw  discredit  on  the 
miracle  by  the  test  of  proving  too  mttch ;  and  the  next  sentence  furnishes 
another  test — the  want  of  a  basis  of  fact  as  to  the  very  existence  of  the 
alleged  martyrs.  The  credulity  which  sees  a  double  miracle  in  the  dis- 
covery of  an  unrecorded  martyrdom  simply  refutes  itself. 

*  Any  who  may  be  captivated  by  the  parallel  of  thirs  with  Acts  v.  5, 
should  remember  how  easily  the  statement  could  be  made  as  an  imitation 
of  that  example,  in  which,  too  it  is  not  said  that  Peter's  shadow  had  a 
miraculous  effect,  but  that  some  went  so  far  as  to  hope  it  might  cure  the 
sick. 

14 


278  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chai-.  XI' 

Sober  criticism  must  now  more  than  question,  though  without 
deriding,  both  the  discovery  and  its  miraculous  effects,  which  sprang 
up  at  so  opportune  a  moment,  amidst  an  excitement  that  precluded 
their  close  and  calm  investigation,  and  surrounded  by  very  suspicious 
circumstances.^  We  are  not  called  upon  to  judge  whether  Ambrose 
was  drawn  into  a  delusion  by  the  excitement  of  the  conflict,  or  was 
in  any  degree  a  conscious  party  to  a  fraud :  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
both  extreme  credulity  and  "  pious  fraud  "  may  be  traced  in  the 
Church  of  the  fourth  century.  The  contest  with  imperial  Ariauism 
was  ended  in  the  following  year  by  the  death  of  Justina,  upon  which 
Valentinian  II.  embraced  orthodoxy,  and  placed  himself  under  the 
guidance  of  Ambrose  (387) ;  and  the  year  after,  the  victory  of 
Theodosius  over  the  usurper  Maximus  virtually  reunited  the  whole 
Empire  under  bis  sway  (388).^ 

§  11.  The  presence  of  Theodosius  at  Milan  gave  Ambrose  the  o\>- 
portunity  of  showing  himself  as  courageous  before  his  friend,  the 
powerful  orthodox  p]mperor,  as  he  had  been  against  his  enemy,  the 
Arian  Empress.  Theodosius  not  only  submitted  gracefully  to  the 
rcixilse  of  his  attempt  to  seat  himself  within  the  railings  of  the  choir 
(the  part  of  the  church  reserved  for  the  clergy  in  the  West),  but 
introduced  the  same  order  in  the  more  courtly  churches  of  the  East. 

But  the  Emperor  soon  incurred  a  fur  more  serious  censure  ;  and 
Ambrose  gave  the  first  example,  since  the  Jewish  theocratic 
monarchy,  of  the  minister  of  religion  wielding  its  power  over  the 
conscience  of  a  ruler.  In  a  fit  of  that  ungovernable  anger  which 
was  the  greatest  stain  on  the  noble  character  of  Theodosius,  he 
issued  orders  to  punish  a  sanguinary  tumult  at  Thessalonica  by  a 
treacherous  and  indiscriminate  massacre,  in  which  from  7000  to 
15,000  victims  perished  (390).  But  there  was  a  Xathan  ready  to 
reprove  the  sin  of  the  imperial  David.  On  the  return  of  Theodosius 
to  Milan,  Ambrose  retired  to  the  country,  and  wrote  a  letter  cftUing 
him  to  repentance  and  declaring  liimself  forbidden  by  God  to 
celebrate  the  Eucharist  in  the  Emperor's  presence,  till  he  should  do 
full  jienance.  Theodosius  felt  the  force  of  the  rebuke,  but  neverthe- 
less went  as  usual  to  worship  at  the  Bortian  basilica.  In  the  porch 
he  was  met  bj'  Ambrose,  who  laid  his  hand  on  the  Emperor's  robe, 

'  We  have  not  space  for  the  discussion ;  but  those  inclined  to  pursue  it 
in  the  light  of  the  original  authorities  (who  are  simply  Arhbrose  himself, 
Paulinus,  and  Augustine,  all  excited  parties  in  the  case)  will  lind  its  com- 
parison with  the  liealing  of  the  blind  man  in  John  ix.  a  critical  illustration 
of  the  dilference  between  the  miracles  of  Christ  and  those  of  the  ages  after 
the  Apostles. 

^  Valentinian  IL  was  restored  by  Theodosius  to  the  throne  from  which 
he  was  expelled  by  Maximus;  but  ho  was  entirely  subordinate  to  his  col- 
league; and  on  his  death,  in  392,  Theodosius  became  sole  emperor. 


A.D.  395-7.      DEATHS  OF  AMBROSE  AND  TIIEODOSiaS.  279 

and  bade  him  withdraw,  as  a  man  polluted  with  innocent  blood. 
Alter  spending  eight  months  in  penitential  seclusion,  with  the 
insignia. of  empire  laid  aside,  ThecdosiTis  ]»rcsented  himself,  at 
Christmas,  in  the  attitude  of  a  lowly  suppliant,  to  seek  re-admission 
to  the  church.  Ambrose  still  required  a  practical  fruit  of  repentance, 
in  the  form  of  an  edict  forbidding  the  execution  of  capital  punish- 
ments till  thirty  days  after  the  sentence.  Admitted  at  length  to  the 
church,  the  Emperor  prostrated  himself  on  the  pavement  with  every 
sign  of  the  deepest  grief,  and  Ambrose  declares  that  he  never  passed 
a  day  without  a  sorrowful  remembrance  of  his  crime.  He  died  at 
Milan  on  the  17th  of  January,  395  ;  and  Ambrose  died  two  years 
later,  on  Easter  Eve,  397. 

His  chief  eminence,  next  to  his  deep  piety  and  religious  courage, 
was  in  administration.  His  lofty  assertion  of  the  dignity  of  the 
priesthood  was  made  on  purely  religious  grounds,  and  mingled 
with  the  least  trace,  that  luiman  infirmity  must  needs  admit, 
of  regard  for  himself  or  his  order.  The  theology  embodied  in  his 
numerous  works  is  almost  entirely  that  of  the  Greek  Church  ;  but 
in  the  questions  regarding  the  state  and  destiny  of  man,  he  forms 
a  link  between  the  Eastern  fathers  and  his  own  pupil  Augustine,  in 
whose  conversion  he  had  a  chief  part,  and  who  bears  the  strongest 
testimony  to  the  dignity  and  force,  the  unction  and  impressive  power, 
displayed  by  Ambrose  in  the  pulpit.  He  had  a  large  share  in 
moulding  the  worship  of  tlie  Western  Church,  especially  by  his 
inestimable  services  to  her  hymnology  and  sacred  music.  To  this 
day  the  church  of  Milan  uses  a  liturgy  which  beai-s  his  name,  the 
"  Ambrosian  Use"  (ritus  Ajnhrosiainis)} 

§  12.  The  mfluence  of  Ambrose  is  conspicuous  in  the  decided 
measures  of  Gratian  and  Theodosius  against  heathenism.  The 
severe  laws  of  Valentinian  and  Valens  against  magical  arts,  which 
only  renewed  much  earlier  edicts,  were  aimed  chiefly  at  the  moral 
and  political  dangers  of  such  practices.  Heathen  worship  was  not 
only  tolerated  by  them,  but  the  priesthood  possessed  high  privileges, 
and  the  temples  were  protected  by  guards  of  soldiers.  The  further 
step  of  forbidding  animal  sacrifices  was  not  enforced  where  Paganism 
was  strong,  as  at  Rome  and  Alexandria.  But  Gratian,  acting  under 
the  influence  of  Ambrose,  was  the  first  to  sever  the  connection 
between  the  throne  and  altar  by  laying  aside  the  title  of  Pontife-x 
Maximus,  confiscating  the  property  of  the  temples,  abolishing  most 
of  the  privileges  of  the  priests  and  vestals,  and  withdrawing  the 

•  The  works  of  Ambrose  are  Expositor;/.  Doctrinal,  or  Didactic,  and 
Occasional.  The  two  chief  editions  are  the  Jioman,  5  vols.  1580-5,  and  the 
Benedictine,  Paris,  1686-90. 


280  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.         Chap.  XL 

public  funds  assigned  for  their  support.  These  measures,  to  use 
the  language  of  our  day,  reduced  heathenism  to  a  "  voluntary 
system,"  just  when  it  had  no  voluntary  energy  left. 

But  a  step  which  might  seem  small  was  the  most  significant  of 
his  measures  for  abolishing  the  old  establishment  of  heathenism. 
Under  the  Empire  which  had  lasted  for  four  centuries,  the  vener- 
able Senate  of  Rome  was  still,  in  theory,  the  supreme  power  in 
the  State ;  and  its  most  sacred  symbol  was  the  altar  of  Victoria 
(the  Goddess  of  Victory),  on  which  the  senators  took  the  oath 
of  fealty  to  the  laws  and  to  the  Prince,  and  on  which  libations 
and  incense  were  ofiered  as  the  first  act  of  every  meeting.  The 
removal  of  this  altar  by  Gratian,  in  382,  is  especially  interesting 
as  giving  occasion  to  a  chapter  in  the  last  literary  conflict  between 
Christianity  and  the  old  religion.  The  great  advocate  of  the  heathen 
side  was  the  venerable  Symmachus,  the  leader  {prhiceps)  of  the 
Senate,  the  greatest  orator  of  his  age,  and  equally  distinguished  for 
his  personal  character  and  the  dignity  of  his  civil  and  religious 
oflices.  At  first,  indeed,  the  deputation  of  the  Senate  which  he  led 
to  IMilan  was  refused  a  hearing ;  but  a  second  deputation  was  ad- 
mitted, two  years  later,  to  the  presence  of  the  young  Valentinian  II., 
to  whom  Symmachus  delivered  an  eloquent  written  pleading  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Altar  which  symbolized  the  triumphs  of 
Rome  and  the  support  of  the  religion  under  which  she  had  gained 
the  empire  of  the  world;  and  drawing,  with  great  ability,  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  Emjieror's  personal  convictions  and  his 
jwsition  as  the  head  of  such  a  State.  But  his  case  was  only 
weakened  by  repeating  the  old  attempt  to  trace  the  calamities 
of  the  Empire  to  the  anger  of  the  forsaken  gods.  Ambrose  com- 
ix)sed  a  reply,  if  not  with  equal  eloquence,  with  the  confidence 
derived  from  having  not  only  the  better  case,  but  being  on  the 
stronger  side;  and  the  plea  of  Symmachus  was  rejected.  An 
appeal  to  Theodosius,  when  he  was  in  Italy  after  the  defeat  of 
Maximus,  was  received  with  some  favour,  but  the  influence  of 
Ambrose  again  prevailed  (389).  The  blow  was  severely  felt  at 
Rome,  which  was  now  the  chief  stronghold  of  heathenism,  especially 
among  the  old  nobility. 

§  13.  In  the  East,  Theodosius  had  already  taken  more  decided 
measures.  The  laws  against  sacrifices  were  twice  renewed  (381  and 
385);  and  edicts  similar  to  tliosc  of  Gratian  withdrew  all  public 
support  from  heathenism.  In  38G  a  commission  was  sent  into 
Egypt  to  close  the  temples,  but  they  were  neither  confiscated  nor 
destroyed.  As  however  in  the  old  times  of  heathen  persecution, 
the  law  was  outrun  by  popular  zeal,  inflamed  by  the  fear  that 
another  Julian  might  reopen  the  temples  now  spared.     A  pretext 


A.D.  391.  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  SERAPEUM.  281 

was  found  for  their  destruction,  on  the  ground  that  they  had  been 
again  used  for  the  sacrifices  forbidden  by  the  law.  But  their 
demolition  was  very  prtial,  and  that  chietly  in  places  where  thej 
were  exi-osed  to  the  lauaticisni  of  the  monks.  Elsewhere  the  great 
monuments  of  classic  architecture  were  preserved  for  use  as  Christian 
churches  or  for  secular  purposes. 

§  14.  The  destruction  of  the  temples  called  forth  another  of  the 
last  literary  defences  of  heathenism,  in  two  letters  from  the  sophist 
Libanius  to  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  who  honoured  him  as  a 
personal  friend ;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  they  were  ever  presented  to 
the  Emperor  (384  and  390).^  The  writer  is  most  severe  upon  the 
monks,  whom  he  describes  as  "men  in  black  clothes,  as  voracious 
as  elephants,  and  insatiably  thirsty,  though  veiling  their  sensuality 
under  an  artificial  paleness."  Like  Symmachus,  he  traces  the 
calamities  of  the  Empire  to  the  desertion  of  the  old  religion  ;  and 
he  declares  that  the  worshij)  of  the  heathen  deities  was  still  pro- 
tected in  Egypt  because  the  Christians  themselves  feared  to  risk  the 
fertility  of  the  country  by  its  suppression. 

This  challenge  to  a  remnant  of  superstition  was  quickly  accepted. 
Theophilus,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  a  man  of  violent  character,  seized 
the  occasion  of  the  discovery  of  some  abominable  symbols  of 
Paganism,  to  excite  public  odium  by  parading  them  through  the 
street.  The  heathen  part  of  the  populace  rose  in  riot  against  the 
insult;  killed  several  Christians;  fortified  themselves  in  the  vast 
temple  of  Apis,  called  the  Serapeum ;  and,  sallying  forth,  killed 
many  of  the  citizens  and  carried  back  others  as  prisoners,  whom 
they  put  to  torture  to  comjiel  them  to  sacrifice,  and  even  crucified 
some  of  them.  The  state  of  the  city  was  reported  to  Theodosius,  who 
ordered  the  rioters  to  be  treated  with  clemency,  but  that  all  the 
temples  in  Alexandria  should  be  destroj^ed.  The  defenders,  who  had 
come  out  of  the  buildin'^  to  hear  the  rescript,  fled,  leaving  the  gods 
of  Egypt  to  avenge  themselves  :  for  there  was  an  old  belief  that,  on 
the  first  injury  done  to  the  splendid  idol  of  Serapis,  the  heavens  would 
fall  in  ruin  upon  the  earth.  Even  tlie  Christians  held  their  breath 
as  a  soldier,  mounting  a  ladder,  struck  his  axe  uixin  the  face  of  the 
figure ;  but  a  shout  of  derision  burst  forth  when  a  swarm  of  rats 
burst  forth  from  the  severed  head.  But  the  sacrilege  seemed 
likely  to  be  avenged  when  the  rising  of  the  Nile  was  delayed 
beyond  its  usual  time;  and  a  fresh  appeal  was  made  to  the  Emjieior. 
"  Better,"  replied  Theodosius,  "  that  the  river  should  not  rise  at  all, 
than  that  we  should  buy  the  fertility  of  Egypt  by  idolatry."  When 
at  last  the  inundation  came,  its  unusual  height  threatened  vengeance 

'  Libanius,  de  Templis. 


282  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.         Chap.  XL 

in.an  equally  destructive  form  ;  but  it  subsided  in  due  course,  and 
the  primeval  fabric  of  Egyptian  idolatry  sank  with  it  (391).  The 
buildings  of  the  Serapeum,  and  all  the  other  temples  in  Alexandria 
and  throughout  Egypt,  were  destroyed,  so  far  as  their  massive 
fabrics  made  it  possible. 

The  act  thus  performed  by  law  in  Egypt  was  imitated  in  Syria 
by  the  hot  zeal  of  Marcellus,  bishop  of  Apamea ;  but  the  enraged 
populace  burnt  him  alive,  and  Theodosius  refused  to  punish  the 
avengers  of  an  illegal  outrage.  In  Gaul,  the  zeal  of  Martin,  bishop 
of  Tours,  destroyed  many  temples  and  built  Christian  churches 
on  their  sites  ;  but  some  of  the  best  and  wisest  Christians,  both  iu 
the  East  and  WeU,  condemned  these  acts,  or  at  least  the  manner 
of  their  performance.  Thus  Chrysostom  said  at  Antioch  early  in 
this  reign,  "Christians  are  not  to  destroy  error  by  force  or  violence, 
but  should  work  the  salvation  of  men  by  persuasion,  instruction, 
and  love."  And  Augustine  wrote  of  the  destruction  of  the  idols, 
"  Let  us  first  obliterate  the  idols  in  the  hearts  of  the  heathen, 
and  when  once  they  become  Christians  they  will  either  themselves 
invite  us  to  the  execution  of  so  good  a  work,  or  anticipate  us  in  it. 
Now  we  must  pray  for  them,  not  exasperate  them." 

§  15.  In  the  year  392,  Theodosius,  now  sole  emperor,  issued  an 
edict  against  Paganism  throughout  the  whole  empire.  "  With  an 
elaborate  specification  it  includes  all  persons  of  every  rank  and  in 
every  place,  Sacrifice  and  divination,  even  although  ^performed 
without  any  political  object,  are  to  be  regarded  as  treasonable  and 
to  be  capitally  punished.  The  use  of  lights,  incense,  garlands,  or 
libations,  and  other  such  lesser  acts  of  idolatry,  are  to  involve  the 
forfeiture  of  the  houses  or  lands  where  they  are  committed.  Heavy 
fines,  graduated  according  to  tlie  position  of  the  offenders,  are 
denounced  against  those  who  should  enter  the  temples;  if  magis- 
trates should  offend  in  this  respect,  and  their  officers  do  not  attempt 
to  prevent  them,  the  officers  are  also  to  be  fined.'"  ^ 

It  is,  however,  quite  clear  that  the  severer  laws  of  this  reign  against 
heathenism  were  very  imperfectly  enforced.  FitU  individual  liberty 
of  religion  was  allowed,  and  heathenism  was  neither  a  bar  to  office 
nor  to  the  personal  friendshij)  of  the  Emperor.  The  Christian  ])oet 
Prudentius  slates  with  approbation,  that  in  the  distribution  of 
secular  offices  Theodosius  looked  not  at  religion,  but  at  merit  and 
talent.  He  conferred  the  consulship  on  Symmachus,  and  made  the 
heathen  rhetorician  Themistius  prefect  of  Constantinople  and  tutor 
to  his  son  Arcadius.  It  is  at  once  a  tribute  to  the  esteem  which  he 
won  from  all  parties,  and  a  curious  sign  of  the  tenacity  of  old  ideas 

>  Itobertson,  vol-  i.  p.  292. 


A.D.  395.  ARCADIUS  AND  HONORIUS.  283 

under  the  new  order  of  things,  that  the  Emperor,  who  had  shown 
the  most  genuine  Christian  zeal  and  taken  the  most  decisive 
measures  against  the  old  rehgion,  was  enrolled  by  the  Senate,  witli 
the  long  line  of  heathen  Ca;sars,  among  the  gods. 

§  16.  Within  the  Church  Theodosius  endeavoured  to  enforce  uni- 
formity of  belief  by  edicts  against  heresy  in  general,  and  especially 
against  the  Ariaus,  Eunomiaus,  Macedonians,  ApoUinariaus,  and 
Manicheans.  The  orthodox  decision  made  at  Constantinople  (381) 
was  followed  by  a  decree  ordering  all  churches  to  be  given  up  to  the 
Catholics,  and  forbidding  heretics  to  meet  for  worship.  By  a  suc- 
cession of  further  edicts  "  he  confiscated  all  places  in  which  they 
should  hold  meetings  ;  he  rendered  them  incapable  of  inheriting  or 
bequeathing  property,  and  inflicted  other  civil  disabilities ;  he  for- 
bad them  to  dispute  on  religion  ;  he  condemned  those  who  should 
either  confer  or  receive  sectarian  ordination  to  pay  a  penalty  of  ten 
pounds'  weight  of  gold — equal  to  about  £400  of  our  money.  Against 
some  classes  of  heretics  he  denounced  confiscation  and  banishment ; 
the  'elect'  of  the  Manicheans  were  even  sentenced  to  death." ^ 
The  Manicheans  were  regarded  as  enemies  of  religion  and  social 
order ;  but,  in  general,  these  edicts,  like  those  against  the  heathen, 
were  designed  rather  to  work  their  end  by  terror  than  to  be  strictly 
executed.  But  in  Gaul,  under  the  rule  of  the  usurper  Maximus,  the 
heresiarch  Priscillian  was  put  to  the  torture  and  to  death,  with 
some  of  his  chief  adherents,  against  the  remonstrances  of  Martin, 
bishop  of  Tours  (a.d.  385).^^ 

§  17.  The  death  of  the  Great  Theodosius  gave  the  signal  for  the 
final  dissolution  of  the  Empire  he  had  reunited.  TUe  East  and 
West  w-ere  again  divided  between  his  two  sons,  weak  boys  of  eighteen 
and  eleven.  Arcadius  (395-408)  reigned  at  Constantinople,  imder 
the  successive  tutelage  of  his  favourites,  llufinus  and  the  eunuch 
Eutropius,  and  his  able  but  artful  wife,  Eudoxia,  the  bitter  per- 
secutor of  John  Chrysostom.3  Hoxorius  (395-423)  watched  from 
Milan  the  resistance  of  the  great  Stilicho  to  the  tide  of  barbarian 
invasion ;  till  the  passage  of  the  Alps  by  the  Goths  under  Alaric 
caused  the  Emperor  to  seek  safety  in  the  impregnable  fortifications 
and  marshes  of  Bavenna  (402),  which  remained  the  seat  of  the 
court  till  the  fall  of  the  AVestern  Empire. 

'  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  294-.  "Theodosius  published  fifteen  such  edicts 
in  the  same  number  of  years  (a.d.  381-394).     Cod.  Theod.  xvi.  v.  G,  foil." 

*  The  teaching  of  Priscillian  is  described  as  a  compound  of  Manicheism, 
Gnosticism,  and  other  here><ies.  Like  the  Manicheans,  the  Priscillianists 
professed  strict  asceticism,  but  were  accused  of  licentious  practices  in  pri- 
vate, a  confession  of  which  was  obtained  from  their  leaders  by  torture 
before  their  execution.  '  See  Chap.  XIII.  §  7. 


284  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM.  Chap.  XI. 

§  18.  On  the  death  of  Honorius  (423),  the  East  and  West  were 
reunited  for  the  brief  space  of  two  years,  under  Theodosius  II., 
who  had  succeeded  his  father,  Arcadius,  at  the  age  of  seven.  His 
long  reign  of  forty-two  years  (408-450)  was  passed  under  the 
signally  able  tutelage,  iirst,  of  the  prefect  Anthemius  (till  414),  and 
afterwards  of  his  own  sister,  Pulchekia,  who  succeeded  him  in  the 
Empire,  which  she  shared  with  her  husband  Marcian.' 

Meanwhile  the  West  was  nominally  ruled  by  Valentixian  III. 
(425-455),  the  son  of  Placidia,  the  sister  of  Honorius,  who,  at  the 
age  of  six,  was  proclaimed  Emperor  by  Theodosius  II.  This  weak 
infant,  and  almost  equally  feeble  man,  was  the  tool  of  his  mother, 
andof  the  great  generals  Atitius  and  Bonifacius,  whose  rivalry  was 
fatal  to  the  Empire,  which  their  union  might  have  saved. 

§  19.  The  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  marked  by  the  deaths  of 
Theodosius  II.  and  Valentinian  III.,  may  be  fixed  as  the  Epoch  of 
the  Final  Fall  of  Paqanism.  During  the  half  century  from  the 
death  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  repeated  edicts  were  levelled  against 
the  pagan  worship  and  customs.^  I'he  abolition  of  gladiatorial 
shows  was  purchased  by  the  self-devotion  of  a  monk  named  Tele- 
machus,  who,  in  the  midst  of  the  games  held  to  celebrate  iStilicho's 
repulse  of  Alaric,  rushed  into  the  arena  of  the  Coliseum  to  separate 
the  combatants,  and  was  stoned  to  death  by  the  enraged  spectators 
(404).  Edicts  were  issued  by  Arcadius  and  Honorius  abolishing 
heathen  sacrifices,  and  confiscating  the  endowments  of  the  priest- 
hood. A  law  of  Honorius  (408)  excluded  all  "  enemies  of  the 
Catholic  sect "  from  military  employment  at  the  court.'  One  of 
Theodosius.  II.  (435)  commanded  the  temples  to  be  destroyed,  or 
turned  into  churches. 

§  20.  But,  though  an  edict  of  the  same  emperor  (423)  questioned 
whether  any  pagans  still  survived,'*  the  contrary  of  this  fond  hope 
is  proved  by  its  very  terms, — by  the  need  for  constantly  promul- 
gating fresh  laws,  including  many  expressly  levelled  against  converts 
W'ho  relapsed  into  heathenism, — and  by  the  penalties  denounced 
against  the  magistrates  who  neglected  to  enforce  such  laws.  Be- 
sides these,  we  have  many  positive  indications  of  the  survival  of 
heathenism.  In  the  Western  Empire,  especially,  the  old  religion 
of  Rome  died  hard,  and  only  .succumbed  at  last  to  a  power  greater 
than  that  of  any  imi^rial  laws. 

*  See  Chap.  XV.  §  10. 

*  These  edicts  are  embodied  in  the  Code  of  the  younger  Theodosius. 
»  Cod.  Theodos.  xvi.  5,  42. 

*  Cod.  Theodos.  xvi.  10,  '22:  "  Paganos,  qui  supersunt,  qitamquatn  jam 
nullos  esse  credamus,  promulgatarum  loguin  jamduduin  pra>scripta  coui- 
pescant." 


A.D.  450. 


EPOCH  OF  THE  FALL  OF  PAGANISM. 


28; 


That  very  tide  of  barbarian  invasion,  which  overthrew  tlie  Chris- 
tian Empire,  swept  the  relics  of  Paganism  away  before  it.  The 
Goths,  who  were  the  leaders  of  the  irruption,  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
long  embraced  Christianity  ;  it  had  spread  from  them  to  their  allies  ; 
and,  among  all  the  barbarian  invaders,  there  is  not  an  instance  of 
a  trilie  tliat  adopted  the  jiaganism  of  Greece  or  Rome.  "  Alaric  and 
his  Goths,  who  were  Arians,  directed  their  wrath  against  heathen 
temples  even  more  zealously  than  the  Christians  of  the  Empire. 
It  is  from  Alaric's  invasion  of  Greece  that  the  suppression  of  the 
Eleusiuian  mysteries  is  dated.  In  the  capture  of  Rome  temples 
were  attacked,  while  churches  were  reverenced,  and  those  who 
sought  a  refuge  in  them  were  spared.  .  .  .  The  old  Roman  aristo- 
cracy, which  had  clung  to  the  religion  of  its  forefathers  more  from 
pride  than  from  conviction,  was  scattered  by  the  taking  of  Rome. 
Many  of  its  members  emigrated  to  their  possessions  in  Africa, 
Egypt,  or  elsewhere,  and  the  pagan  interest  suffered  in  consequence. 
But  in  the  rural  parts  of  Italy — notwithstanding  the  law  of  the 
year  408,  by  wliich  landlords  were  ordered  to  destroy  temples  on 
their  estates' — the  ancient  worship  subsisted,  imtil  at  a  later  time 
it  was  followed  into  its  retreats  and  extirpated  by  the  labour  of  the 
monks."  ^ 

'  Cod.  Theodos.  xvi.  10,  1 9.  *  Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  382,  384 ; 

see  also  the  remarks  at  vol.  i.  pp.  500-502. 


Great  Cross  of  the  Lateran. 
(In  Mosaic,  probably  of  ihe  time  of  Constantine  the  Oreat  ) 

14* 


B.  Apollinare  in  Classe,  Ravenna. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


PROGRESS  AND  INTERNAL  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH 
DURING  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY. 


§  1.  Extension  of  Christianity,  (i.)  In  Ethiopia,  Arabia,  and  India;  (ii.) 
Amonc  tlie  Iberians ;  (iii.)  Conversion  of  the  Goths — Life  and  Labours 
of  Ulfilas — The  Gothic  Alphabet  and  Bible — Arianism  of  the  Goths; 
(iv.)  Christianity  and  persecutions  in  Persia.  §  2.  Development  of 
Church   Institutions — Modifying    causes— Union  of  Church   and   State 

Causes  which   lessened    the    dependence  of    the  Church.     §  3.  Difli- 

culty  of  defining  the  nature  of  the  alliance — Extent  of  the  Imperial 
Supremacy  —  The  Emperor's  authority  in  religious  questions  —  His 
power  in  the  Councils.  §  4.  Civil  jurisdiction  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs — Secular  jurisdiction  of  Bishops — Clerical  Exemptions.  §  5. 
Influence  of  Christianity  on  civil  laws  and  institutions — Rights  of  In- 
tercession and  Asvlum — Public  observance  of  Sunday.  §  (J.  Internal 
orf'anizatiou  of  the  Church— Increased  power  of  the  Clergy — Exalta- 
tion of  the  Bishops.  §  7.  Adaptation  of  Dioceses  to  the  civil  division 
of  the  Empire — Metropolitans;  Exarchs  or  Primates;  Patriarchs  or 
Pi,j,es — Rank  of  the  See  of  Constantinople.  §  8.  Rank  of  the  Roman  See 
. Declarations  of  the  Councils  of  Nicaa  and  Sardica — No  supremacy,  but 


Cent.  IV.  EXTENSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  287 

growing  dignity  and  influence  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome — Decretal  Epistles. 
8  9.  Decline  of  the  Country  Bishops  {C/iorepiscopij.  §  10.  Condition  of 
the  Clergy — Their  social  Privileges  and  Exemptions — Increase  of  Wealth 

Gift  and  Legacy  Hunting.     §  11.  Order  of  Deacons — Archdeacons — 

Lower  Clergv — The  Copiatue  and  Parabolani.  §  12.  Clerical  Celibacy 
encourao-ed  but  not  enjoined  —  Progress  of  Monasticism  —  Its  causes. 
S  13.  Heathen  and  Jewish  Jlonasticism  ;  how  far  the  sources  of  Christian 

Monasticism Distinction  between  the  Gnostic  and  Christian  Asceticism. 

§  14.  Beginnini^  of  Christian  Monasticism   in   the   third    century — Its 

Four  Staccs Life  of  the  Hermits  or  Anchorets — Sarabaites  and  Rhemo- 

boths.  §"  15.  The  first  f\imous  Anchorets :  Paul  OF  TilEBES— St. 
Anthony,  the  true  founder  of  Monasticism— His  Life,  Miracles,  and 
Teaching— His  Biography  by  Athanasius — His  zeal  against  Heresy- 
Fierce  orthodoxy  of  the  Monks.  §  16.  Spread  of  Monasticism— Hila- 
rion^n  Syria— Extravagances  of  Asceticism — St.  Symeon  Stylites  and 
the  "  Pillar  Saints."  §  17.  Coenobite  or  Social  Monasticism  founded  by 
Pachomius  in  Egvpt— Monastic  Sisterhoods— Spread  of  Monasteries  in 
the  East— Basil  THE  Great— Isidore  of  Pelusium—NiLUS  of  Sinai- 
Educational  and  Literary  Work  of  Monasteries — Fanatical  extremes — 
Svnod  of  Garagra.  §  18.  Monasticism  in  the  West :  promoted  by  Atha- 
nasius,   Ambrose,    and    Augustine— Its  practical  and  missionary  spirit 

St.  Martin  of  Tours— Monasteries  in  Gaul— St.  Honoratus  and 

St.  Vincent  of  Lerins. 

§  1.  The  resolute  measures  of  Theodosius  and  his  sons  bore  fruit 
in  large  additions  of  nominal  proselytes  both  to  Christianity  and 
Catholicism  ;  but  the  manifest  decay  of  the  little  life  left  in  hea- 
thenism would  have  secured  an  influx  of  true  converts  by  worthier 
means.  During  the  fourth  century,  also,  the  Gospel  was  spread  more 
widely  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Empire. 

(i.)  In  Ethiopia,  Arabia,  and  India. — It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
conversion  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  in  the  apostolic  age  produced 
permanent  results  in  his  country;  but  the  known  establishment 
of  Christianity  there  was  effected  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth 
century.  Meropius,  a  philosopher  of  Tyre,  who  went  on  a  scientific 
expedition  to  the  Upi'wr  Nile,  was  massacred  with  all  his  com- 
panions except  two  youths,  ^Edesius  and  Frumcntius.  They 
became  officers  at  the  kin2;'s  court,  and  at  his  death  they  governeil 
the  kingdom  under  the  queen,  for  his  infant  son.  .lEdesius  returned 
to  Tyre  and  became  a  presbyter ;  while  Frumentius  resorted  for 
advice  to  Athanasius  at  Alexandria,  who  ordained  and  sent  him 
back  as  bishop  of  Auxume  {Axum,  in  Abyssinia),  a  see  which  has 
ever  since  been  subject  to  the  Alexandrian  patriarch. 

About  the  middle  of  the  century,  Theophilus,  a  native  of  the 
island  of  Diu,^  having  been  sent  a  hostage  to  the  court  of  Constantine, 

'   Probably  near  the  Gulf  of  Cambay,  in  India. 


288      THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.   Chap.  XII. 

was  ordained  by  Eusebius  of  Niconiedia  as  an  Arian  missionary,  and 
preached  in  Southern  Arabia,  and  (as  it  seems)  in  Ethiopia  and 
India,  as  well  as  in  his  native  island.^  In  the  deserts  of  Northern 
Arabia,  bordering  on  Syria,  Eusebius  tells  us  that  churches  had  been 
lately  founded  amony;  the  Saracens,^  who  were  destined  to  acquire 
such  fame  as  votaries  of  another  faith.  Impressed  with  the  holy 
and  self-denying  lives  of  the  monks  of  the  desert,  they  visited 
their  retreats,  and  became  their  converts.  On  the  occasion  of  a 
peace  made  with  Valeus  (372),  a  Saracen  queen  stipulated  for  the 
appointment  of  Moses,  an  anchoret  of  great  sanctity,  as  bishop  to 
her  nation.  KefuSing  ordination  from  the  Arian  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria, Moses  was  consecrated  by  some  of  the  banished  orthodox 
bishops.  The  Jews  living  among  the  Arabs  were  the  bitterest 
opponents  of  Christianity. 

(ii.)  The  Iberians,  in  the  region  of  the  Caucasus  (in  Georgia),  are 
said  to  have  been  converted  through  the  influence  of  a  female 
Christian  captive,  in  the  reign  of  Constantine,  to  whom  they  applied 
for  a  bishop.^ 

(iii.)  The  most  interesting  case  is  that  of  the  Goths  of  Moesia, 
who  furnish  one  of  the  earliest  examples  of  the  reception  of  Chris- 
tianity by  a  whole  nation,  and  of  the  service  so  often  rendered  by 
Christian  missionaries  to  barbarian  peoples,  in  giving  form  and  order 
to  a  language  as  yet  irregular,  to  be  the  vehicle  of  their  teaching,  and 
in  laying  the  foundations  of  a  national  literature  by  the  translation 
of  the  Scriptures.  We  have  had  to  mention  the  first  proi)agation  of 
Christianity  among  the  Gothic  invaders  of  tlie  Empire,  in  the  third 
century,  by  the  captives  whom  they  carried  off  beyond  the  Danube 
in  their  wars  with  Decius,  Valerian,  and  Gallienus,  and  the  appear- 
ance of  Theophilus,  "bishop  of  the  Goths,"  at  the  Nicene  Council. 
His  successor,  as  it  seems,  was  Ulfilas,*  who  appears  to  have  been 
born  in  312,  and  to  have  been  consecrated  to  his  bishopric  among 
the  Goths  while  discharging  a  mission  to  the  Emj^eror  Constantius 

'  Philostorg.  H.  E.  ii.  6;  iii.  4-6  ;  iv.  7.     Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  301. 

^  This  name  first  appears  ia  history  in  the  time  of  Zenobia,  whose  hus- 
band is  called  "  Prince  of  the  Saracens;"  that  is,  of  the  nomad  or  Bedouin 
Arabs,  whom  the  Greeks  called  Scenita,  that  is,  "  dwellers  in  tents."  It 
is  an  Arabic  name  of  disputed  origin,  derived  by  some  from  siraka,  "  to 
plunder ;  "  by  others  from  shara/iu,  "  to  spring  up "  (denoting  the  tribes 
of  the  East,  like  the  Latin  Oriens). 

^  Socr.  i.  20 ;  Sozom.  ii.  7 ;  whose  story  is  embellished  with  miracles. 
Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  301-2. 

*  Notwithstanding  his  Teutonic  name  (Ulfila  or  Wulfila,  a  diminutive  of 
Ulf,  "  wolf"),  he  is  said  to  have  been  descended  from  a  captive  Cappadocian 
family.  (Philostorg.  ii.  5.)  See  the  introduction  to  Massmann's  U/Jilas, 
which  "  contains  much  curious  matter  as  to  the  history  of  Christianity 
among  the  Goths."     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  303.) 


Cent.  IV.  THE  GOTHS— ULFILAS.  289 

(a.d.  348).^  Owing  to  the  persecution  of  Athanaric,  judge  of  the  Ostro- 
goths, Avho  suspected  his  Christian  subjects  of  perversion  to  the  in- 
terests of  Konie,  Ulfilas  led  alarije  body  of  Cloths  across  the  Danube, 
to  seek  the  Emperor's  protection  (355) ;  and  he  was  happily  styled 
by  Constantius  the  "  Moses  of  the  Gotlis."  When,  to  escape  the 
jjressure  of  tlic  resistless  hordes  of  the  Huns,  Fritigern  and  Alavivus, 
the  judges  of  the  Visigoths,  obtained  from  Valens  a  new  home  for 
their  nation  within  the  Danube,  Ulfilas  was  employed  to  negociate 
the  treaty  (376) ;  and  it  was  chiefly  among  these  Goths  of  Mccsia 
that  the  lasting  fruits  of  his  labours  were  preserved.  He  reduced 
their  language  to  a  written  form  by  inventing  an  alphabet  of  twenty- 
four  letters,  based  upon  the  Greek,  which  was  adopted  by  all  the 
Teutonic  tribes,  and  is  still  in  use  as  the  German  character,  or  "black 
letter.""  ^  His  translation  of  the  Scriptures  formed  the  basis  (for  he 
does  not  apj^ear  to  have  executed  the  whole)  of  that  version  which 
forms  the  tirst  great  monument  of  the  old  Gothic  language,  or,  as  it 
is  called  from  the.  province  in  which  the  dialect  received  its  literary 
fonn,  the  Moeso-Gothic?  There  was,  however,  one  great  drawback 
on  the  benefits  which  Ulfilas  conferred  upon  his  countrymen.  He 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  Avian,  and  the  adoption  of  that  faith  by 
the  Visigoths  was  made  by  Valens  a  condition  of  their  settlement 
in  Mcesia.  Hence  that  general  prevalence  of  Arianism  among  the 
barbarian  conquerors  of  the  Empire,  which  added  to  their  other 
devastations  a  cruel  persecution  of  the  Catholics. 

(iv.)  In  Persia,  the  faith  planted  in  Apostolic  times  continued 
to  flourish  and  spread,  and  the  treatment  of  the  Christians  depended 
much  on  the  relations  between  the  two  empires.  Constantino  wrote 
to  the  famous  Sapor  H.  (king  from  310  to  381)  on  behalf  of  his 
Christian  subjects,  who  enjoyed  toleration  during  the  first  half  of 
his  long  reign.  But  when  war  broke  out  with  Constantius  (343), 
the  Magi  easily  roused  the  King's  suspicion  against  those  who  held 
the  religion  of  the  Roman  Empire  ;  and  Symeon,  the  bishop  of  the 
twin  capital  (Seleucia  and  Ctesiphon),  suffered  martyrdom,  with 
many  others,  in  a  forty  years'  persecution. 

'  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  303,  who  places  the  death  of  Ulfilas  in  388  ;  but 
Professor  Max  Miiller  places  the  birth  of  UKilas  in  312,  his  consecration 
in  341  (probably  at  the  Council  of  Antioch),  and  his  death  in  381,  the  year 
of  the  Council  of  Constantinople  {Lectures,  pp.  180-2). 

^  Philostorg.  ii.  .'>. 

^  Of  the  translation  ascribed  to  Ulfilas,  rather  more  than  half  of  the  Four 
Ciospels  is  preserved  in  the  Cvdex  An/cntcus  belonging  to  the  University 
of  Upsala,  in  Sweden.  Other  fragments  have  been  discovered  in  palimp- 
sest MSS.  But  it  is  questioned  whether  the  version  in  the  UpsaJa  JIS.  is 
not  as  much  as  a  century  and  a  half  later  than  the  time  of  Ulfilas.  (See 
Aschbach,  Gcsc/i.  d.  ]Vcst<]ot/ien,  pp.  35,  foil.  ;  JIassmann.  xlvi.-.xlvii.) 


290      THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.  Chap.  XH. 

Among  the  chief  Christian  teachers  in  Persia  was  a  Mcsopotamian 
bislio|),  named  Maruthas.  Being  appointed  by  Arcadius  his  am- 
bassador to  Yezdkgerd  I.  (circ.  401-421),  he  exposed  the  tricks  by 
which  the  Magians  tried  to  influence  the  King,  who  seemed  dis- 
posed to  embrace  the  Christian  faith.  Hut  the  rash  zeal  of  a  bishop 
named  Abdas,  in  destroying  a  Persian  temple,  caused  Yezdegerd  to 
retaliate  on  the  Christian  churches  (414),  and  another  persecution 
lasted  for  thirty  years,  which  drove  multitudes  to  seek  refuge  in  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  involved  Varanes  V.  ("Bahram  Gour,  the 
Wild  Ass")  in  a  disastrous  war  with  Theodosius  II.  (421-2).  We 
shall  see  presently"  how  a  great  doctrinal  schism  in  the  Eastern 
Church  led  to  the  toleration  of  the  Nestorian  form  of  Christianity 
in  Persia  (Chap.  XV.  §  6). 

§  2.  We  have  now  to  look  at  some  distinctive  features  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Church,  as  developed  during  the  fourth  century. 
To  the  growth  natural  to  all  institutions,  imder  the  double  impulse 
from  within  and  influences  from  without,  was  now  added  tlie  force 
of  that  great  change  which  raised  the  faith  hitherto  propagated 
by  voluntary  choice,  amidst  the  resistance  of  the  old  religion  of  the 
people  and  persecution  by  the  State,  to  an  alliance  with  the  sovereign 
power.  The  results  which  followed  the  establishment  of  Christianity 
were  greatly  modified  by  the  actual  conditions  under  which  it  took 
place.  The  resistance  of  three  centuries'  duration  gave  ample  proof  that 
the  ultimate  triumph  was  secured  bj'^the  spiritual  power  residing  in 
Christianity,  and  not  by  the  civil  patronage  which  some  still  main- 
tain to  have  been  a  source  of  weakness  rather  than  new  strength. 
The  con.sciousncss  of  this  enabled  the  clergy  to  assume  from  the 
first  a  tone  completely  different  from  that  of  a  priesthood  dependent 
upon  the  throne.  The  gradual  growth  of  Constantino's  Chris- 
tianity increased  the  influence  of  his  spiritual  advisers;  and  the 
authority  which  he  was  not  slow  to  claim,  as  the  C'hristian  head  of 
the  State,  was  really  in  the  hands  of  the  ecclesiastics  who  had  the 
direction  of  his  mind  for  the  time  being.  There  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  an  inevitable  tendency  to  court  the  imperial  favour  by  com- 
pliance and  servility,  which  became  more  marked  in  the  latter  part 
of  liis  reign,  and  more  especially  under  Constantius ;  but  still  the 
growing  interference  of  the  prince  was  at  least  covered  by  the  decent 
veil  of  regular  ecclesiastical  procedure. 

§  3.  It  would  be  vain  to  seek  for  any  formal  statement  of  the 
nature  and  limits  of  the  alliance  between  the  Church  and  the  State. 
The  chief  points  in  wliich  it  consisted  were,  the  choice  of  CJhristianify 
as  the  form  of  all  public  acts  of  religion  in  which  the  State  and  its 
officers  took  part ;  tlie  sanction  given  by  public  law,  not  only  to 
the  exercise  of  (Christian  worshi]i,  but  to  those  acts  of  ecclesiastical 


Cent.  IV.  UNION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.  291 

authority  and  discipline  which  needed  tlie  ani  of  the  civil  power  for 
their  enforcement ;  and  other  forms  of  aid  and  patronage,  for  all 
which  the  State  necessarily  claimed  a  safeguard  and  equivalent  in 
the  unimpaired  acknowledgment  and  exercise  of  its  supremacy.  To 
define  that  supremacy,  again,  is  hardly  possible.  Too  much  weight 
must  not  be  given  to  the  mere  phrases  in  which  Eusebius  speaks 
of  Constantine  as  "  a  kind  of  general  bishop,"  and  relates  that  the 
Emperor  once  told  some  of  his  episcopal  guests  that,  as  they  were 
bishops  witliin  the  Church,  so  he  himself  was  bishop  without  it. 
But  it  is  at  least  certain  that  Constantine  acted  as  if  he  believed 
himself  entitled  to  watch  over  the  Church,  to  determine  which  of 
conflicting  opinions  was  orthodox,  and  to  enforce  theological  decisions 
by  the  strength  of  the  secular  power.  But  the  decisions  thus 
enforced  were  always  those  pronounced  by  an  ecclesiastical 
authority  having  a  certain  weight,  while,  when  the  agitated 
balance  was  in  suspense,  the  Emperor  chose  into  Avhich  scale  to 
throw  the  sword  of  State.  'J  he  type  of  these  relations  is  seen  in  the 
action  of  Constantine,  summoning  by  his  imj^rial  authority  the  whole 
Church  to  meet  in  council  for  the  first  time ;  presiding  in  that 
council  as  the  Prince, — the  first  j^erson  in  the  State,  and  therefore, 
as  he  seems  to  have  claimed  to  be,  the  first  person  in  the  Church, 
though  he  was  still  unbaptized, — but  leaving  the  discussion  and 
decision  to  the  assembled  bishops  ;  and  then  coming  forward  to  give 
their  decisions  the  force  of  public  law,  and  to  enforce  them  even  to 
the  length  of  banishing  the  heresiarch  and  his  adherents.  The 
example  was  followed  by  his  successors,  with  the  addition  of 
stricter  laws  and  severer  penalties,"  up  to  the  extreme  of  death. 
As  the  General  Council  was  the  first,  so  it  was  the  most  effective 
engine  of  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  Emperor,  Avho  alone  could 
gather  such  a  council,  and  alone  could  enforce  its  decrees,  while  the 
Church  preserved  the  appearance  of  free  action  in  debating  and 
settling  the  questions  of  deepest  moment  concerning  her  doctrine 
and  discipline. 

§  4.  As  the  Emperor  was  the  supreme  judge  in  all  causes,  ecclesi- 
astical disputes  were  brought  under  the  cognizance  of  the  imiK-rial 
courts.  In  fact,  the  power  of  those  courts  soon  came  to  be  invoked 
in  order  to  escape  the  adverse  decision  of  church  authorities  in  cases 
purely  ecclesiastical;  and  the  councils  of  Antioch  (341)  and  Sardica 
(347)  forbad  appeals  to  the  Emperor,  except  with  the  consent  of  the 
metropolitan  and  bishops  of  the  appellants'  province.  A  new  cha- 
racter of  public  authority  was  given  to  the  decisions  of  the  bishops 
in  cases  referred  to  them  (according  to  the  practice  of  the  primitive 
-Church,  following  the  injunction  of  I'aul),  in  order  to  avoid  the 
scandal  of  exiwsing  thfir  differences  before  heathen  tribunals.     It 


292  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.      Chap.  XH. 

was  enacted  that,  if  both  parties  to  a  cause  consented  to  submit  it 
to  episcopal  arbitration,  the  sentence  of  the  bishop  should  be  without 
appeal,  and  the  secular  authorities  were  charged  to  carry  it  -out.  The 
bishops  were  thus  virtually  made  civil  judges,  burthened  with 
secular  business,  and  involved  in  obloquy  from  dissatisfied  litigants. 

The  privilege — dangerous  alike  to  the  purity  of  the  Church  and 
to  equal  justice  in  the  State — of  the  exemption  of  ecclesiastics  from 
civil  jurisdiction,  began  early  to  receive  a  certain  degree  of  sanction. 
In  355,  Constantius  enacted  that  bishops  should  be  tried  only  by 
members  of  their  own  order ;  that  is,  in  synods.  Gratian  confined 
this  privilege  to  matters  of  religion  and  church  discipline,  ordering 
all  civil  and  criminal  cases  to  be  tried  in  the  secular  courts  (376) ; 
but  the  indefinite  limits  between  cases  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  crimes 
and  sins,  penance  and  punishment,  left  a  large  licence  to  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction.  But  it  was  not  yet  held  that  the  clerical  character 
protected  a  criminal  from  trial  by  the  secular  courts. 

§  5.  The  public  recognition  of  Christianity  afTected  both  the 
principles  of  legislation  and  the  administration  of  the  law.  On  the 
one  hand  there  was  a  stricter  treatment  of  moral  offences  as 
crimes;  on  the  other,  a  humancr  spirit  was  seen  in  the  infliction  of 
jmnishment,  in  the  restraint  of  oppression,  and  the  protection  of  the 
weak.  The  ministers  of  religion  were  often  charged  with  the  duty 
of  preventing  harshness  and  abuse  of  authority  ;  ^  and  they  even 
exercised  a  direct  control  over  magistrates  by  the  ]X)wer  of  eccle- 
siastical censure  and  excommunication.  It  was  one  of  their  privi- 
leges to  intercede  for  offenders,  whose  lives  were  often  spared 
that  they  might  make  their  peace  with  heaven  by  ]x;nance.  The 
privilege  of  asylum,  long  possessed  by  many  heathen  sanctuaries, 
was  transferred  to  the  churches.  But  both  privileges  were  often 
abused :  many  of  the  clergy  made  a  traflic  of  their  intercessory 
influence ;  and  the  churches  were  used  to  protect  gross  criminals  and 
fraudulent  debtors.  Laws  were  enacted  against  these  abuses  by  the 
two  Theodosii  and  by  Justinian. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  beneficial  results  of  the  public 
recognition  of  Christianity  has  always  been  the  setting  ajmrt  the 
weekly  day  of  rest  by  a  legal  sanction  given  to  the  susiiension  of 
business.  In  321,  as  we  have  seen,  Constantine  issued  an  edict 
for  the  general  observance  of  the  Sunday ;  no  legal  proceedings  or 
military  exercises  were  to  take  place  on  that  day ;  but  agricultural 
labour  was  allowed,  in    order  to  take  advantage  of  fine  weather, 

'  For  example,  a  law  of  Honorius  (in  409)  ordered  that  judges  should, 
on  every  Sunday,   examine   prisoners   as  to  the  treatment  they  received, 
and   imposed  on   the   bishops  the   duty  of   superintending    its   execution. " 
(Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  310.) 


Cent.  IV.  BISHOPS-THEIR  ELECTION.  293 

and  no  positive  prohibition  was  as  yet  imposed  on  other  kinds  of  work 
and  business.^  The  Council  of  Laodicea  (about  372),  while  con- 
demning the  Judaical  observance  of  the  day,  directed  that  labour 
should  be  avoided  on  it  as  far  as  2iossible.'  Theodosius  forbad  the 
transaction  of  civil  business  on  the  Sunday,  and  abolished  the  spec- 
tacles in  which  the  heathen  had  found  their  consolation  when  the 
day  was  set  apart  from  other  secular  uses  by  Constantine.^ 

§  G.  In  the  internal  organization  of  the  Church,  the  natural 
tendency  to  exalt  the  clergy  and  depress  the  power  of  the  people  was 
strengthened  by  her  connection  with  the  State  and  the  increase 
of  her  wealth  and  authority.  The  clergy  were  more  and  more 
raised  above  the  people  by  their  social  privileges,  by  their  exemption 
from  civil  duties  (though  this  was  as  yet  but  partial),  and  by 
the  wealth  conferred  on  them,  partly  in  the  ibrm  of  public 
allowances  for  their  support,  and  partly  through  the  law  of  Con- 
stantine  permitting  the  Church  to  receive  bequests  of  property. 
1'lie  bishops  were  raised  above  the  rest  of  the  clergy  by  their 
intercourse  on  equal,  and  sometimes  more  than  equal  terms,  * 
with  the  princes  and  great  men  to  whom  they  were  counsellors 
and  directors ;  by  their  influence  on  or  direct  participation  in  acts 
of  government;  and  by  the  frequency  of  councils,  in  which  not 
only  had  they  the  sole  power  of  voting,  but  the  very  habit  of 
meeting  together  to  decide  on  the  faith  and  interests  of  the  ChiU'ch 
must  have  fostered  their  sense  of  the  importance  of  their  order.  The 
sense  of  responsibility  to  their  flocks  was  greatly  lessened  with  tlie 
diminution  of  popular  influence  in  their  election.  For  this  the 
people  had,  in  a  great  measure,  to  thank  their  own  fiictions,  which 
tended  to  throw  the  choice  of  their  own  bishop  into  the  hands 
of  the  bishops  called  in  as  mediators;  but  their  choice  was  also 
limited  by  canons  which  fixed  the  qualifications  for  the  episco- 
l)ate.*  In  the  case  of  the  more  important  sees,  the  Emperor  not 
only  influenced  the  elections,  but  sometimes  directly  nominated  the 

'  The  day  was  recommended  to  the  observance  of  the  heathen  as  the 
festival  of  the  Sun ;  ami  its  religious  character  was  i-ecognised  bj  com- 
manding the  soldiers  (heathen  as  well  as  Christian)  to  repeat  a  prayer  to 
the  supreme  Deity. 

-  Elye  SvvaivTo.  '  IJobertson,  vol.  i.  p.  363. 

*  ''The  intercourse  of  courts  was  a  trial  for  the  bishops:  while  in 
many  it  naturally  produced  subserviency,  in  others  it  led  to  a  mistalten 
exaltation  of  spiritual  dignity  in  opposition  to  secular  rank.  Thus,  it  is 
told  with  admiration  that  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  when  at  the  court  of 
Maximus,  allowed  the  Empress  to  wait  on  him  at  table ;  and  that,  when 
the  Emperor  had  desired  him  to  drink  before  him,  and  expected  to  receive 
the  cup  back  from  the  bishop,  JIartin  passed  it  to  his  own  chaplain,  as 
being  higher  in  honour  than  any  earthly  potentate."  (Robertson,  vol.  i. 
p.  319.)  *  Gibbon,  vol.  ii.  p.  171 ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  321. 


29'Jt  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.       Chap.  XII. 

bishop.  Where  the  election  was  still  free,  it  became  too  often  a 
mere  object  of  ambition.  "  At  the  election  of  a  bishop  imwo:thy 
arts  were  employed  by  the  candidates ;  accusations  which,  whether 
true  or  false,  give  no  agreeable  idea  of  the  prevailing  tone  of  morals, 
were  very  commonly  brought  by  each  faction  against  the  favourite 
of  its  opponents  ;  and  disgraceful  tumults  often  took  place."  ^  Coun- 
cils tried  in  vain  to  check  the  practice  of  tran  slat  ion  j-  the  frequent 
motives  of  which  are  exposed  by  the  Canon  of  Carthage  (398),  for- 
bidding bishops  to  be  translated  from  motives  of  ambition,  but 
allowing  translation  when  it  may  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church. 

§  7.  The  systen>  of  conforming  the  range  of  episcopal  oversight  to 
the  territorial  divisions  of  the  Empire  tended  to  increase  the  distinc- 
tions of  rank  among  the  bishops  themselves.  "When  Constantine 
divided  the  Empire  into  four  Praetorian  Prefectures,  which  were  sub- 
divided into  thirteen  Dioceses,  each  containing  several  Provinces,^ 
the  bishops  of  the  chief  city  of  each  diocese  obtained  a  precedence 
over  the  Metropolitans  of  Provinces,  with  the  title  of  Exarch  in  the 
East,  and  of  Primate  in  the  West.  Above  all  the  rest,  the  sees  of 
Rome,  Antioch,  ai;d  Alexandria  —  both  as  capital  cities  and  as 
churches  founded  by  Apostles — were  expressly  recognized  by  the 
Nicene  Council  as  presiding  over  all  the  churches  of  the  West, 
the  East,  and  Africa  respectively.  The  same  rank  was  naturally 
taken  ■•  by  Constantinople,  and  we  have  seen  the  Council  of  381 
assigning  to  its  see  a  precedence  next  to  Rome,  "  forasmuch  as 
it  is  a  new  Rome."  ^  The  Council  of  Chalcedon  (451)  first  con- 
ferred on  these  four  chief  bishops  the  title  of  Patriarch,  which 
had  formerly  been  given  to  all  bishops,  as  denoting  their  fatherly 
authority,  as  well  as  that  of  Pope  (Papa),  which  is  the  common 
title  of  priests  in  the  Greek  Church  to  this  day.® 

'  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  319.         ^  Can.  Kic.  15;  Antioch.  21;  Sardic.  1. 

'  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Dioceses  with  their  capitals,  under  their 
several  Prefectures,  as  finally  arranged  about  a.d.  400 : — A.  In  the 
Eastern  Empire: — I.  The  East:  (1)  The  Aas^,  Antioch  ;  (2)  Egypt,  Alexan- 
<lria;  (3)  Asia,  Ephesus  ;  (4)  Pontus,  Caesarea  in  Cappadocia;  (5)  Thrace, 
Heraclea,  afterwards  Constantinople.  II.  Illyricum  (separated  from  the 
West  in  o79),  with  its  capital  at  Thessalonica :  (6)  Macedonia,  with 
Achaia  ;  {!)  Dacia. — B.  In  the  Western  Empire: — III.  Italy:  {8)  Borne, 
Home  ;  (9)  Italij,  Milan,  with  Western  f/li/ria,  Sirmium  ;  (10)  Africa,  Car- 
thage. IV.  The  Gauls:  (U)  Gaul,  Augusta  Trevirorum  (Treces);  (12) 
Spain;  (13)  Britain.  The  number  of  the  Provinces  reached,  by  repeated 
subdivision,  to  116.  The  civil  term  diocese  was  not  yet  transferred  to  the 
district  under  a  bishop,  which  was  called  his  parochia.  (Comp.  Chap.  VII. 
§  10.) 

■*  The  translation  of  Eudoxius  from  Antioch  to  Constantinople  in  360  was 
regarded  as  a  promotion.  (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  314.)  *  Chap.  XI.  §  7. 

*  The  usage  has  been  curiously  inverted  ;  for,  while  ordinary  bishops 


Cent.  IV.  RANK  OF  THE  ROMAN  SEE.  295 

§  8.  The  reason  given  by  the  Second  General  Council  proves  that 
the  first  rank  was  conceded  to  the  See  of  Rome  on  the  ground  of  its 
dignity  as  the  old  capital,  without  any  recognition  of  a  supreme 
spiritual  authority.     The  direct  jurisdiction  which  the  Bishop  of 
Home  had  over  the  bishops  of  the  Italian  diocese  (where  there  were 
no  metropolitans)  is  recognized  by  tlie  Council  of  Xica^a  as  simply 
on  the  .same  footing  as  the  like  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria 
in  Egypt  and  Libya.^     The  decree  of  the  Council  of  Sardica,  that 
bishops  might  appeal  from  a  synod  to  Julius,  bishop  of  Rome,  not 
only  falls  quite  short  of,  but  disproves  (so  far  as  this^authority  goes) 
any  supreme  jurisdiction  belonging  as  of  right  to  the  chair  of  Peter. 
It  is  the  permission,  granted  for  a  special  occasion,  of  a  voluntary 
ai)i)lication,  and  only  with  the  consent  of  the  judges,  to  Julius 
personally  and  by  name,  not  for  his  decision  of  the  case,  but  only 
for  a  new  trial.     The  real  purpose  of  the  canon  seems  to  have  been 
to  place  the  Roman   bishop,  who   had   gained   confidence  by  his 
orthodoxy,  in  a  position  to  receive  appeals  which  it  would  not  have 
been  desirable  to  carry  before  the  Arian  Emperor  Constantius.    The 
very  fact,  that  the  respect  due  to  the  See  of  Peter  (who  was  himself 
as  yet  only  regarded  as  the  first  among  his  equals)  was  ever  present 
to  the  minds  of  ecclesiastics,  adds  weight  to  their  withholding  any 
recognition  of  a  right  to  supremacy  on  that  ground  ;  as  we  find,  in 
this  very  canon  of  Sardica,  the  venerable  Hosius  saying,  "  Let  'us 
if  it  seems  good  to  you  (si.  volis  j)kicet),  honour  the  memory  of  the 
holy  Apostle  Peter  "—by  this  new  mark  of  respect  to  the  bishop 
who  was  himself  worthy  of  confidence.     The  case  has  deserved  a 
full  statement,  to  exiwse  the  weakness  of  a  claim  which  can  find  no 
better  foundation  to  rest  upon ;  as  Barrow  well  says :  "  Some  Popes 
did  challenge  jurisdiction   ujwn  appeals,  as   given   them   by  the 
Nicene  canons,  meaning  those  of  Sardica ;  which  showeth  they  had 
no  better  plea,  and  therefore  no  original  right."  ^     The  churches  of 
the  fourth,  as  of  the   second  and  third  centuries,  resisted   every 
attempt  of  the  Roman  bishops  to  in-rade  their  privileges,  and  those 
of  the  East  and  Africa  acted  in  complete  independence  of  Rome. 

were  called  popes  in  the  West  and  patr!a)-chs  in  the  East  (where  Greek 
prevailed),  the  title  of  Pope,  as  denoting  superior  dignity,  was  given  in 
the  East  to  the  bishops  of  Antioch  and  Alexandria;  and  it' was  that  usa^e 
which  caused  it  to  be  afterwards  assumed  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  to  whom 
It  appears  to  have  been  first  restricted  by  Latin  writers  about  a.D  500 
(Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  560.)     Comp.  note  (^),  pp.  187-8. 

'  The  Latin  version  of  .the  Nicene  Canons  defines  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Roman  bishop  as  extending  over  the  snhxirhicarkin  churches,  namely,  those 
of  the  Provinces  composing  the  civil  diocese  of  Italv. 

*  "  See  on  the  whole  matter  his  Appendix,  pp.  759-776."  (Robertson. 
T0I..1.  p.  316.)  "^  ^  ' 


296  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.     Chap.  XH. 

Julius,  for  example,  was  plainly  told  that,  as  the  Eastern  Church 
had  not  interfered  with  the  Koman  in  the  matter  of  Novatian,  so 
he  ought  not  to  dictate  to  them.^ 

Still  there  were  causes  at  work  to  promote  that  natural  tendency 
of  the  Eoman  see  to  gain  authority,  Avhich  we  have  seen  in  its 
earlier  stages.  The  grandeur  which  invested  the  old  capital  was 
not  diminished  by  the  transfer  of  the  seat  of  empire ;  but  the 
withdrawal  of  the  court,  at  the  same  time  that  the  old  families  lost 
consideration  from  their  adherence  to  the  losing  side  in  religion,  left 
the  Bishop  in  a  position  of  peculiar  dignity.  When  the  Prince  was 
withdrawn  and  the  Senate  humbled,  the  successor  of  Peter  became 
also,  in  some  sense,  the  representative  of  the  Ca?sars,  the  personal 
embodiment  of  that  genius  loci  which  was  expressed  by  the  old 
image  and  superscription,  Eoma.  From  the  religious  point  of  view 
the  Church  of  Rome  gained  consideration  through  the  frequent 
aj^peals  made  for  its  support  by  the  contending  parties  in  the  East ; 
and  its  almost  constant  adherence  to  the  orthodox  side  won  the  praise 
of  consistency  and  the  credit  of  a  share  in  the  final  triumph.  "  More- 
over, the  old  civil  analogy  introduced  a  practice  of  referring  for 
advice  to  Rome  from  all  parts  of  the  West.  The  earliest  extant 
answer  to  such  an  application  is  the  synodical  letter  of  Siricius 
to  Himerius,  bishop  of  Tarraco  (Tarragonci),  a.d.  385.  But  by 
degrees  these  Decretal  Episths  rose  more  and  more  from  a  tone  of 
advice  to  one  of  direction  and  command ;  and  they  were  no  longer 
written  in  the  name  of  a  synod,  but  in  that  of  the  Pope  alone."  ^ 

§  9.  The  line  of  demarcation  between  the  bishops  and  the  rest  of 
the  clergy  was  more  distinctly  marked  by  the  limits  imjwsed  by 
canons  of  the  councils  on  the  functions  of  the  "  country  bishops " 
(chore2nscopi),  who  had  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  superior  bishops. 
The  ofifice  was,  in  fact,  doomed  to  suj^pression.  The  Council  of 
Laodicea  (about  360)  forbad  the  appointment  of  bishops  in  villages 
and  country  places,  and  transferred  their  functions  to  presbyters 
with  the  title  of  periodeutce  (circuit-visitors).^  The  cJiorepiscopi 
were  gradually  merged  in  the  order  of  presbyters,  though  the  title 
survived  till  the  eighth  centurj',  and  still  later  in  the  West. 

§  10.  The  social  dignity  and  privileges  of  the  clergy,  their  ex- 
emption from  most  of  the  public  burthens,  the  provision  made  for 

'  Sozom.  iii.  8  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  317. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  315 ;  see  Hussey  oa  the  Papal  Power,  26. 
Respecting  the  genuine  and  forged  Decretals"  see  further  in  Chap.  XVII. 
§  15,  and  Chap.  XXII.  §  9. 

3  "  Answering  to  the  archdeacons  or  rural  deans  of  our  own  Church." 
(Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  312.)  Respecting  the  functions  of  the  Western  cAor- 
episcopi  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  see  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  195. 


Cent.  IV.  PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  CLERGY.  297 

their  support,^  and  the  increasing  wealth  of  the  Church,  tended 
inevitably  to  make  its  ministry  more  worldly,  and  to  tempt  men 
to  seek  it  without  any  spiritual  qualifications.  The  increase  of 
luxury  and  pomp  among  the  clergy  of  the  great  cities,  especially  at 
Home,  is  lamented  by  Christian  as  well  as  exjwsed  by  heathen 
writers,  who  join  in  contrasting  it  with  the  general  virtue,  sim- 
plicitj%  and  self-denial  of  the  provincial  bishops  and  clergy.^  The 
practice  of  haunting  the  houses  of  the  rich,  and  especially  of  women, 
by  the  clergy  and  monks,  in  order  to  obtain  gifts,  legacies,  and  the 
disposition  of  property,  by  those  devoting  themselves  to  a  religious 
life,  to  the  prejudice  of  their  natural  heirs,  had  grown  to  such  a 
height  as  to  demand  restraint  by  imperial  edicts ;  concerning  one  of 
which ^  Jerome  says,  "I  do  not  complain  of  the  law,  but  I  grieve 
that  we  should  have  deserved  it."-*  The  like  faithfulness  was  shown 
by  Ambrose,  Augustine,  and  other  eminent  bishops,  in  discouraging 
and  refusing  such  gifts  and  bequests.  "  And,  while  we  note  the 
facts  which  show  how  in  this  age,  as  in  every  other,  the  Church  but 
too  truly  realized  those  parables  which  represent  it  as  containing  a 
mixture  of  evil  amidst  its  good,  we  must  not  overlook  the  noble 
spirit  of  munificence  and  self-denial  which  animated  multitudes  of 
its  bishops  and  clergy,  or  their  exertions  in  such  works  of  pietj'  and 
charity  as  the  relief  of  the  poor,  the  redemption  of  captives,  the 
erection  of  hospitals,  and  the  adornment  of  the  divine  worship."^ 

§  11.  The  order  of  Deacons  acquired  greater  importance  from  the 
increased  wealth  which  they  had  to  administer,  as  well  as  through 
the  enlargement  of  their  spiritual  functions.  They  were  now  some- 
times allowed  to  preach  and  baptize  ;  and  the  strict  prohibition,  early 
in  the  century,  of  their  celebrating  the  Eucharist  proves  that  some  of 

'  There  was  as  yet  no  regular  public  provision,  or  secured  property, 
adequate  to  the  full  support  of  the  clergy.  Some  still  found  it  necessary 
to  seek  a  livelihood  (at  least  in  part)  from  business,  as  is  proved  by  the 
laws  regulating  the  taxes  on  ecclesiastics  engaged  in  trade.  Tithes  were 
now  paid,  but  only  as  a  voluntary  offering,  and  with  much  irregularity. 
The  law  of  Constantino,  allowing  the  Church  to  receive  bequests,  laid  the 
chief  foundation  of  its  property ;  and  he  made  it  occasional  munificent 
gifts.  Chrysostom  tells  us  that  the  income  of  a  bishop  varied  from  two 
to  thirty  pounds  of  gold,  and  that  the  average  was  equal  to  about  £600 
sterling.     (Gibbon,  vol.  ii.  p.  176  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  319.) 

*  Hieron.  Epist,  liii.  &c. ;  Ammian.  Marcell.  xxvii.  3  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i. 
p.  320. 

^  This  was  the  edict  of  Valentinian  I.  (370)  addressed  to  Damasus, 
bishop  of  Rome,  and  road  in  all  the  churches  of  the  capital,  enacting  that 
ecclesiastics  and  monks  should  not  haunt  the  houses  of  widows  and  female 
wards,  and  that  they  should  not  accept  anything  by  donation  or  will  from 
women  who  were  connected  with  them  by  spiritual  ties. 

*  Hieron.  Epist.  lii.  6.  *  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  321. 


298  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURV.       CfrAP.  XII. 

them  had  already  assumed  that  power.*  One  of  the  deacons — who 
were  still  limited  to  the  number  of  seven,  even  in  some  of  the  great 
churches — presided  over  the  rest,  with  the  title  of  Archdeacon. 
He  was  appointed  by  the  bishop,  whom  he  served  as  his  chief 
assistant  in  the  government  of  the  church,  and  to  whose  office  he 
was  regarded  as  a  pi'obable  successor,- 

Among  the  additions  made  to  the  orders  of  lower  cjergy,  to  meet 
the  growing  wants  of  the  Church,  two  local  fraternities  demand 
notice, — namely,  the  Copiutce  at  Constantinople  and  the  Paraholani 
at  Alexandria.  The  former,  who  were  also  called  Fossarii  (grave- 
diggers),  were  enrolled  for  the  burial  of  the  dead,  especially  the 
free  interaient  of  the  Christian  poor.  The  latter  were  devoted  to 
attendance  on  the  sick,  and  derived  their  name  from  the  dangerous 
nature  of  their  duties.^  Both  fraternities  were  numerous,  amounting 
to  several  hundreds ;  and  in  the  contentions  of  the  Church  of  Alex- 
andria the  j^arabolani  were  conspicuous  for  their  turbulence.  Being 
ranked  among  the  clergy,  their  membership  was  sought  for  the  sake 
of  the  exemptions  enjoyed  by  the  clerical  order.  "  In  many  cases 
the  membership  appears  to  have  been  honorary — persons  of  wealth 
paying  for  admission,  and  taking  no  share  in  the  duties.  Against 
this  corruption  a  law  of  Theodosius  If.  was  directed."* 

§  12.  The  tendency  to  the  separation  of  the  clergy  from  social  ties, 
and  their  investment  with  a  factitious  character  of  purity  by  celi- 
bacy, advanced  considerably  during  the  fourth  centur}'.  The  practice 
was  left  voluntary,  but  clerical  marriage  was  generally  discouraged, 
especially  in  the  West;  and  in  385  Pope  Siricius  wrote  a  decretal 
epistle  against  it  to  Himerius,  bishop  of  Tarraco.  (See  p.  296.) 
V ,  This  tendency  Vas  strengthened  by  the  great  development  of 
■  ^  Monasticism  which  marks  the  fourth  century.**  Its  sources  are  to  be 
sought  in  the  desire  to  find  some  liigher  character  of  devotion  to 
God,  now  that  the  mere  profession  of  Christianity  had  become  a  less 
decided  mark  of  separation  from  the  world  ;  in  the  efl'ort  to  escape 
from  the  corruptions  of  the  Church,  to  practise  an  ascetic  dis- 
cipline far  from  the  temptation.s  of  the  world,  and  to  reach  that 
lofty  standard  of  Christian  heroism  which  was  no  longer  attainable 
through  martyrdom.     The  seclusion  of  Moses  and  Elijah,  of  John 

•   Cone.  Arclat.  c.  15  (a.d.  314). 

^  In  some  churches  we  find  also,  towai'ds  the  end  of  the  fourth  century, 
.1  president  of  the  body  of  presbyters  called  archipreshyter,  to  whom  the 
administration  of  the  diocese  was  committed  in  case  of  the  bishop's 
absence  or  incapacity.     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  312.) 

^  From  7rapa/3aAAo;uai,  ''  to  venture."  or  "  expose  oneself." 

^  Cod.  Theod.  xvi.  ii.  42-3;   Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  311. 

'  It  must  l)e  remembered  that  the  monks  were  not  an  order  of  the 
clergy,  though  many  of  them  had  holy  orders. 


-  Cent.  IV.  ORIGIN  OF  MONASTICISM.  299 

the  Baptist  and  Christ,  m  the  de.e.t  for  a  time,  expressly  as  a 
preparauoa  for  the  work  that  hvy  before  them  in  the  world,  Lmed 
a  mistaken  rrccedent  for  the  lifelong  separation  from  societv.  Tl.e 
enthusiasm  which  urged  so  many,  especially  of  the  fervent  Egyptian 
temperament,  to  this  new  mode  of  life,  overlooked  the  quiefr  bu 
more  sustained  heroism  demanded  for  the  daily  task  of  duty  and 
conflic  with  evU  in  the  world;  and  experience  was  required  to 
teach  the  solitary  that  he  carried  in  his  own  heart  a  temlr  mo  e 
dangerous  even  than  the  great  Enemy  with  whom  he  often  imac^ined 
Inmselt  as  engaged  in  visible  conflict;  and  that,  in  this  sense  also, 
it  js  not  good  tor  man  to  be  alone." 

§  13.  Monasticism,  however,  was  no  new  phenomenon  of  this  a-e 
"or  was  It  peculiar  to  the  Christian  Church.     Having  its  roots  eke p 
m  human  nature,  it  is  found  from  the  earliest  times°as  a  feature  ot' 
all  religions  that  inculcate  the  purification  of  the  heart  by  devout 
contemplation  and  of  the  life  by  ascetic  discipline.      These  pri  - 
c.ples  are  emphatically  taught  in  the  Vedas,  the  sacred  books  of 
ancient  India,  where  Alexander  the  Great  found  a  sort  of  ascetic 
monks,  jvhom  the  Greeks   called  Chjmnosophisfce,  "naked  ,,hilo- 
sophers.      Among  the  Jews,  the  ascetic  side  of  the  monastic  life 
was  more  or  less  practised  by  the  Nazarites,'  the  Essenes  of  Palestine 
and  the  Thcrapeutaj  of  Egypt.     The  tendency  to  one  of  its  cliief  re- 
s  fictions,  that  of  celibacy,  in  the  primitive  Christian  Church  is  <=een 
a  ready  in  some  passages  of  the  New  Testament,  where,  however,  the 
attempt  to  enforce  it  as  a  Christian  law  is  emphatically  condemned  ^ 
ihe  ascetic  principle  was,  as  we  have  seen,  held  in  .special  favoiu- 
by  several  o.  the  Gnostic  sects;  and  through  this  channel  mZ 
writers  have  traced  it,  with  its  monastic  development,  as  a  heathen 
corniption   of  Christianity.     Doubtless   this  was  one   sotircerbut  v 
there  is  a  distinction  well  drawn  by  Professor  Schaff:^  "In  this 
whole  matter  we  must  carefully  distinguish  two  forms  of  asceticism 
antagonistic  and  irreconcilable  in  spirit  and  principle,  though  simik; 
n  form;  the  Gnostic  dualistic,  and  the  Catholic.     The  former  of 
these  did  certainly  come  from  heathenism;  but  the  latter  sprang 
independently  from  the  Christian  spirit  of  self-denial  and  lonc^in^ 
for  moral  perfection,  and,  in  spite  of  all  its  excrescences,  has  per! 
lormed  an  important  mission  in  the  history  of  the  Church  " 

§  U.  Ihe  virtues  of  fasting,  celibacy,  and  ascetic  discipline  in 
general,  are  strongly  commended  by  some  of  the  early  Christiui 
writers,  and  especially  by  Origen  and  Tertullian.  A  step  was  taken 
towards  the  separate  monastic  life  in  the  middle  of  the  third  centurv 
when  the  Decian  persecution  drove  many  Christians  into  the  wilder- 
'  See  Numbers  i.-vi. 
*  Matt.  xi.v  10-12 ;  1  Cor.  vii. ;  1  Tim.  iv.  3.  3  y,).  ■■   ^^   ^^. 


300      THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURA.  Chap.  XH. 

ness ;  but  their  seclusion  was  temporary,  and  they  kept  up  inter- 
course with  their  families  and  churches.  We  now  begin  to  trace 
the  first  of  the  four  stages^  of  the  monastic  life, — a  personal  sepa- 
ration from  social  life,  either  of  an  individual  or  of  several  forming 
a  community  (as  was  increasin<;iy  the  case  with  the  clergy  of  the 
several  churches),  but  still  within  the  church.  The  next  stage,  the 
life  of  the  professed  hermit  or  anchoret,  assumed  its  marked  form  in 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  tirst  of  all  in  Egypt.  "  Kot 
content  with  partial  and  temporary  retirement  from  common  life, 
which  may  be  united  with  social  intercourse  and  useful  labours,  the 
consistent  anchoret  secludes  himself  from  all  society,  even  from 
kindred  ascetics,  and  comes  only  exceptionally  into  contact  with 
human  affairs,  either  to  receive  the  visits  of  admirers  of  every  class, 
especially  of  the  sick  and  the  needy  (which  were  very  frequent  in 
the  case  of  the  more  celebrtited  monks),  or  to  api^ear  in  the  cities  on 
some  extraordinary  occasion,  as  a  spirit  from  another  world.  His 
clothing  is  a  hair  shirt  and  a  wild  beast's  skin  ;  his  food,  bread  and 
salt ;  his  dwelling,  a  cave  ;  his  employment,  prayer,  affliction  of  the 
body,  and  conflict  with  Satanic  powers  and  wild  images  of  fancy. 
This  mode  of  life  was  founded  by  Paul  of  Thebes  and  St.  Anthony, 
and  came  to  XJ^^rfcction  in  the  East.  To  the  female  sex  it  was 
entirely  unsuited.  There  was  a  class  of  hermits,  the  Sarabaites  in 
Egypt  and  the  Rhemoboths  in  Syria,  who  lived  in  bands  of  at 
least  two  or  three  together ;  but  their  quarrelsomeness,  occasional 
intemperance,  and  opposition  to  the  clergy,  brought  them  into  ill 
repute."  ^ 

§  15.  The  first  distinguished  anchoret  of  this  time  was  Paul  op 
Thbbes,  whose  Life  was  written  by  St.  Jerome.     Rejecting  many 

•  This  is  the  classification  of  Professor  Schaff  (vol.  ii.  p.  156),  who  ob- 
serves that  the  first  three  stages  were  completed  in  the  fourth  century  ;  the 
fourth  reached  maturity  in  the  Latin  Church  of  the  middle  age.  The 
first  stage  is  the  life  of  the  hermit  <or  ccenobite,  who  still  lived  in  the 
church  itself;  the  second,  that  of  the  solitary  hermit,  monk,  or  anchoret ; 
the  third,  that  of  coenobite  or  cloister  life  in  communities  of  monks,  or 
monasticism  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word  ;  the  fourth,  the  formation  of 
monastic  orders  by  the  union  of  many  cloisters  under  a  common  rule  and 
government.  The  chief  temis  which  describe  the  monastic  life  are  as  fol- 
lows : — 3fonk  (/xovaxos)  means  "  a  solitary,"  from  novdCfiv,  "  to  live  alone  " 
(from  fidpos,  "alone");  Anachoret  or  Anchoret  {avaxcpv-fis),  one  living  in 
retirement  (from  avaxi^pfo,  "to  retire  ");  Hermit  (^pTj/iiTTjs),  the  denizen 
of  a  desert  (eprj^i'o);  Cicnobitc,  a  member  of  a\;omniunity  living  together 
(koivS^iov,  ccctiohinm,  from  Kotvhs  fi'tos,  "common  life");  C/oister  {claus- 
tnun,  "a  place  shut  in  ")  is  the  Latin  equivalent  of  the  Greek  Afonctstenj 
{aovaariipwv),  also  called  ^di'Spa,  "  stable  "  or  "  sheepfold,"  whence  the 
chief  of  such  a  community  was  called  Archimandrite  {apx^navlplrns)  as 
well  as  Abhat  {a^^as,  afipdr-qs,  father),  corrupted  into  Abbot. 

'  Schaff,  vol.  ii.  pp.  156-7. 


Cent.  IV.  ST.  ANTHONY  THE  HERMIT.  301 

incredible  things  told  of  Paul  as  unworthy  of  rejietition,  Jerome 
jiuts  wonders  enough  upon  record.  He  tells  us  that  Paul  was  in  his 
twenty-third  year  when  he  retired,  during  the  Decian  persecution 
(a.u.  251),  into  the  desert  of  Upper  Egypt,  where  he  lived  ninety 
years  perfectly  unknown.  At  length  Anthony,'  who  had  himself 
reached  the  age  of  ninety  in  the  practice  of  the  monastic  life,  was 
warned  in  a  vision  that  a  solitary  more  perfect  than  himself  had 
been  living  in  the  desert  ever  since  he  himself  was  born.  He  found 
Paul,  and  was  received  by  him  with  a  kiss  and  a  smiling  face,  aftei- 
he  had  knocked  long  at  the  door  of  the  cave ;  for  the  hermit  was 
wont  to  admit  the  wild  beasts,  but  to  repulse  human  visitors.  The 
ravens  who  had  fed  Paul  (like  Elijah)  for  sixty  years,  now  brought 
a  double  daily  jwrtion  of  food.  On  a  second  visit  Anthony  found 
Paul  dead  in  his  ca.ve,  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  and  buried  him 
with  the  aid  of  two  lions,  who  came  wagging  their  tails  and 
scratched  out  their  old  friend's  grave  in  the  sand. 

It  is,  however,  Anthony  himself  who  ranks  as  the  founder  of  the 
monastic  life,  and  whose  fame  and  example  gave  it  the  first  great 
impulse.^  Sprung  from  an  honourable  Coptic  family,  he  was  born, 
about  251,  at  Coma,  a  village  on  the  borders  of  the  Thebaid.  His 
parents  were  Christians ;  and  he  early  showed  a  love  of  contem- 
plative quiet,  avoiding  the  six)rts  of  childhood.  He  was  brought  up 
in  ignorance  not  only  of  secular  science,  but  even  of  the  Greek 
language.  He  had  a  disUiste  for  literature,  and  preferred  to  storo 
his  retentive  memory  with  the  les.sons  of  Scripture,  believing,  as  ho 
afterwards  said  to  his  discii'les,  that  "  the  Holy  Scriptures  give  us 
instruction  enough."  Scarcely  had  the  death  of  his  parents,  in  his 
eighteenth  year,  left  him  a  considerable  estate,  than  its  use  was 
decided  by  his  hearing  in  church  the  words  of  Christ  to  the  rich 
young  man,  "If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou  hast, 
and  give  to  the  poor,"  &c.'  (a.d.  270).  Soon  afterwards,  on  hearing 
the  words,  "  Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow,"  he  gave  up  likewise 
to  the  poor  the  remnant  which  he  had  reserved  for  the  sui)port  of 
his  siste]^  and  placed  her  in  a  society  of  religious  virgins.*  He  em- 
braced the  ascetic  life,  taking  for  its  rule  "  Pray  without  ceasing," 

'  Custom  sanctions  this  corruption  of  the  proper  form  Antony  (Antonius). 

-  Thus  Jcronio  s.iys  ofliim  :  "  Non  tam  ipse  ante  omnes  (eremitas)  fuit, 
quam  ab  eo  omnium  incitata  sunt  stuilia  "  ( I'/'^J  7'a'</j  Thcb.  i.).  The 
chief  authority  for  the  I.iti'  ot'  St.  Anthony  is  the  biogr;iphy  by  Athaiiasius, 
the  genuineness  of  which  has  been  questioned,  ami  which  is,  at  all  events, 
much  interpolateil.  *  Matt.  xix.  'Jl. 

■•  ''  Eis  irapdivuiva,  says  Athan.asius  :  that  is,  not  '  un  nionastfere  de 
vierges,'  as  Tiilemont  translates,  for  nunneries  liid  not  yet  exist ;  but  :i 
society  of  fumale  ascetics  within  the  congregation  ;  from  which,  however,  a 
regular  cloister  life  might,  of  course,  easily  grow."  (SchaU",  vol.  ii.  p.  1^2.) 

'  1.3 


302  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.      Chap.  XII. 

but  also  working,  not  only  for  the  little  that  he  needed  to  live  on, 
— according  to  the  law,  "  If  any  man  will  not  work,  neither  shall  he 
eat," — but  for  more  to  give  to  the  poor.  His  first  retirement  was  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  his  village,  for  such  was  then  the  usual  extent 
to  which  the  anchorets  carried  their  separation.  He  visited  those 
devotees,  that  he  might  learn  to  imitate  the  gift  in  which  each 
excelled,  whether  prayer,  or  watchfulness,  or  fasting,  or  meekness  ; 
and,  from  all,  love  to  Christ  and  to  his  fellow-men.  About  a.d.  270, 
the  longing  for  greater  freedom  from  sin  drove  him  far  from  the 
abodes  of  men,  first  to  live  in  a  tomb,  afterwards  in  a  ruined 
castle  near  the  Rfed  Sea.  Here  he  spent  twenty  years,  never  coming 
outside  the  walh,  nor  admitting  the  visitors  who  were  attracted  by 
the  fame  of  his  sanctity.  But  at  last  he  went  forth  to  receive  and 
visit  the  numerous  disciples  who  settled  round  him  in  thei-r  several 
cells. 

The  persecution  of  Maximin  (312)  induced  Anthony  to  return 
to  Alexandria,  that  he  might  attend  on  the  suiferers  and  seek  the 
crown  of  martyrdom.  But,  when  he  found  that  he  only  won  the 
praise  which  was  a  new  temptation,  he  departed  to  seek,  under  the 
guidance  of  wandering  Saracens,  a  still  remoter  solitude  in  a  cave 
on  Mount  Colzim,  between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  where  an  old 
cloister  still  bears  his  name.  In  each  retreat  he  was  pursued  by 
temptations  which,  to  his  excited  imagination,  assumed  the  form 
of  visible  allurements  to  sensual  pleasure  and  personal  attacks  from 
the  great  Enemy.  Travellers  were  awed  at  the  sound  of  his  con- 
flicts with  the  demons ;  and  the  saint  was  sometimes  found  bleeding 
from  the  wounds  they  had  given  him.  He  lived  on  bread  and  salt, 
a  few  dates  and  water,  never  touching  flesh  or  wine ;  eating  only 
once  a  day,  usually  after  sunset;  and  often  fasting  from  two  to 
five  days  at  a  time.  He  worked  at  basket-making,  and  food  was 
brought  to  him  by  friends  and  travellers  and  the  Saracens  of  the 
desert ;  but,  in  the  last  years  of  his  retirement,  true  to  the  principle 
that  "it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,"  he  tilled  a  little 
garden  round  a  spring  shaded  by  palm-trees,  and  grew  g»apes  and 
other  fruit  for  his  own  support  and  the  refreshment  of  his  visitors. 
When  the  wild  beasts  wasted  his  garden,  he  drove  them  away  with 
the  meek  reproof — "Why  do  you  injure  me,  who  have  never  done 
you  the  least  harm?  Away  witli  you  all,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
and  never  come  into  my  neighbourhood  again."  He  slept  on  the 
bare  ground  or  a  pallet  of  straw ;  his  whole  dress  was  a  hair  shirt 
and  a  sheepskin  girded  about  him.  He  despised  the  use  of  oil,  and 
in  later  years  he  never  washed  his  feet,  thus  setting  the  evil  example 
of  the  foulness  which  became  a  reproach  on  the  ascetic  life  of  hermits 
and  monks.    Amidst  all  his  severities,  he  preserved  a  winning  cheer- 


A.D.  356.  DKATH  OF  ST.  ANTHONY.  303 

fulness,  and  was  ever  ready  to  give  advice  and  consolation  to  those 
who  sought  from  him  spiritual  strength  or  aid  in  sickness  and 
poverty.  Prayer,  work,  the  care  of  the  poor,  and  the  healing  of 
quarrels  by  the  love  of  God,  Avere  his  chief  injunctions;  and 
Athanasius  assures  us  that  he  cured  the  sick  and  demoniac,  and 
wrought  other  miracles.  The  reality  of  these  wonders  is  of  less 
consequence  than  the  example  of  his  faith  in  the  power  of  prayer, 
never  boasting  when  his  prayer  was  lieard,  nor  murmuring  when  it 
was  not  heard,^  but  in  either  case  thanking  God.  And  so,  too,  tliose 
who  make  the  conflicts  of  St.  Anthony  (or  of  Luther)  with  the 
devil  a  sort  of  byword  for  fanatical  imagination  should  ponder  the 
principles  which  he  laid  down  in  his  sermon  to  the  hermits  : — "Fear 
not  Satan  and  his  angels  ;  Christ  has  broken  their  power  ;  the  best 
weapon  against  them  is  fixith  and  piety.  .  .  .  The  presence  of  evil 
spirits  reveals  itself  in  perplexity,  despondency, .  .  .  evil  desires,  fear 
of  death.  They  take  the  form  answering  to  the  spiritual  state  they 
find  us  in  at  the  time.  They  are  tlic  reflex  of  our  thoughts  and 
fantasies.  If  thou  art  carnally  minded,  thou  art  their  prey  ;  but  if 
thou  rejoicest  in  the  Lord,  and  occupiest  thyself  with  divine  things, 
they  are  ixjwerless.  .  .  .  The  devil  is  afraid  of  fasting,  of  prayer,  of 
humility,  and  good  works." 

On  the  rare  occasions  when  Anthony  left  his  cell,  on  some  mission 
of  religion  or  benevolence,  he  always  returned  as  soon  as  possible ; 
for  (said  he),  as  a  fish  out  of  water,  so  a  monk  out  of  his  solitude 
dies.  One  chief  impulse  to  mix  in  the  afiairs  of  the  Church  was  his 
hatred  of  heresy,  especially  of  Arianism,  He  wrote  to  Constantine, 
urging  the  recal  of  Athanasius  from  his  fii-st  exile,  and  received  an 
answer  full  of  respect ;  but  he  steadily  declined  the  invitations  of 
Constantine  and  his  sons  to  court.  In  351,  at  the  age  of  100,  he 
appeared  for  the  second  and  last  time  at  Alexandria,  to  support 
Athanasius.  His  emaciated  form,  wrapped  in  his  sheepskin  mantle, 
struck  heathens  as  well  as  Christians  like  a  visitor  from  another 
world,  and  he  converted  more  heretics  and  pagans  than  the  Church 
had  won  in  a  whole  year.  The  same  zeal  against  heresy  animated 
the  whole  body  of  the  inonks,  Avho  "forsook  the  wildeniess  in 
swarms  whenever  orthodoxy  was  in  danger,  and  went  in  long  pro- 

'  This  implies  two  thin£;s,  which  throw  light  on  the  alleged  ecclesias- 
tical miracles:  first,  that  the  power  which  Anthony  seemed  to  use  was 
always  invoked  by  prayer;  and  secondly,  that  the  prayer  was  not  always 
followed  by  the  miracle.  The  latter  is  a  crucial  test  of  distinction  from  a 
real  miracle  (not  a  special  providence),  which  is  a  distinct  proof  and  at- 
testation that  he  who  works  it  is  endowed  with  power  from  God.  Apply 
this  test  to  the  miracles  of  Christ,  and  imagine  Him  praying  that  the  man 
sick  of  the  palsy  might  take  up  his  bed  and  walk,  and  the  man  lying  as 
helpless  as  before ! 


304     THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.  Chap.  XH. 

cessions  with  wax  tapers  and  responsive  singing  through  the  streets, 
or  appeared  at  the  councils  to  contend  for  the  orthodox  faith  with 
all  the  energy  of  fanaticism,  often  even  with  physical  force."  * 

Anthony  died  in  35(3,  at  the  age  of  105,  having  charged  the  two 
disciples,  who  had  tended  him  in  his  last  years,  to  bury  his  body 
without  embalmment  and  to  keep  the  place  of  his  sepulture  secret. 
Rut  his  bones  wore  discovered  (miraculously,  it  is  said)  in  the  reign 
of  Justinian  (561),  and  translated  to  Alexandria,  to  Constantinople, 
and  finally  to  Vienna  (Vienne)  in  Gaul,  where  they  wrought  great 
cures  during  an  epidemic  of  the  skin  disease,  which  is  hence  called 
St.  Anthony's  Fire. 

§  16.  The  influence  of  the  Li/c  of  St.  Anthony,  written  by  Atha- 
nasius,  was  deci)ly  felt  throughout  the  Church.  Chrysostom  recom- 
mended the  book,  and  it  decided  Augustine's  final  renunciation  of 
the  world.  The  example  and  fame  of  Anthony  caused  a  rai»id 
spread  of  monasticism,  which  was  regarded  as  having  taken  the 
place  of  martyrdom  as  the  surest  way  to  renown  on  earth  and 
eternal  reward  in  heaven.^  In  Egypt  especially,  the  number  of 
monks  in  the  solitary  cells  and  in  the  monasteries  is  said  to  have 
equalled  the  population  of  the  cities.  The  system  spread  quickly 
to  other  countries.  In  the  wilderness  of  Gaza,  Hilakiox,  the 
disciple  of  Anthony,  was  revered  as  the  father  of  the  Syrian  Anchorets, 
but  to  escape  his  admirers,  who  are  reckoned  at  the  number  of 
10,000,  he  retired  successively  to  Sicily,  Dalraatia,  and  Cyi^rus, 
where  lie  died  in  371.     His  Life  was  written  by  Jerome. 

We  cannot  here  follow  the  various  developments  of  the  hermit 
life,  ever  seeking  new  forms  of  retirement  and  mortification,  which 
culminated  in  the  next  century  in  the  strange  practice  of  the 
Stylitce^  or  "Pillar  Saints,'"  of  wliom  the  first  was  St.  Symkon 
Stylites.  This  shepherd  boy  of  the  border  between  Syria  and 
Cilicia  entered  a  cloister  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  where  he  is  said  to 
have  fastctl  during  the  whole  forty  days  of  Lent  for  twenty-six  suc- 
cessive years.  The  extravagant  forms  of  liis  self-inflicted  penance 
at  last  caused  his  dismissal  from  the  cloister,  and  he  lived  as  a  hermit 
on  a  moimtain  with  an  iron  chain  upon  his  feet,  visited  by  admiring 
throngs,  with  an  ostentation  of  self-sacrifice  which  contrasts  strongly 
with  the  spirit  of  St.  Anthony .*     At  length  he  retired  (in  a.d.  423) 

>  SchafT,  vol.  ii.  p.  185. 

*  See  the  conclusion  of  Athanasius's  Life  of  Anthony ;  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  180. 

*  2ti;\it7Js  (i)1.  at,  from  (ttvKos,  a  pillar).  Gieselor  points  out  a  heathen 
precedent  for  this  form  of  asc-eticisin  in  the  ^aKKafiartls  of  Syria,  who 
iire  mentioned  by  Lucian  (dc  Dea  Si/ria,  28,  20). 

*  Various  stories  are  told  of  Symcon's  conflicts  with  spiritual  pride,  and 
th""  famous  monk,  Nihis,  of  Mcumt  Sinai,  makes  ;i  keen  application  to  him 


Cent.  IV.  SOCIAL  MONASTICISII.  i>05 

to  a  solitary  i)lace  two  days'  journey  (some  forty  miles)  east  of 
Antiocli,  where  he  lived  for  thirty-six  years  on  the  sxiramit  of  a 
]nllar,  the  height  of  which  was  raised  li-om  time  to  time  to  bring 
him  nearer  to  heaven  as  he  approached  perfection.  "Here  he 
could  never  lie  nor  sit,  but  only  stand  or  lean  upon  a  post  (or 
banister),  or  devoutly  bow ;  in  which  last  jxDsture  he  almost  touched 
his  feet  with  his  head — so  flexible  had  his  back  been  made  by 
fasting.  A  si^ectator  once  counted  in  one  day  no  less  than  1244 
such  genuflexions  of  the  saint  before  the  Almighty,  and  then  gave 
up  counting.  He  ■wore  a  covering  of  the  skins  of  beasts,  and  a 
chain  about  bis  neck.  Even  the  Holy  Sacrament  he  took  upon  his 
pillar."! 

From  his  height  of  per^ietual  suffering  he  spoke  to  the  curious 
and  admiring  crowds  with  friendliness,  mildness,  and  love,  preached 
twice  a  day,  wrought  miracles,  converted  thousands  of  heathens, 
and  obtained  the  admiration  and  became  the  counsellor  of  the  kings 
of  Persia  and  the  Emperors  Theodosius  II.,  Marcian,  and  Leo.  The 
impression  made  upon  his  fellow-Christians  is  testified  by  the  great 
Church  historian  and  commentator,  Theodoret,  who  ends  his  account 
of  Symeon  with  the  words  :  "  Should  the  saint  live  longer,  he  may 
yet  do  greater  wonders,  for  he  is  a  universal  ornament  and  honour 
of  religion."  Symeon  died  in  459,  of  a  long-concealed  ulcer,  in  the 
sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  metropolitan 
church  of  Antioch.'"* 

§  17.  The  coenobite  or  social  form  of  monasticism  also  sprang  up 
in  Egypt  about  the  middle  of  this  century.  Its  founder,  or  at  least 
its  first  regulator,  was  Pachomius,  who  attained  a  fame  scarcely 
second  to  that  of  Anthony.  He  also  was  born  in  the  Thebaid,  but 
of  heathen   parents,   about  292.    While  serving  in  the  army  of 

and  his  followers  the  pillar  saints,  of  the  text,  "  He  that  cxalteth  himself 
shall  be  abased."  (Gieseler,  11.  2,  p.  246  ;  SchalV,  vol.  ii.  p.  195.) 

'  Sihaff,  v(d.  ii.  p.  192.  "The  first  jjillar,  which  he  himself  erected,  ami 
on  which  he  lived  four  years,  was  6  cubits  high  ;  the  second,  12  ;  the  third 
22 ;  the  fourth,  which  the  people  erected  for  him,  and  on  which  he  sj)ent 
twenty  years,  was  86,  according  to  Theodoret — others  say  40  cubits.  The 
top  was  only  three  feet  in  diameter :  it  probably  had  a  railing,  however, 
on  which  he  couUl  lean  in  sleep  or  exhaustion ;  so,  at  least,  these  jiillars 
are  drawn  in  pictures.  Food  was  carried  up  to  the  pillar  saints  by  their 
disciples  on  a  ladder."  The  well-known  poem  of  Tennyson  gives  a  fine 
imaginary  view  of  the  saint's  experience  and  self-communing. 

-  Among  the  later  Stylites  may  be  mentioned  Daniel  ((h.  490)  near 
Constantinople,  and  Symeon  the  Younger  (ob.  592)  in  Syria.  The  practice 
did  not  entirely  die  out  in  the  Kast  till  the  twelfth  century.  In  the  West  it 
found  no  favour,  the  only  known  examjjle  being  that  recorded  by  Gregory 
of  Tours,  of  a  saint  who  lived  a  long  time  on  a  pillar  near  Treves,  but 
came  down  at  the  command  of  hie  bishop  and  retired  to  a  cloister. 


306  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.     Chap.  XH. 

Maximin,  he  was  won  to  Christianity  by  the  kindness  of  the  Christians 
at  Thebes.  After  spending  several  years  as  a  disciple  of  the  hermit 
Pala;nion,  he  was  directed  in  a  vision  to  found  a  society  of  monks 
on  the  island  of  Tabenna^,  in  the  Nile,  which  became  the  type  of  all 
such  communities  in  Egypt  (325).  Before  the  death  of  Pachomius, 
in  348,  the  society  numbered  eight  or  nine  cloisters  in  the  Thebaid, 
with  3000  (some  say  7000)  members,  a  number  which  grew  in  the 
course  of  a  century  to  50,000.  The  life  in  all  these  cloisters  was 
regulated  by  "the  rule  of  St.  Pachomius,"  which  Jerome  translated 
into  Latin.  "  The  formal  reception  into  the  society  was  preceded  by 
a  three  years'  probation.  Kigid  vows  were  not  yet  enjoined.  With 
spiritual  exercises  manual  labour  was  united :  agriculture,  boat- 
building, basket-making,  mat  and  coverlet  weaving,  by  which  the 
monks  not  only  earned  their  own  living,  but  also  supported  the  ix)or 
and  the  sick.  They  were  divided,  according  to  the  grade  of  their 
ascetic  piety,  into  four-and-twenty  classes,  named  by  the  letters  of 
the  Greek  alphabet.  They  lived  three  in  a  cell.  They  ate  in 
common,  but  in  strict  silence,  and  with  the  face  covered.  They 
made  known  their  wants  by  signs.  The  sick  were  treated  with 
especial  care.  On  Saturday  and  Sunday  the  monks  partook  of  the 
Communion.  Pachomius,  as  abbot  or  archimandrite,  took  the  over- 
sight of  the  whole ;  each  cloister  having  a  separate  superior  and  a 
steward.  Pachomius  also  established  a  cloister  of  nuns  for  his 
sister,  whom  he  never  admitted  to  his  presence  when  she  would 
visit  him,  sending  her  word  that  she  should  be  content  to  know 
that  he  was  still  alive."  ^  Such  was  the  influence  of  this  profession 
of  a  higher  life  on  the  natural  affections. 

The  coenobite  as  well  as  the  anchoret  form  of  monasticism 
spread  rapidly  over  the  East,  and  was  favoiu'cd  by  some  of  the  most 
eminent  Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  notably  by  Basil  the  Great  ^ 
in  Pontus  and  Cappadocia.  Basil  drew  up  an  improved  monastic 
rule,  which  was  translated  by  Eufinus  into  Latin :  it  was  accepted 
by  about  80,000  monks  before  Basil's  death  (379).  Basil  made  his 
monasteries  centres  of  education :  he  and  his  friend  Gregory  were 
the  first  to  unite  scientific  theological  studies  with  the  ascetic 
exercises  of  solitude.^  These  leaders  found  worthy  successors  in 
the  following  century  in  the  Abbot  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  and  the 
elder  Nilus  (a  pupil  of  Chrysostom),  who  founded  a  monastery  on 
Sinai.  This  and  the  monasteries  of  Nitria  in  Egypt  have  become 
famous  for  the  treasures  of  biblical  and  patristic  literature  which 
they  preserved  to  be  discovered  in  our  own  times.     The  monks  of 

»  Schaff,  vol,  ii.  p.  197.  -  See  Chap.  XHI.  §  3. 

'  Of  St.  Jerome's  enthusiastic  support  of  monasticism,  both  in  the  East 
and  West,  we  have  to  speak  move  fully  in  the  ne.\t  chapter. 


Cknt.  IV.  MONASTICISM  IN  TIIF.  WKST.  307 

Sinai  often  suffered  from  the  Saracens,  to  whom  they  preached ;  and 
one  of  their  most  bloody  persecutions  (in  373)  is  related  by  tho 
monk  Amraonius.^ 

The  fanatical  excesses  and  doctrinal  aberrations  of  zealots  for 
monasticism  gave  birth  to  new  sects  and  incurred  the  censure  of 
several  local  synods.  The  most  important  of  these  was  held  at 
Gangra,  in  Taphlagonia  (probably  Ix-tween  362  and  370)  against 
the  extreme  views  of  Eustathius,  bishop  of  Sebnste  in  Phrygia,  and 
the  first  founder  of  monasteries  in  Cappadocia  and  Armenia.  The 
synod  not  only  condenmed  his  refusal  to  communicate  with  married 
priests,  but  gave  a  decided  voice  against  the  exaltation  of  celibacy 
as  a  state  of  peculiar  holiness. 

§  18.  In  the  West,  the  spirit  of  monasticism  was  first  diffused  by 
the  visits  of  Athanasius  when  an  exile,  in  which  he  was  accom- 
panied by  two  eminent  Egyptian  monks,  Ammonius  and  Isidore, 
as  well  as  through  the  impression  made  by  his  Life  of  Anthony. 
Cloisters  were  founded  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Eorae  and  in  the 
ruined  temples  of  the  city  itself,  whence  the  system  spread  over  Italy 
and  the  islands  and  rocky  islets  of  the  Mediterranean.  Instead  of  tho 
vestal  virgins  Eome  had  convents-  of  nuns,  among  the  first  of  whom 
was  Marcellina,  sister  of  Ambrose,  who  himself  founded  a  monastery 
at  Milan,  and  inculcated  celibacy.  His  pupil  Augustine  led,  with 
his  clergy,  a  life  of  voluntary  poverty  and  celibacy,  which  made  his 
episcopal  residence  at  Hippo  a  sort  of  monastery.^  But  he  was 
earnest  in  condemning  the  vagrant  begging  monks,  and  he  wrote  a 
special  treatise  against  the  monastic  aversion  to  labour.*  The  duty 
of  work,  as  well  as  contemplation,  which  was  inculcated  by  the 
leaders  of  monasticism  in  the  East,  was  carried  out  more  consistently 
in  the  West.  Here  we  find  no  such  fanatics  of  asceticism  as  the 
pillar  saints.  The  monastic  communities  occupied  themselves  with 
agriculture  and  other  forms  of  labour,  with  literature  and  education, 
and— what  was  their  great  glory  — the  diffusion  of  Christianity 
and  civilization  among  the  barbarians. 

The  more  fervent  Oriental  monasticism  had  its  chief  Western 
representative  in  St.  Martin,  who  has  already  been  noticed  for  his 

>  Combcfis.  nUistrinm  Christi  Marturum  kcti  triumphi.     Par.  1660. 

"^  The  two  words  monaster;/  and  convent  were  originally  and  long  used 
in  their  yiroper  sense  for  "an  abode  of  solitaries,"  and  an  "assembly" 
or  "  community  "  of  the  same,  without  tho  distinction  which  now  com- 
monly restricts  the  former  to  a.  community  of  monks,  and  the  latter  to 
one  of  nuns.  The  word  convent,  especially,  has  been  used  for  both  down 
to  a  recent  period. 

»  He  speaks  of  it  as  a  monasterinm  ckricorum.     See  Chap.  XIV.  §  5. 

*  De  Operc  Monachorum.  Thus,  too,  Cassian  says,  "  A  working  monk 
is  plagued  by  one  devil,  an  inactive  one  by  a  host." 


308      THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY.  Chap.  XH. 

intemperate  zeal  in  destroying  heathen  temples  and  his  arrogance 
in  maintaining  his  episcopal  dignity.  He  was  born  in  Pannonia,  of 
pagan  parents,  educated  in  Italy,  and  served  three  years  as  a  soldier, 
ai^ainst  his  will,  nnder  Constantius  and  Julian.  Having  been  ba2> 
tized  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  lived  as  a  hermit  in  Italy,  and 
afterwards  founded  the  first  monastery  in  Gaul,  near  Poitiers. 
Having  been  elected  bishop,  against  his  wish,  by  the  unanimous 
voice  of  the  people  of  Tours,  he  maintained  his  monastic  life  at  the 
head  of  a  new  monastery  of  eighty  monks  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  Loire.  Martin  possessed  little  education,  but  great  natural 
eloquence,  unweari-ed  activity,  and  fervid  zeal,  combined  with  natural 
kindness  and  gentleness.  "  No  one  ever  saw  him  angry,  or  gloomy, 
or  merry:  ever  the  same,  with  a  countenance  full  of  heavenly 
serenity,  he  seemed  to  be  raised  above  the  infirmities  of  man :" — 
such  is  the  character  drawn  by  his  biogi'apher,  Sulpicius  Severus, 
who  places  him  above  all  the  monks  of  the  Elast.  Like  them,  he 
had  personal  conflicts  with  the  devil,  and  wrought  miraculous 
cures ;  but  he  surpassed  them  all  in  thrice  raising  the  dead  to  life. 
He  died  in  397  or  400 ;  and  his  tomb  became  one  of  the  chief 
shrines  of  pilgrimage  in  Gaul.  From  his  example  monasticism 
spread  rapidly  through  Southern  Gaul,  where  his  most  eminent 
successors  were  John  Cassian  (oh.  432),  an  ascetic  Avriter  who 
founded  two  cloisters  for  men  and  women  at  Massilia  {Marseille) ; 
and  St.  Honoratus,  bishop  of  Aries  (from  42G),  who  founded  the 
monastery  which  bore  his  name  on  the  island  of  Lerina,^  and  which 
soon  produced  the  famous  Vincentius  Lerinensis  (St.  Vincent  of 
Lerins,  oh.  cir.  450),  who,  though  himself  a  semi-Pelagian,  laid  down 
the  great  test  of  Catholic  truth  which  has  been  accepted  by  the 
Church  of  Home — antiquity,  imiversality,  and  common  consent.- 

The  great  development  of  Western  monasticism  by  St.  P)ENEDICT 
of  Nursia,  the  founder  of  the  Benedictine  order,  belongs  also  to  the 
end  of  the  fifth  century  and  the  early  part  of  the  sixth.^ 

•  Now  St.  Ilonorat,  one  of  the  two  Lerins  Isles  off  the  coast  of  the  Yar 
department. 

■^  In  his  Commonitorium,  written  under  the  feigned  name  of  Peregrinus. 
His  famous  canon — "  In  ipsa  item  Catliolica  Ecclesia  magnopere  curandum 
est,  ut  id  teneamus  quod  uhiquc,  quod  semper,  quod  ah  omnibus  creilitum 
est" — appears  to  have  been  originally  aimed  against  the  .doctrines  of 
Augustine,  in  defence  of  the  serai-Pelagian  heresy.  There  seems  no  sulFicient 
reason  to  doubt  that  Vincent  of  Lerins  was  the  author  of  the  Ohjectioncs 
Vincentianiv,  which  place  the  doctrine  of  predestination  in  the  most 
odious  light. 

*  See  Chap.  XVIII.  The  opposition  to  celibacy,  monasticism,  and  other 
prevailing  tendencies  of  the  age,  will  be  best  considered  in  connection  with 
the  general  review  of  these  three  centuries  (Cent,  iv.-vi.). 


Clerical  Costumes  ^Mosaic  in  tlic  Cliurcli  of  St.  Vitalis,  at  Ivavenna). 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHUECH. 


CENTURIES   IV.  AND  V. 

§  1.  General  Character  of  the  Nicene  and  post-Nicene  Fathers.  §  2.  The 
Greeks — Eusebius  of  C^sarea  —  His  life,  theological  views,  and 
learning — His  Chronicle,  Ecclesiastical  History,  and  other  works.  §  3. 
The  three  great  Cappadocians — Basil  the  Great,  of  Cresarea,  a  fellow- 
student  with  Gregory  Nazianzen  and  Julian  —  His  classical  learning  and 
refinement — His  monastic  retreat  i  joined  by  Gregory — The  Philocalia — 
Basil  made  Bishop  of  Cresarea— His  Hospital — He  opposes  the  Arian  zeal 
of  Valens  —  His  theological  liberality  —  His  works  and  Liturgy.  §4. 
Gregorv  Nyssen,  brother  of  Basil,  and  also  a  monk — Bishop  of  Nyssa — 
His  orthodox  zeal  and  works.  §  5.  Gregory  Nazianzen — His  early  life 
and  studies — Friendship  with  Basil,  and  antagonism  to  Julian — Retreat  , 
with  Basil  in  Pontus — Bishop  of  Sasima — Alienation  from  Basil — Bishop 
of  Nazianzus — His  labours  against  Arianism  at  Constantinople  and 
retirement  to  an  ascetic  life — His  Orations  and  Poems.  §  6.  Didymus 
OF  Alexandria,  last  head  of  the  Catechetical  School.  §  7.  John 
Chrysostoji — His  early  life,  monastic  retreat,  and  work  at  Antioch — 
Made  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  —  His  opposition  to  the  Empress 
Eudoxia,  exile  and  death — His  Homilies  and  LHurgij.  §  8.  Epiphanius 
OF  Cyprus — His  orthodox  zeal  and  great  learning  —  His  three  books 
against  Heresies — His  Weights  and  Measures,  and  other  works.  §  9. 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem — His  great  Catechetical  Work.  §  10.  EpnittEM 
Syrus — His  hermit  life,  adorned  by  legends — His  Commentaries,  Homi- 
lies and  Poems — Merit  and  fame  of  liis  Hymns.  §  11.  Latin  Writers — 
Lactantius — His  Life  and,Style — His  Divine  Institutes — His  Doctrinal 
15* 


310  FATHERS  OF  THE  XICEXE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XHI. 

Errors.  §  12.  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  the  "  Athanasius  of  the  West," 
tilled  by  Constantius — His  work  On  the  Trinity,  Commentaries,  and 
Hymns.  §  13.  Hieronymus  or  St.  Jerome—  His  early  life  at  Rome, 
learning  and  ascetic  discipline.  §  14.  His  Life  at  Antioch,  in  the 
Desert,  and  at  Constantinople — Study  of  Hebrew.  §  15.  Jerome  returns 
to  Rome  and  promotes  Monasticism.  §  IC.  His  disciples,  Paula  and 
Eustochium — His  troubles  at  Rome.  §  17.  His  final  departure  for  the 
East,  and  monastic  life  at  Bethlehem.  §  18.  His  great  Latin  Version  of 
the  Bible.  §  19.  Deaths  of  Paula,  Eustochium,  and  Jerome.  §  20. 
Works  of  Jerome. 

§  1.  The  Nicene  and  post-Nicene  age  was  peculiarly  rich  in  teachers 
and  writers  who  are  distinguished  for  wide  learning  and  high  autho- 
rity as  theologians.  Their  discussions  and  writings  brought  the  great 
debated  questions  of  doctrine  and  discipline  to  a  settlement  which 
was  generally  accepted  by  the  Church,  and  so  fixed  the  prevalent 
type  of  orthodoxy.  "  They  are  justly  called  Fathers  of  the  Church ; 
they  belong  to  Christendom  without  distinction  of  denominations." ' 
With  a  few  exceptions  in  favour  of  eminent  heathens,  it  is  true 
that  "  they  monopolized  all  the  learning  and  eloquence  of  the 
declining  Roman  Empire,  and  made  it  subservient  to  the  cause  of 
Christianity  for  the  benefit  of  future  generations."  ^ 

§  2.  Foremost  among  the  Greeks  stands  the  spiritual  adviser  of 
Constantine,  Eusebius  of  C^sarea,^  who  is  often  called  the  father 
of  Church  history,  and  the  Christian  Herodotus.  Born  about  260 
or  270,  probably  in  Palestine,  he  was  educated  at  Antioch  and 
Ciesarea,  where  he  formed  a  close  friendship  with  the  learned 
presbyter  Pamphilus,  who  had  collected  a  large  library  and  founded 
a  theological  school,  in  which  Eusebius  taught  for  a  long  time. 
Much  of  his  study  was  given  to  the  writings  of  Origen,  of  whom 
Pamphilus  was  so  devoted  an  admirer,  that  he  had  transcribed 
most  of  his  works  with  his  own  hand.*  After  the  death  of 
Pamphilus,  Eusebius  travelled  to  Tyre  and  Egypt,  where  he 
attained  the  rank  of  a  confessor  by  his  imprisonment  in  the 
Diocletian  persecution.     About  315,  or  later,  he  was  elected  to  the 

•  SchafT,  vol.  iii.  p.  872.  '  Ibid. 

^  Another  title  by  which  he  is  distinguished  among  several  bishops  of 
the  same  name,  is  EuSEHiUS  Pamphiu,  Evart^ios  (d  (p'tKos)  tov  Tla/jicpiXov, 
from  the  mutual  friendship  between  him  and  Pamphilus  of  Ca'sarea.  The 
most  distinguished  of  his  namesakes  were  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia  (of  whom 
much  has  been  said  above,  oh.  341);  Eusebius  of  Vercelli  (ob.  371); 
Eusebius  of  Emesa,  in  Phoenicia  (ob.  3()0)  ;  and  Eusebius  of  Dorylaum,  who 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  Eutychian  controvei'sy  in  the  fifth  century. 

*  The  earliest  work,  probably,  of  Eusebius  was  an  enthusiastic  Apology 
for  Origen,  written  in  conjunction  with  Pamphilus,  before  309,  which 
afterwards  fui-nished  grounds  for  bitter  attacks  from  Jci'ome  and  Epi- 
phanius. 


Cent.  IV.  EUSEBIQS  OF  C.ESAKEA.  311 

bishopric  of  Caesarea,  which  he  lield  till  his  death  in  340  ;  having 
modestly  declined  the  patriarchate  of  Antioch  in  331. 

We  have  seen  the  place  he  lield  and  the  part  he  took  in  the 
Council  of  Nic£ea,  where  he  proposed,  in  accordance  with  the  views 
of  Constantine,  a  less  decided  Creed  than  tliat  which  the  Council 
adopted  and  which  he  somewhat  reluctantly  signed,  reserving  his  own 
interpretation.  His  want  of  sympathy  with  the  extreme  orthodox 
party  was  shown  more  strongly  when  lie  took  part  in  the  Sjaiod  of 
Tyre,  which  deposed  Athauasius  (335)  •,  and  it  is  remarkable  that 
his  Ecclesiastical  History  closes  with  the  victory  of  Constantine 
over  Licinius  (324),  without  any  notice  of  the  Arian  controversy. 
The  charge  of  his  secret  leaning  to  Arianism  has  been  made  and 
disputed  by  many  writers,  ancient  and  modern ;  ^  but  the  truth 
seems  to  be  that  the  whole  controversy  was  distasteful  to  him,  and 
that  he  never  came  to  a  definite  conclusion  on  the  subtleties  in- 
volved in  the  debate.  His  mental  attitude  has  been  well  described 
as  that  of  "indecision  and  doctrinal  latitudinarianisni,  not  unfre- 
quent  m  historians,  who  become  familiar  with  a  vast  varietj'  of 
opinions  in  diflerent  ages  and  countries."  ^  The  like  pliancy  of 
mind  was  seen  in  the  readiness  of  Eusebius  to  play  the  courtier  to 
Constantine,  who  showed  him  high  respect  and  confidence ;  but  it 
must  be  recorded  to  the  honour  of  Eusebius,  that  he  never  used  the 
Emperor's  favour  for  his  own  private  ends. 

The  great  distinction  of  Eusebius  in  literature  and  theology  is  the 
wide  scope  of  his  learning,  which  embraced  the  whole  range  of  Greek 
literature,  heathen  as  well  as  Christian ;  but  with  little  power  of 
critical  judgment.     Its  most  useful  fruit  is  his  famous  Chronicle,^ 

•  Going  to  the  first  contemporary  authority,  we  find  that  Athanasius 
never  charges  Eusebius  with  Arianism,  or  even  semi-Arianism,  but  gives 
him  full  credit  for  having  really  abandoned,  at  the  Council,  the  opinions 
in  favour  of  Arius  which  he  had  held  up  to  that  time.  For  the  authori- 
ties on  both  sides,  and  a  discussion  of  the  whole  question,  see  Dr.  Samuel 
Lee's  Preliminary  Dissertation  to  his  translation  of  the  Theophania  from  the 
Syriac  (pp.  xxiv.-.xcix.),  and  Schatf,  vol.  iii.  p.  874.  Dr.  Lee's  conclusion 
is,  "  that  Eusebius  was  no  Arian;  and  that  the  same  reasoning  must  prove 
that  he  was  no  semi-Arian ;  that  he  did  in  no  degree  partake  of  the  error 
of  Origen,  ascribed  to  him  so  positively  and  so  groundlessly  by  Photius." 

*  Schaif,  vol.  iiL  p.  875. 

'  The  title  of  the  Greek  original  (which  is  only  preserved  in  the  ex- 
tracts embodied  in  the  works  of  later  chronographers,  especially  Syncellus) 
was  "S-poviKuiv  Kav6v<jiv  iravToSarri]  icTTopia  (Hieron.  dc  Vir.  I/lust.  81); 
that  of  Jerome's  Latin  version  is  Chronica  Euscbii,  s.  Canoncs  Historiiv 
Universw,  J/icro)ii/nio  interprcte.  The  Armenian  translation,  recently  dis- 
covered at  Constantinople,  was  published  (with  the  Greek  fragments  and  a 
Latin  translation)  in  two  editions,  by  Mai  and  Zohrab,  Jlilan,  1818  (and 
again  in  Mai's  Script.  Vet.  2\ov.  Coll.  vol.  viii.  Koma>,  1833),  and  by 
J.  Baptist  Aucher,  Vcnet.  1818 ;  also  in  Migne's  complete  edition  of 
Eusebius,  vol.  i. 


312  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH  Chap.  XHI. 

founded  on  the  Chronography  of  Julius  Africanus.  (See  Chap.  VI, 
§  14.)  It  was  the  first  of  those  Histories  of  the  World  which 
Christian  writers  compiled  with  the  viev7  of  showing  its  providen- 
tial government  by  the  God  of  the  Patriarchs,  the  Jews,  and  the 
Christians,  and  the  fate  which  befals  all  lieathen  empires.  The  work 
is  in  two  jiarts — the  first  containing  an  outline  of  universal  history, 
from  the  Creation  to  a.d.  325  ;  the  second  an  abstract  of  the  facts 
of  history,  and  the  dynasties  of  the  various  nations,  in  a  tabular 
form,  which  is  continued  in  Jerome's  Latin  translation  down  to 
the  year  378.  Jerome  also  translated  the  Onomasticou  of  Eusebius, 
a  description  of  tlie  places  mentioned  in  the  Bible.  ^ 

The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Eusebius,  from  the  birth  of  Christ 
to  the  victory  of  Constantine  over  Licinius  (a.d.  324),  has  little 
merit  in  historical  perspective,  critical  judgment,  or  literary  style. 
But  it  is  of  very  high  value  as  a  careful  collection  of  facts ;  still 
more  for  its  abundant  extracts  from  original  authorities,  many  of 
which  are  now  lost;  and,  above  all,  it  stands  alone  as  the  original 
lii story  of  the  first  three  centuries,  for  all  the  ancient  church 
historians  begin  where  Eusebius  leaves  off.  The  time  was  happily 
chosen — just  when  the  great  struggle  with  heathenism  was  at  an 
end,  and  the  Church  was  settled  under  a  Christian  Emjieror — for  a 
review  of  the  history  which  lay  within  the  moderate  sjmce  of  three 
centuries — less  than  five  lives  ot  ordinary  duration — and  while 
much  of  it  was  fresh  in  living  memory,  by  an  author  who,  both  in 
the  library  at  Cajsarea  and  in  the  imperial  archives,  had  access  to 
documents  of  the  highest  authority  and  value. 

His  Life  of  Constantine  is  justly  described  by  the  church 
historian  Socrates  as  a  panegyrical  oration  rather  than  an  accurate 
history ;  and  a  still  higher  flight  of  flattery  is  reached  in  the 
Eulogy  which  Eusebius  delivered  on  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of 
the  Emperor's  reign.  A  third  contribution  to  church  history  is 
his  tract  on  the  Martyrs  of  Palestine.  In  his  apologetic  works 
Eusebius  brings  his  wide  range  of  learning  to  support  the  truth  of 
Christianity.  His  Prceparatio  Evangelica,^  in  fifteen  books,  under- 
takes the  refutation  of  heathenism  from  Greek  literature.  This  work 
has  a  high  secondary  value  for  its  fragments  of  and  references  to 
works  otherwise  unknown,  and  it  is  almost  as  important  for  the  study 
of  Greek  philosophy  as  the  Chronicle  is  for  ancient  history.  As  its 
title  Implies,  it  does  not  present  the  argument  for  Christianity,  but 
it  was  designed  to  predispose  the  mind,  es2)ecially  of  heathens,  for 

'  nepj  iHiv  ToiriKu-v  ovo(iaT<tiv  rwv  tv  rp  Seta  ypa(pTJ,  De  Situ  ct  Nomini- 
bus  Locorum  Jfcbraicorum;  in  Jerome's  works,  vol.  iii.  ;  a  new  edition,  by 
Larsow  and  Parthey,  Berol.  18C2. 

"  Evayye\iKris  airoSfi^eus  ■rrpoirapaaKfvii.  The  work  is  inscribed  to 
Theodotus,  bishop  of  Laodicea. 


Cent.  IV.  BASIL  THE  GREAT.  313 

the  reception  of  the  evidence  which  is  given  in  his  Demonstratio 
Evamjelica,^  in  twenty  books,  of  which  only  ten  are  extant,  contain- 
ing arguments  chiefly  from  the  Old  Testament,  and  addressed 
principally  to  tho  Jews.  Both  works  were  written  before  a.d.  324. 
The  results  of  the  vast  stores  of  learning  gathered  in  these  two  works 
are  presented  in  a  i)opular  form  in  the  five  books  of  the  Thcophania, 
or  Divine  Manifestation  of  Christ,  of  which  fragments  only  were 
known  till  tho  year  1839,  when  a  complete  Syriac  version  was  dis- 
covered by  Mr.  Tattam  in  a  Nitrian  monastery,  and  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum.'''  The  discourse  Against  Hieroclcs  is  a  reply  to  the 
attempt  to  set  up  ApoUonius  of  Tyana  against  Jesus  Christ.^  There 
are  but  two  dogmatic  works  of  Eusebius,  of  little  importance. 
Against  Marcellus  and  Upon  the  Church  Theology  (also  against 
Marcellus),  in  favour  of  the  hypostatical  existence  of  the  Son.  He 
wrote  Commentaries  on  Isaiah,  the  Psalms,  and  Luke,  in  the 
allegorical  spirit  of  Origen,  but  without  his  Hebrew  learning. 

§  3.  The  province  of  Cappadocia  i^roduced  three  of  the  greatest 
lights  of  this  age,  in  Basil  and  the  two  Gregories.  Basil,*  sur- 
namcd  the  Great,  was  born  about  329,  of  wealthy  and  pious 
parents,  at  C.Tsarea,  the  capital  of  tlic  province.  His  father,  who 
was  a  rhetorician,  trained  him  in  learning  ui»  to  the  age  of  eighteen, 
and  then  sent  him  to  study  at  Constantinople,  where  Basil  enjoyed 
the  teaching  and  friendship  of  Libanius.  He  afterwards  spent  five 
years  (351-355)  studying  rhetoric,  mathematics,  and  philosophy  at 
Athens,  where  among  his  fellow-pupils  were  his  friend  Gregory  of 
Nazianzus,  and  Julian,  the  future  Emperor.  Gregory  tells  us  how 
he  and  Basil  resisted  the  allurements  of  the  city,  of  which  they 
knew  only  two  streets, — the  one  to  the  church,  the  other  to  the 

*  It  wds  edited  by  Dr.  Samuel  Lee  (Lond.  1842),  who  also  published  an 
English  translation,  with  a  valuable  essay  in  vindication  of  the  orthodoxy 
and  prophetical  views  of  Eusebius  (Cambridge,  1843).  The  work  is  gene- 
rally regarded  as  an  epitome  of  the  two  preceding;  but  Dr.  Lee  considers 
that  it  was  composed  before  them,  as  a  general  and  popular  discussion  of 
the  whole  question,  *'  and  that  the  other  two,  illustrating,  as  they  generally 
do,  some  particular  points  only — argued  in  order  in  our  work — were  re- 
served for  the  reading  and  occasional  writing  of  our  author  during  a 
considerable  number  of  years,  as  well  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  own  mind 
as  for  the  general  reading  of  the  learned."  '  See  Chap.  V.  §  14. 

*  Ba<riA.€ios  and  BocriAjos  :  Basilius.  Of  the  other  Basils,  from  whom 
he  was  distinguished  by  his  title  of  "  the  Great,"  the  following  deserve 
mention  :— (I )  Another  Cappadocian,  the  semi-Arian  bishop  of  Ancyra  (336- 
360).  (2)  Basil  of  Cilicia  (about  A.D.  500),  who  wrote  a  lost  History  of 
the  Church  (Phot.  BMioth.  Cod.  42).  (3)  Bishop  of  Seleucia,  in  Isauria 
(448-458  and  onwanls),  who  took  both  siiles  alternately  in  the  Eutychian 
controversy.  His  works  are  published  with  those  of  Gregory  Thauma- 
turgus,  in  the  Paris  edition  of  1022. 


314  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CIIUKCII.  Chap.  XIH. 

scliools.  Ascetic  as  lie  became,  Basil  vindicates  the  study  of  Greek 
literature,  when  pursued  in  subjection  to  the  hi<iher  oVtjects  of  the 
Christian  life  ;  and  both  his  works  and  those  of  Gregory  are  full  of 
classic  refinement,  blended  with  the  winning  but  serious  spirit  of 
Christianity,  especially  in  dwelling  upon  the  beauties  of  nature,  the 
great  wonders  of  Creation,  and  the  goodness  of  its  Author.' 

After  teaching  rhetoric  for  some  time  in  his  native  city,  Basil 
was  attracted  (360)  by  the  fame  of  the  monastic  life  to  pay  a  visit  to 
the  recluses  of  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt ;  which  ended  in  his 
dividing  his  property  to  the  poor,  and  withdrawing  to  a  retreat  in  the 
mountain  region  of  Poutus,  near  the  cloister  to  which  his  mother 
and  sister  had  retired.  A  letter  to  his  friend  Gregory  gives  a 
description  of  the  romantic  beauty  of  the  spot,  which  contrasts 
strikingly  with  the  desert  abodes  of  the  Egyptian  monks.  He  prizes 
its  solitude  as  its  chief  charm;  but  in  a  second  letter  he  makes  this 
confession,  "  I  have  well  forsaken  my  residence  in  the  city  as  the 
source  of  a  thousand  evils,  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  forsake 
myself;"  and  he  adds  the  quaint  but  striking  comparison  of 
himself  to  a  traveller  who,  suffering  from  sea-sickness  in  a  large 
ship,  gets  out  into  a  small  skiff  only  to  keep  the  dizziness  and 
nausea.  Still  he  retains  his  confidence  in  solitude,  celibacy  and 
ascetic  discipline,  seclusion  from  business  and  occupation  in  prayer 
and  sacred  study,  as  the  necessary  means  of  taming  passion  and 
attaining  the  devout  quietude  of  the  soul.  Basil  induced  Gregory 
to  join  him  in  this  retreat,  where  the  two  friends  made  a  collection 
of  extracts  from  Origen,  entitled  Fhilocalia,  which  is  still  extant, 
and  drew  up  some  Rules,  which  had  a  great  influence  in  extending, 
as  well  as  regulating,  the  monastic  life. 

They  were  soon  called  from  their  retreat,  to  combat  the  revival 
of  the  Arian  heres}'  under  Yalens.  In  3G4  Basil  reluctantly  received 
ordination  as  a  presbyter,  and  in  370  he  was  elected  Bishop  of 
Ca-.sarea  and  Metroitolitan  of  Cappadocia,  where  he  had  fifty  country 
bishops  imder  him.  Here  he  maintained  his  voluntary  poverty  apd 
ascetic  life,  though  always  sickly,  eating  bread,  salt,  and  herbs, 
and  wearing  but  one  threadbare  garment.  He  personally  tended 
the  sick  and  poor,  and  founded  near  Ca^sarca  the  splendid  hospital, 

'  The  testimony  of  Alc.tander  von  Humboldt  to  this  spirit  in  early 
Christianity  is  especially  valuable: — "The  tendency  of  Christian  senti- 
ment was  to  prove  from  the  universal  order  and  the  beauty  of  nature  the 
greatness  and  goodness  of  the  Creator ;"  and  he  illustrates  the  effect  of 
this  tendency  from  the  glowing  and  sympathetic  descriptions  of  nature, 
found  first  in  the  ajwlogist  Minucius  Felix,  and  afterwards  in  Basil  (tor 
whom  he  had  "  long  entertained  a  si)ocial  predilection  "),  in  Gregory  of 
Nyssa,  and  Chrysostom.  (Humboldt's  Kosinos,  vol.  ii.  i)p.  27,  foil.,  quoted 
by  Schair,  vol.  iii.  p.  897.) 


Cent.  IV.  GREGORY  NYSSEN.  315 

called  after  hiiu  Basilias,  chiefly  for  lepers,  -who  were  then  treated 
as  outcasts,  but  whom  he  did  not  fear  to  kiss.  A  noble  instance  of 
Christian  heroism,  founded  on  a  calm  estimate  of  "aught  this  world 
can  threaten  or  indulge,"  is  furnislied  by  his  reply  to  the  threats 
under  which  the  Emperor  demanded  tlie  submission  of  the  province 
to  Ariauism.  The  prefects  of  Valens  threatened  the  Archbishop 
with  confiscation,  banishment,  and  death.  "  Nothing  more  ? " 
rejoined  Basil :  "  Not  one  of  these  things  touches  me.  His  property 
cannot  be  forfeited,  who  has  none.  Banishment  I  know  not,  for  I 
am  restricted  to  no  place,  and  am  the  guest  of  God,  to  whom  the 
whole  earth  belongs.  For  martyrdom  I  am  imfit ;  but  death  is  a 
benefactor  to  me,  for  it  sends  me  all  the  quicker  to  God,  in  whom 
1  live  and  move  :  I  am  also  in  great  part  already  dead,  and  have  been 
for  a  long  time  hastening  to  the  grave."  His  banishment  was  about 
to  be  pronounced,  when  (we  are  told)  the  Emperor's  intant  son  fell 
sick.  Valens  sent  for  Basil,  at  wliose  prayer  the  child  recovered ;  and 
the  imperial  prefect,  who  had  been  Basil's  enemy,  was  also  raised 
from  sickness  through  his  prayers. 

While  thus  proving  his  stedfastness  to  orthodoxy,  Basil  offended 
the  high  catholic  party  by  his  liberal  dealing  with  the  rising  dispute 
about  the  deity  of  the  third  jierson  of  the  Trinity ;  being  contented 
with  the  confession  that  the  Holy  Gliost  was  not  a  creature.  These 
contentions  helped  to  exhaust  his  feeble  health  ;  and  he  died  in  379. 
Basil  was  distinguished  as  a  church  governor,  a  ])rcacher,  and  a 
theologian.  His  most  important  works  are  his  365  Epistles,^  Five 
Books  against  Eunomius,  in  defence  of  the  deity  of  Christ,  written 
in  361,  and  that  on  the  Holy  Ghost,  written  in  375.  His  Nine 
Homilies  on  the  History  of  the  Creation,^  full  of  allegorical  fancies, 
were  highly  esteemed  in  the  Church  ;  and  he  wrote  Homilies  on  the 
Psalms  and  on  various  subjects,  and  several  ascetic  and  moral 
treatises.  The  Litim/i/  ascribed  to  him  is  still  used  in  the  Eastern 
Church ;  but  its  present  form  is  undoubtedly  the  gradual  product 
of  later  ages. 

§  4.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,'  the  younger  brother  of  Basil,  whom 
he  calls  his  father  and  preceptor,  was  of  a  more  weakly  and  timid 
constitution,  and  fitter  for  study  than  for  active  life.  His  mind 
was  formed,  under  his  brother's  influence,  chiefly  on  the  works 
of  Origen.  Like  Basil,  he  taught  rhetoric  for  a  time  in  his  native 
city,  and  then  retired  to  a  solitude  in  Pontus,  to  lead  a  life  of  study 

'  These  letters,  Hke  those  of  Jerome,  are  full  of  informntion  about  his 
life 'and  times.  In  fact,  the  whole  of  this  age  is  very  rich  in  such  auto- 
biographical materials  for  history. 

*  'Eforj/xepoj/,  or  Iloimluv  i.v.  in  Hcxaemeron, 

*  Tpr\y6pios  6  'Hvaarjvos ;  Grcgorius  Nyssonus ;  Gregory  Nyssen. 


310        FATHEUS  OF  THE  KICENE  CHURCH.    CiiAi-.  XHI. 

and  asceticism.  He  was,  however,  married,  and  lie  commends  his 
wife,  Theosebia,  who  seems  to  have  died  in  384,  as  rivalling  in  piety 
her  two  brothers-in-law,  Basil  and  Peter,  though  they  were  bishops; 
but  he  laments  that  he  is  no  longer  in  the  condition  of  virginity, 
which  he  highly  eulogizes,  explaining  it,  however,  as  consisting 
chiefly  iji  the  purity  of  the  whole  life. 

In  372  Gregory  was  called  by  Basil  to  the  bishopric  of  the  small 
town  of  Nyssa  (or  Nysa)  near  Ca^sarea.  His  zeal  against  Arianisra 
caused  his  deposition  by  a  synod  in  37G ;  but  he  was  restored  by 
Gratian.  He  was  quickly  bereaved  of  his  pious  brothers  and 
sisters,  for  two  of  whom,  Basil  and  Macrina,  he  pronounced  warm 
eulogies.  Gregory  attended  tlie  Council  of  Constantinople,  which 
honoured  him  as  one  of  the  pillars  of  Catholic  orthodoxy,  and  sent 
liim  to  Jerusalem  and  Arabia  to  compose  schisms  which  were 
threatening  to  break  out.  With  his  testimony  to  the  low  state  of 
the  churches  in  Palestine,  he  has  left  a  pungent  saying  on  the  merit 
of  pilgrimage.  To  a  Cappadocian  abbot,  who  asked  his  advice  about 
a  pilgrimage  of  his  monks  to  the  Holy  City,  Gregory  replied, 
"  Change  of  place  brings  us  no  nearer  to  God  ;  but  where  thou  art, 
God  can  come  to  thee,  if  only  the  inn  of  thy  soul  is  ready.  ...  It 
is  better  to  go  out  of  the  budy  and  to  raise  oneself  to  the  Lord, 
than  to  leave  Cappadocia  to  journey  to  Palestine."  All  that  we 
know  further  of  Gregory's  life  is  the  mention  of  three  more  visits  to 
Constantinople,  in  383,  385,  and  394.     He  died  about  the  year  395. 

His  writings  are  not  surpassed  by  those  of  any  other  Father  for 
clear  and  acute  statements  of  doctrine ;  of  which  a  conspicuous 
example  is  furnished  by  his  work  "On  the  Diflerence  between 
Ousia  anil  Hypostasis  in  the  Godhead,"  and  his  Catechism  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  which  was  so  highly  esteemed  as  to  be  called  "  The 
great  Catechetical  Treatise."^  He  wrote  controversial  works, 
"  Against  Eunomius"  and  "Against  ApoUinaris,"  and  an  admirable 
work  "  On  the  Soul  and  the  Pcsurrection,"  in  the  form  of  a 
Dialogue  with  his  sister  Macrina.  Besides  her  Life  and  the  Eulogy 
of  his  brother  Basil,  Gregory  comi>osed  biographical  Eulogies  on  St. 
Stephen,  the  Forty  Martyrs,  (iregory  Thaumaturgus,  Ei)hrem,  and 
Meletius  ;  also  Homilies  on  the  Creation  of  the  World '^  and  the 
Forming  of  Man  ;  on  the  Life  of  INIoscs,  on  the  Psalms,  Ecclesiaste.s, 
the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  the  P.eatitudes ;  and  several  ascetic  tracts. 
Gregory's  interpretations  of  Scripture  are  strongly  tinctured  with  the 
allegorical  ideas  of  Origen,  of  whom  he  is  the  closest  follower  among 

*  "The  Hcxai-meron  of  Gres^oi-y  is  .i  supplement  to  his  brother  Basil's 
Hexaemcron,  and  discusses  the  nion;  oljscure  metaphysical  questions  con- 
nected with  the  subject."     (SchalV,  vol.  iii.  p.  'J07.) 


Cent.  IV.  GREGORY  NAZIANZEN.  317 

the  Fathers  of  the  Cliurch.     He  departs  from  the  Catholic  doctriue 
iu  holding  the  final  redemption  of  all  God's  intelligent  creatures. 

§  5.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  whose  zeal  for  tlie  orthodox  faith 
earned  him  the  title  of  "Gregory  the  Theologian,"'  has  been  well 
described  as  "  the  third  in  the  Cappadocian  triad ;  inferior  to  his 
bosom  friend  Basil  as  a  church  ruler,  and  to  his  namesake  of  Nyssa 
as  a  speculative  thinker;  but  superior  to  both  as  an  orator.  With 
them,  he  exhibits  the  flower  of  Greek  theology  in  close  union  with 
the  Nicene  faith,  and  was  one  of  the  champions  of  orthodoxy, 
though  with  a  mind  open  to  free  speculation.  His  life,  with  its 
alternations  of  high  station,  monastic  seclusion,  love  of  severe  studies, 
enthusiasm  for  poetry,  nature,  and  friendship,  possesses  a  romantic 
charm."  ^  p]ven  Gibbon  bears  witness  to  "  the  tenderness  of  his 
heart  and  the  elegance  of  his  genius." 

Gregory  was  a  native,  either  of  Nazianzus,  where  his  father  was 
bishop,  or  of  Ariauzus,  a  village  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood. 
He»  appears  to  have  been  born  about  330,  though  the  authorities 
difl'cr  as  to  the  date.  His  mind  was  fomied,  and  his  faith  fixed,  by 
his  excellent  mother,  Nonna,  of  whom  he  has  left  an  aflectionate 
Eulogy.  Having  devoted  her  infant  son  to  God,  as  Hannah  devoted 
Samuel,  she  persuaded  him  to  a  life  of  celibacy,  that  he  might  have 
no  distraction  from  his  high  calling,  and  a  dream  decided  Gregory 
to  follow  her  advice.  Trained  in  Greek  science,  as  well  as  in  Scrip- 
ture learning,  Gregory  early  chose  the  iirofession  of  rhetoric,  and 
pursued  his  studies  at  the  provincial  capital,  Ca^sarea,  where  he  pro- 
bably formed  his  first  acquaintance  with  Basil ;  then  at  Ca'sarea  in 
Palestine  ;  next  at  Alexandria,  where  Athanasius  was  then  bishop  ; 
and  finally  at  Athens,  where  he  formed  his  close  and  lifelong 
intimacy  with  Basil.  Of  their  fellow-student  Julian,  Gregory 
formed  the. most  unfavourable  opinion,  and  said,  "What  a  mischief 
the  Roman  Government  is  nurturing !"  ^  His  antagonism  to  Julian 
was  vehement  through  life,  and  pursued  the  Emperor  after  his  death 
in  two  invectives  of  unmeasured  bitterness.*  Leaving  Athens  in 
his  thirtieth  year,  and  being  joined  on  his  way  home,  at  Constanti- 
nople, by  his  brother  C;«sarius,*  he  reti.fncd  to  Nazianzus. 

^  @eo\6yos,  in  the  same  special  sense  in  which  the  title  is  given  to  St. 
John.  •  tJchati;  vol.  iii.  p.  909. 

*  OTov  KaKhu  1]  'Paifxalcov  rpf<pfi.  *  A6yoi  ffTi)KtTiiniKoi. 

*  "To  this  Cii'sarius.  who  was  afterwards  physician  in  ordiuaiy  to  the 
Emperor  in  Constantinople,  many,  following  Photius,  ascribe  the  still 
extant  collection  of  theological  ami  philosophical  iiuestions,  Dialogi  iv. 
sive  Qu<Tstii)nes  Thcol.  ct  I'hilos.  145;  but  without  sutlicient  ground.  He 
was  a  true  Christian,  but  w.as  not  baptized  till  shortly  before  his  death  in 
3G8.  He  was  afterwards,  like  his  brother  Gregory,  his  sister  Gorgoiiia, 
and  his  mother,  received  into  the  number  of  the  saints  of  the  Catholic 
Church."     (Schati;  vol.  iii.  p.  912.) 


318  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.         Chap.  XIII. 

Having  now  first  received  baptism,  Gregory  adopted  a  strictly 
ascetic  lite;  and,  after  for  a  time  sacrificing  his  desire  for  seclusion 
to  assist  his  father  in  the  management  of  his  affairs,  he  went  to  join 
Basil  at  his  retreat  in  Pontiis.  Of  the  short  period  which  they  spent 
together  in  prayer,  meditation,  sacred  studj',  and  manual  labour, 
cheered  and  elevated  by  the  beauties  of  nature,  he  writes  to  his 
friend  with  fond  regret.'  On  a  visit  to  his  home,  his  father,  who 
had  need  of  his  help  and  knew  the  wishes  of  his  church,  ordained 
him  presbyter  against  his  will  (3G1) ;  and  though  he  fled  back  to 
Basil  in  Pontus,  he  returned  at  the  call  of  the  church  and  from  a 
sense  of  duty  to  his  aged  jxarents,  before  Easter,  362.  Basil — who, 
it  will  be  remembered,  was  metropolitan  of  Cappadocia — appointed 
Gregory  to  one  of  the  new  bishoprics  which  he  had  established  as 
posts  of  defence  against  Arianism.  This  attempt  to  fi.x:  him  at  the 
wretched  little  town  of  Sasima  was  a  sore  trial  of  his  friendship  for 
Basil.^  It  seems,  indeed,  probable  that  Gregory  never  went  to  his 
see.  After  another  interval  spent  in  his  solitude,  we  find  him  at 
Nazianzus  (372),  acting  as  assistant  to  his  father,  on  whose  death  ^ 
he  was  elected  to  the  vacant  bishopric  (374).  But  from  this  office 
also  Gregory  retired  again  to  his  solitude,  and  thence  to  Seleucia 
in  Isauria,  where  he  received  the  sad  news  of  Basil's  death  (379).* 

From  the  deep  depression  into  w-hich  he  was  thrown  by  the 
loss  of  his  dearest  friend,  following  that  of  his  brother  Ca^sarius 
and  aggravated  by  disease  of  body,  Gregory  was  roused  by  the  call 
to  preach  and  act  the  pastor  as  the  champion  of  orthodoxy  in  the 
Arian  capital  of  the  Empire.  His  work  at  Constantinople,  and  his 
election  to  and  resignation  of  its  bishopric  (381),  have  already  been 
related.  He  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  on  his  paternal  estate  at 
Arianzus,  in  devout  exercises  and  literary  labours,  but  still  taking 
an  active  interest  in  the  religious  and  temporal  wants  of  those 
around  him,  and  exercising  a  wider  influence  on  the  Church  by  his 
letters.  His  ascetic  practices  increased  even  with  the  advance  of 
age  and  weakness  :  "in  his  poems  he  describes  himself  living  solitary 

'  Epist.  ix.  (vi.  ed.  Bened.) 

'  See  his  pathetic  complaint  in  the  poem  on  his  own  life  {De  Vita  sua, 
vv.  470,  foil.),  (luoted  by  Gibbon  (chaj).  .\.\vii.),  and  more  fully  by  Schaff 
(vol.  iii.  pp.  914-5),  who  compares  it  to  Helena's  complaint  to  Herniin  (in 
the  Midsummer  A'iijht's  Dream),  beginning, 

"  Is  all  the  counsel  that  we  two  have  shared,"  <fec. 
It  does  not  appear  that  Basil  meant  to  put  a  slight  on  Gregory,  but  that, 
in  his  zeal  for  the  common  cause,  he  took   no  account  of  hardships ;  and 
his  own  brother's  appointment  to  Nyssa  was  not  much  better. 

*  On  the  occasion  of  the  funeral,  Gregory  delivered  one  of  his  finest 
orations,  in  presence  of  Basil  (^Urut.  xviii.  'E-irtTa.<pios  fls  rhv  iraTtpa, 
■KapSvTOi  BafftXeiov"). 

*  His  feelings  are  e.tpressed  in  a  letter  to  Gregory  of  Nyssa. 


Cknt.  IV.  DIDYMUS  OF  ALKXANDKIA.  319 

in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks  among  the  beasts,  going  about  without 
shoes,  content  with  one  rough  garment,  and  sleeping  upon  the 
ground  covered  with  a  sack."  '  No  particulars  are  recorded  of  his 
death,  which  took  place  in  390  or  391. 

Gregory's  high  place  in  ecclesiastical  literature  is  due  to  his 
eloquent  Orations,  of  which  the  chief  are  his  five  Theological 
Orations,^  delivered  at  Constantinople  in  defence  of  the  Nicene 
orthodoxy  against  the  Eunomians  and  Macedonians.  The  re- 
maining forty-five  Orations  are  eulogies  of  saints  and  martyrs, 
and  of  his  own  kindred  and  friends ;  and  discourses  on  the 
events  of  his  own  life,  on  public  afiairs,  and  on  ecclesiastical 
festivals.  As  an  orator,  Gregory  Nazianzen  stands  first  in  the 
Greek  Church,  or  second  only  to  Chrysostom ;  but  his  oratory  is 
in  the  artificial  and  often  extravagant  style  of  that  profes- 
sional rhetoric  which  laboured  in  vain  to  imitate  the  sijontaneous 
eloquence  of  a  better  age.  "As  a  poet,  he  holds  a  subordinate 
though  respectable  place.  He  wrote  poetry  only  in  later  life,  and 
wrote  it,  not  froni  native  impulse,  as  the  bird  sings  among  the 
branches,  but  in  the  strain  of  moral  reflection  upon  his  own  life  or 
ujwn  doctrinal  or  moral  themes.  Many  of  his  orations  are  poetical, 
many  of  his  poems  are  ])rosaic.  Not  one  of  his  Odes  or  Hymns 
passed  into  use  in  the  Church.  Yet  some  of  his  smaller  pieces. 
Apophthegms,  Epigrams,  and  Epitaphs,  are  very  beautiful,  and 
betray  noble  affections,  deep  feeling,  and  a  high  order  of  talent  and 
cultivation.  We  have,  finally,  242  (or  244)  Epistles  from  Gregory, 
which  are  important  to  the  history  of  the  time,  and  in  some  cases 
very  graceful  and  interesting."  ^ 

§  6.  These  great  lights  of  the  age  are  connected,  by  their 
training  and  their  admiration  of  Origen,  with  the  Alexandrian 
School  of  tli^ology.  DiDYMus  of  Alexandria,  the  last  great 
head  of  the  catechetical  school  of  that  cit\',  deserves  especial 
notice  for  the  number  of  eminent-  men  who  Avere  his  disciples, 
including  Jerome,  liufinus,  Palladius,  and  Isidore.  He  was  born 
about  309,  and  though  he  became  blind  in  the  lourth  year  of 
his  age,  he  learned  to  read  and  write  by  means  of  characters  en- 

'  Schaft;  vol.  iii.  p.  920. 

-  Aiyoi  Beo\oyiKoi,  so  called  in  the  same  sense  as  his  title  of  0eo\6yos, 
which  these  orations  won  for  him. 

*  Schatt',  vol.  iii.  p.  921.  In  the  fine  Benedictine  Edition  by  Caillau 
(Paris,  1842,  and  the  reprint  edited  by  Migne)  the  Poems  are  divided  into 
five  classes :  I.  Thcologka  (a.  do</matica,  b.  moralia)  ;  II.  Ilistorica  (a. 
quco  spectant  Groiorium,  iff  pi  iavrov,  De  scipso  ;  b.  qua;  spcctiint  alios,  irepl 
Twy  irtpwv')'.  III.  EpiUtpliii ;  IV.  Epiiirammata ;  V.  C/iristvs  Patiens, 
n  long  tragedy,  with  Christ,  the  Virgin,  Joseph,  Mary  Magdalene,  Nico- 
demas,  Pilate,  &c.,  as  actors  ;  being  the  earliest  Christian  drama. 


320  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.        Chap.  XHI. 

graved  ou  wooden  tablets,  and  acquired  a  deep  knowledge  of  phi- 
losophy, rhetoric,  and  mathematics,  while  he  knew  the  Holy 
Scriptures  almost  by  heart.  He  was  appointed  by  Athauasius  as 
teacher  in  the  catechetical  school,  in  which  office  he  laboured  more 
than  sixty  years,  and  died  at  a  great  age  in  395. 

Didymus  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  ascetic  life,  and  was 
held  in  high  esteem  by  the  Egyptian  monks,  and  in  particular  by 
St.  Anthony.  He  was  a  zealous  opponent  of  Arianism  ;  but  he  was 
at  the  same  time  an  ardent  admirer  of  Origen,  as  a  follower  of  whose 
doctrine  of  the  pre-existence  and  transmigration  of  souls  Didymus 
was  condemned,  after  his  death,  by  several  general  councils.  Hence 
he  is  not  ranked  among  saints.  His  extant  works  consist  of  tliree 
books  on  the  Trinity  and  one  on  the  Holy  Ghost  (with  a  Latin 
translation  of  the  last  by  Jerome),  and  some  complete  Commentaries, 
as  well  as  numerous  other  fragments  of  his  exegetical  writings.  He 
also  wrote  a  short  work  against  the  Manicheans. 

§  7.  John  Chrysostom,  that  is,  the  "  Golden  Mouthed,"  — the 
well-deserved  title  conferred  on  him  in  the  seventh  century  for  his 
eloquence — crowns  the  bright  line  of  preachers  and  exijositors  of 
Scripture  in  the  fourth  century.  He  was  born  at  Antioch,  a.d.  347,  of 
Christian  parents.  His  father  was  a  military  officer,  and  his  mother 
Anthusa  was  so  distinguished  for  her  virtues,  that  even  the  heathen 
Libanius  said  of  her,  "Ah!  what  Avomen  there  are  among  the 
Christians !"  By  her  bright  examjjle,  as  well  as  by  the  training  she 
gave  him  in  the  Christian  faith  and  knowledge  of  Scripture,  her 
son  was  preserved  fronx  the  temptations  of  the  most  licentious  of 
heathen  cities.  He  was  the  favourite  pupil  of  Libanius,  who  de- 
clared that  he  would  have  chosen  for  his  successor  "  John,  if  the 
Christians  had  not  carried  him  away."  Having  entered  on  the  pro- 
fession of  rhetoric,  he  soon  resolved  to  devote  his  powers  to  a  sacred 
use ;  and  Meletius,  bishop  of  Antioch,  baptized  him  and  made 
him  a  reader.  He  would  have  been  raised  to  the  bishopric  in  370, 
had  he  not  avoided  the  election  by  putting  forward  his  friend  Basil. 
He  wrote  his  famous  treatise  "  On  the  Priesthood  "  to  excuse  his 
artifice,  by  describing  the  deep  responsibilities  of  the  sacred 
office. 

The  entreaties  of  his  mother,  who  had  been  left  a  widow  when 
John  was  twenty  years  okl,  restrained  his  desire  to  follow  the  pre- 
vailing taste  for  a  monastic  life ;  but,  on  her  death,  he  retired  to 
a  cloister  in  the  mountains  near  Antioch,  under  the  abbot  Diodorus, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Tarsus.  The  six  years  which  he  spent  in  this 
retreat  were  a  happy  period  of  preparation,  by  study  and  meditation, 
for  the  active  work  that  lay  before  him.  Here  he  wrote  several 
books  in  praise  of  the  ascetic  life,  and  among  them  two  letters  to 


Cent.  IV.  CHRYSOSTOM  AND  EUDOXIA.  321 

reclaim  his  companion,  Theodore  (afterwards  the  famous  bishoi?  of 
Mopsuestia),  from  the  desire  to  give  up  his  monastic  vow  and  to 
marry, — a  course  which  Chrysostom  describes  as  nothing  short  of 
apostasy  from  the  faith.  His  own  severe  discipline  broke  down  his 
health,  and  caused  his  return  to  Antioch,  where  he  was  ordained 
deacon  by  Meletius  (386),  and  presbyter  by  Flavian.  In  his  sixteen 
or  seventeen  years'  work  at  Antioch,  he  acquired  high  fame  as  a 
preacher  and  expositor,  and  universal  love  for  his  pure  and  devoted 
character.  It  was  during  this  period  that  he  wrote  most  of  his 
Commentaries. 

In  398  he  was  chosen,  without  any  seeking  on  his  own  part,  to 
succeed  Nectarius  as  Patriarch  of  Constantinople.  The  union  of 
high  culture  with  pure  simplicity  of  character  secured  him  honour 
with  the  court  as  well  as  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  preserved 
him  from  pride  and  ostentation.  He  adhered  to  his  ascetic  life  and 
devoted  most  of  his  income  to  works  of  charity.  He  now  attained 
the  climax  of  power  and  reputation  as  a  preacher ;  *  but  his  denun- 
ciations against  the  vices  of  the  age,  and  the  hypocritical  relio-ion  of 
the  court  of  Arcadius,  made  him  powerful  enemies.  The  Empress 
Eudoxia,^  who  was  not  spared  in  his  invectives,  and  the  ambitious 
Theophilus,  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  secured  his  condemnation  by 
a  secret  council  of  thirty-six  bishops  at  Chalcedon,  as  a  favourer 
of  the  opinions  of  Origen,^  and  on  false  charges  of  immorality,  eccle- 
siastical irregularity,  and  treason ;  and  he  was  banished  by  the  Em- 
peror (a.d.  403).  The  indignation  of  the  people,  concurring  with 
an  earthquake,  led  to  his  recal  after  only  tliree  days.  But  lie  soon 
gave  new  offence  by  a  more  unmeasured  attack  on  the  Empress. 
When  her  silver  statue  was  set  up  in  the  church  of  St.  Sophia 
with  the  accompaniment  of  theatrical  entertainments,  Chrysostom 
began  a  sermon  on  the  death  of  John  the  Baptist  *  with  this  ex- 
ordium ;  "  Again  Herodias  rages,  again  she  raves,  again  she  dances 
and  again  she  demands  the  head  of  John  upon  a  charger."  He  was 
again  condemned  by  a  council  and  banished  (a.d.  404).    In  his  exile 

'  "His  sermons  were  frequently  interrupted  by  noisy  theatrical  demon- 
strations of  applause,  which  he  indignantly  rebuked  as  unworthy  of  the 
house  of  God.  This  Greek  custom  of  apjdauding  the  preacher  by  clapping 
the  hands  and  stamping  the  feet  (called  Kporos)  was  a  sign  of  the  secu- 
larization of  the  Church  after  its  union  with  the  State.  It  is  characteristic 
of  his  age,  that  a  powerful  sermon  of  Chrysostom  against  this  abuse  was 
most  enthusiastically  applauded  by  his  hearers."     (SchatF,  vol.  iii.  p.  938.) 

^  "  Eudoxia  was  a  young  and  beautiful  woman,  who  despised  her  hus- 
band and  indulged  her  passions.  She  died  four  years  after  the  birth  of 
her  son,  Theodosius  the  Younger,  whose  true  father  is  said  to  have  been 
the  Comes  John.     (Comp.  Gibbon,  ch.  xxii.)." — Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  704. 

'  Respecting  the  Origenistic  controversy,  see  above.  Chap.  VJ   S  lo' 

*  From  the  text,  Mark  vi.  17.  foil. 


322  FATHtliS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.        Chap.  XHI. 

he  corresponded  with  all  parts  of  the  Christian  ■world,  and  ap^jealed 
to  a  general  council ;  whereupon  his  enemies  procured  from  Arcadius 
an  order  for  his  removal  to  Pityus,  on  the  east  shore  of  the  Euxine. 
He  died  on  the  journey,  at  Comana  in  Pontus,  thanking  God  even  for 
his  sufferings,  in  words  which  form  a  fit  motto  for  his  life  and  work, 
*' Glory  to  God  for  all  things."^  (September  14th,  a.d.  407.) 
Thirty  years  later,  his  remains  were  brought  back,  to  Constantinople 
by  Theodosius  II.,  who  laid  them  in  the  imperial  tomb  with  deep 
reverence,  and  with  prayers  for  his  guilty  parents  (438). 

The  Ho7nilies  of  Chrysostom ,  above  600  in  number,  are  commen- 
taries as  well  as>  sermons ;  being  for  the  most  part  consecutive 
expositions  of  whole  books  of  Scripture,  instead  of  discourses  on 
particular  texts.  Their  subjects  are  on  Genesis,  the  Psalms,  the 
Gospels  of  Matthew  and  John,  the  Acts  and  all  the  Pauline  Epistles, 
among  which  Chrysostom  includes  that  to  the  Hebrews.  There  are 
other  Homilies  on  separate  sections  and  verses  of  Scripture ;  dis- 
courses in  commemoration  of  Ap)stles  and  martyrs;  eight  contro- 
versial homilies  "  Against  the  Jews  "  (referring  to  judaizing  ten- 
dencies at  Antioch),  and  twelve  "Against  the  Anoma^ans"'  (the 
Arians).  The  palm  of  eloquence  is  generally  awarded  to  his  twenty- 
one  Homilies  to  the  people  of  Antioch  on  tlie  Statues  (387),  called 
forth  by  a  sedition  in  which  the  people  pulled  down  the  statues  of 
the  Emperor  Theodosius  I.  and  his  family.  Besides  his  expository 
Homilies,  Chrysostom  wrote  Commentaries  on  the  first  eight  chapters 
of  Isaiah,  and  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  His  other  works  are 
doctrinal  and  moral  essays  in  defence  of  the  faith  and  in  praise  of 
celibacy  and  monasticism,  and  242  letters,  nearly  all  of  which  were 
written  during  his  exile  (403-407). 

A  Litunjy  ascribed  to  St.  Chrysostom  is  used  in  the  ordinary 
Sunday  worship  of  the  Greek  Church,  that  of  St.  Basil  being  used 
during  Lent,  and  on  other  special  occasions.  Both  are  modifica- 
tions of  the  Liturgy  ascribed  to  James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord, 
and  first  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  but  really  a  composition  of  the 
Nicene  or  post-Nicene  age.^  The  so-called  Liturgy  of  Chrysostom 
is  an  abridgment  of  that  of  Basil.  We  are  told  that  Chrysostom 
shortened  the  worship  at  Constantinople  on  account  of  the  weak- 
ness of  human  nature  ;  but  it  is  not  till  the  eighth  century  that 
we  find  his  name  applied  to  the  Liturgy  in  question.  In  the 
seventh,  it  was  called  the  Liturgy  of  the  Holy  Apostles, 

§  8.  Epiphanius  is  distinguished  in  ecclesiastical  literature  for 
his  work  on  the  Heresies,  of  which  he  was  a  vehement  opponent  in 

*  A($|a  T^  06(p  irdpTwv  tvfKfv. 

•  Among  other  proofs  of  this,  the  Liturgy  ascribed  to  James  contains 
the  terms  dfioovffiJ^  and  6(otokos. 


Cent.  IV.  EPIPHANIUS  OF  CYPRUS.  323 

his  public  life.  He  was  born  near  Eleutheropolis  in  Palestine, 
between  310  and  320,  of  poor  Jewish  parents,  (according  to  a  tradi- 
tional account),'  and  was  educated  by  a  rich  Jewish  lawyer  till  he  be- 
came a  Christian  in  his  sixteenth  year.  If  this  be  true,  Epiphanius 
is  distinguislied  as  the  only  convert  from  Judaism  among  the  post- 
Apostolic  Fathers  of  the  Church.  After  spending  some  years 
among  the  hermits  of  Egypt  in  severe  ascetic  practices,  Epiphanius 
returned  to  Eleutheropolis,  where  he  became  abbot  of  a  convent, 
and  laboured  with  ililarion  to  spread  monasticism  in  Palestine.  In 
367  he  was  chosen  Bishop  of  Salamis  (or,  as  it  was  newly  called, 
Constantia)  in  Cyprus,  and  here  he  wrote  his  works  against  Heretics. 
Against  the  Origenist  heresies,  in  particular,  he  had  contracted  a 
special  aversion  from  his  intercourse  with  the  monks  of  Egypt, 
who  had  imbued  him  with  their  fierce  zeal  for  orthodoxy.  He  took 
an  active  part  in  the  controversies  of  the  time,  and  in  his  old  age  he 
travelled  to  Constantinople,  expressly  to  reclaim  Chrysostom  from 
his  supposed  Origenist  opinions.  He  died  at  sea,  on  his  return  from 
Constantinople,  in  the  year  of  Chrysostom's  first  deposition  (403). 

The  zeal,  which  has  caused  Epiphanius  to  be  called  "  the  patriarch 
of  heresy-hunters,"  was  shown  with  equal  ardour  against  the  rising 
use  of  images  ;  as  when  he  destroyed  a  picture,  either  of  Christ  or 
of  a'saint,  in  a  village  church  of  Palestine.  The  reverence  paid  to 
him,  as  the  champion  of  orthodoxy,  during  his  life,  was  perpetuated 
in  miraculous  legends.  He  was  remarkable  for  the  extent  of  his 
learning;  and  Jerome  yields  to  him  the  palm,  by  the  epithet  of 
"  the  five-tongued,"  ^  for  to  the  three  languages  which  he  himself 
knew — Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew — Epiphanius  added  Syriac  and 
Egyptian  ;  but  his  knowledge  of  Latin  was  slight.  He  was  entirely 
defective  in  sound  judgment,'  and  of  boundless  credulity;  his 
works  are  full  of  errors  and  contradictions,  and  totally  wanting  in 
any  grace  of  style.  Still,  as  Jerome  said  in  his  own  day,  they 
must  be  read  for  their  matter,  a  store  of  facts  about  heresies  and 
controversies  not  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

His  three  works  against  Heresies  are   (1)  The  A7icJwr,*  or  the 

'  This  tradition  is  found  in  the  biography  of  his  pupil  John  ;  it  is  ac- 
cepted by  Cave,  and  derives  some  support  from  the  knowledge  of  Hebrew 
which  was  possessed  by  Epiphanius  alone  of  the  Fathers,  except  Jerome. 

■  TlevTay  \anTos. 

'  Jerome,  though  welcoming  Ejiiphanius  as  a  fellow-champion  against 
Origenism,  is  quite  sensible  of  his  defects.  The  brief  notice  in  his  book 
Da  Viris  Illustribns  is  highly  characteristic  (c.  114): — "Epiphanius, 
Cj'pri  Salamina.-  episcopus,  scripsit  adversus  omnes  ha;reses  libros,  et  multa 
alia,  qua;  ab  eruditis  propter  res,  a  simplicioribus  propter  verba  lecti- 
tantur.  Superest  usque  hodie,  et  in  extrema  jam  senectute  varia  cudit 
opera." 

*  ^AyKvpiDTos,  Ancoratus,  or  Ancora  fidei  Catholkce.    (Comp.  Heb.  vi.  19.) 


324  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.        CiiAr.  XIII. 

Anchored,  a  defence  of  Christian  doctrine,  in  121  chapters,  written 
in  373,  as  "a  stay  for  those  who  are  tossed  about  upon  the  sea 
by  heretics  and  devils  ;"  (2)  the  I'anarium  or  Medicine  Chest  of 
antidotes  for  those  bitten  by  the  serpents  of  heresy.'  This  is 
his  principal  work,  and  the  chief  book  of  reference  for  the  history 
of  the  early  heresies.  Epiphanius  enumerates  eighty  heresies ;  but 
the  first  twenty  are  imi^roperly  so-called,  being  pre-Christian 
systems  of  religion,  under  the  heads  of  15arbarism  (from  Adam  to 
the  Flood),  Scythism,  Hellenism,  Judaism,  and  Samaritanism. 
It  is  an  elaborate  but  ill-arranged  compilation,  following  in  the 
early  parts  the  similar  works  of  Justin  Martyr,  Irena;us,  and 
Hippolytus.  The  heresies  aroj  however,  only  described  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  their  antidotes,  in  refutations  "  which,  with  all 
their  narrowness  and  passion,  contain  many  good  thoughts  and  solid 
arguments;'"^  (3)  The  Anaceplialaiosis^  is  a  mere  abridgment  of 
the  Panarium.  The  work  of  Epiphanius  on  the  Measures  and 
Weights*  mentioned  in  the  Bible  is  still  very  useful.  We  have 
also  his  tract  on  the  Twelve  Gems  in  Aaron's  Breastplate,  with 
allegorical  interpretations,  and  his  Commentary  on  the  Song  of 
Songs. 

§  9.  Cyuil  of  Jerusalem,  where  he  was  first  i^resbyter  and 
afterwards  bishop  (from  350),  was  eminent  as  a  champion  and 
suflercr  for  the  orthodox  faith.  In  357  he  was  deposed  by  Acacius, 
the  Arian  metropolitan  of  Antioch;  but  he  was  restored  (301)  after 
tlie  death  of  Constantius.  He  was  bishop  of  Jerusalem  when  Julian 
attempted  to  rebuild  the  temple  ;  and  lie  is  said  to  have  predicted 
the  failure  from  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  and  of  Christ.  He  died  in 
386.  Cyril's  importance  in  ecclesiastical  literature  is  due  to  his 
great  catechetical  work,  in  twenty-three  discourses  (Catecheses), 
which  he  delivered  while  presbyter,  in  the  preparation  of  catechu- 
mens for  baptism  (about  347).  The  work  is  the  earliest  jwpular 
compendium  of  Christian  theology."  "  It  follows  that  form  of  the 
A^wstles'  Creed  or  the  Rule  of  Faith  which  was  then  in  use  in  the 
churches  of  Palestine,  and  which  agrees  in  all  essential  points  with 

'  "naj/opior,  Piinariuin  (or  Ponari(i)  i^'wc  Arcula;"  or  "  Advcrsus  \xxx. 
Ifirirscs."  The;  atithiir  himself  s])oaks  of  the  work  ns  Uavdpiov,  ur'  olv 
Kt^wTiov  joTpiKuc  Kol  6r]pio5r)KTiK6ti  (^l'<iniirium,  sire  Arculam  Malic iin  ad 
erinmi  qui  a  scrpcntibiis  icti  sunt  rcmedium).  Epiph.  Epist.  ad  Acacium  et 
rauhim,  i.  p.  7,  ed.  Oehier.     (SchatV,  vol.  iii.  p.  929.) 

*  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  930.  ^  'A.vaKf(pa\aia!aii,  or  Epitome  Panarii. 

*  rifpl  n'.rpwv  Hal  (jTaOixwv,  Pc  Poudcrilnts  ct  Mcnsnris. 

*  KoTTjY^(T6iy  (poiTi^ofiivwv  ('ir  fia.-KTt^oiji.ivwv),  Catecheses  Illumijum- 
dvruin. 

'"'  The  great  catechetical  work  of  Gregory  Nysscn  was  designed  rather 
for  teachers. 


Cent.  IV.  EPHRiEM  SYRUS.  320 

the  Roman;  it  supports  the  various  articles  with  passages  of 
Scripture,  and  defends  them  against  the  lieretical  perversions  of  his 
time."' ' 

§  10.  EpiiRiEM  Syrus,  or  Ephraim  tut,  Syrian-,-  though  living 
on  tlie  extreme  Eastern  frontier  of  tlie  Empire,  far  from  the  great 
centres  of  ecclesiastical  life  and  controversy,  holds  one  of  the 
highest  places  in  ecclesiastical  literature.  He  was  the  most  eminent 
divine,  orator,  and  poet  of  the  Syrian  Church  ;  and  is  called  the 
"  prophet  of  the  Syrians  "  and  the  "  harp  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  He 
was  born  early  in  the  fourth  century,  either  at  Edessa  or  Nisibis,  in 
Mesopotamia,  and  was  driven  from  his  home  by  his  father,  a 
heathen  priest,  for  his  leaning  to  Cliristianity.''  Under  the  care  of 
the  confessor  Jacob,  bishop  of  Nisibis,  with  whom  he  went  to  the 
Council  of  Nicaia,  he  became  eminent  for  his  ascetic  piety,  sacred 
learning,  and  orthodoxy.  When  Nisibis  was  ceded  to  the  Persians 
(363),  Ephranu  withdrew  to  Edessa,  which  was  now  the  great  seat 
of  Christian  learning' in  Northern  Syria.*  He  led  the  life  of  a  hermit 
in  a  cavern  near  the  city,  preaching  to  the  monks  and  people,  and 
contending  at  once  with  lieathenism  and  heresy.  He  made  journeys 
to  visit  the  monks  in  Egypt  and  Basil  at  Ca^sarea,  who  ordained 
him  deacon.  He  held  no  higher  ofiicc  in  the  Church,  and  avoided 
the  bishopric  which  Basil  wished  to  confer  on  him,  by  playing  the 
fool  before  his  friend's  meseengers.  On  their  return  witli  the 
report  that  they  had  been  sent  to  ordain  a  madman,  Basil  told  them 
that  the  folly  was  theirs  and  Ephrann  was  full  of  divine  wisdom. 
His  last  act  was  to  leave  his  cell,  when  Edessa  was  visited  by  a 
famine,  to  reprove  the  selfishness  of  the  citizens,  whom  he  moved 
to  place  their  wealth  at  his  disposal  for  the  relief  of  the  sufierers, 
while  he  tended  them  with  his  own  hands.  When  the  famine 
abated,  he  returned  to  his  cell,  and  died  in  a  few  days  (a.d.  379). 

EpliraMn  was  the  fatlicr  of  the  school  of  Syrian  learning  and  piety ;® 
and  his  disciples  embellished  his  life  with  legends.  Among  these  is 
relatal  a  vision  which  foretold,  in  his  early  days,  his  vast  fertility  as 
a  sacred  writer.  He  saw  a  vine  growing  from  the  root  of  his  tongue, 
whose  branches  spread  on  every  side  to  the  ends  cf  the  earth,  loaded 

»  SchaflF,  vol.  i.  p.  925. 

'  The  Greeks  spell  the  name  'E(ppaifi,  tlic  Latins  EpuR.-r.M. 

'  So  .says  the  best  authoritv  for  his  life,  the  Acta  Ephrwrni  in  Syriac  ; 
hut  another  account  niiikos  him  the  child  of  Christian  parents. 

■'  See  Cureton's  Ancient  iSi/riac  Documents  relative  to  tlie  earliest  Esta- 
blishment of  Christianity  in  Edesm  and  the  neighbouring;  Countries,  from  the 
year  of  our  Lord's  Ascension  to  the  beginning  of  the  Fourth  Centu-y.  Lond. 
1806. 

*  His  most  celebrated  followers  were  Abbas,  2^nobius,  Abraham,  Waras, 
and  Simeon. 

16 


326  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.        Chap.  XIII. 

with  clusters  which  grew  fresh  and  heavier  as  often  as  they  were 
phicked. 

His  writings  were  in  the  Syriac  langxiage  ;  but  Greek  translations 
of  them  were  generally  read  as  early  as  the  time  of  Chrysostom  and 
Jerome.  It  is  uncertain  whether  Ephra'm  himself  knew  Greek.  His 
works  consist  of  Commentaries  on  the  Scriptures,  homilies,  ascetic 
tracts,  and  sacred  poetry.  The  commentaries  and  hymns,  and  other 
writings  in  metrical  prose,  are  preserved  in  the  Syriac  original ;  his 
other  writings  are  extant  only  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  Armenian  transla- 
tions. He  wrote  commentaries  on  the  whole  Bible, "  from  the  book 
of  Creation  to  thedast  book  of  grace,"  says  Gregory  Nyssen.  Of 
these  we  have  the  Commentaries  on  the  liistorical  and  prophetical 
books  of  tbe  Old  Testament  and  on  Job  in  Syriac,  and  those  on 
the  Epistles  of  Paul  in  Armenian.  His  expositions  are  based 
on  the  Old  Syriac  or  Peshito  Version  ;  and  his  occasional  references 
to  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Old  Testament  indicate  no  more  than  a 
slight  acquaintance  with  the  language.  He  composed,  according  to 
Photius,  more  than  a  thousand  Homilies,  which  were  much  read  in 
the  churches.  Those  still  extant  are  partly  expository,  and  partly 
ix)lemical,  against  Jews,  heathens,  and  heretics.  They  liave  much 
pointed  and  pathetic  eloquence ;  but  are  disfigured  by  the  extrava- 
gant rhetoric  of  the  age,  as  well  as  by  its  superstitions,  especially 
the  exaltation  of  ascetic  virtue,  and  veneration  for  the  Virgin  Mary, 
for  saints,  and  for  relics. 

The  Hymns  of  Ephra^ra  were  held  in  the  highest  esteem  and 
constantly  used  in  the  Eastern  Church.  They  were  composed  as  an 
antidote  to  the  iniluence  of  the  heretical  Syrian  hj'mns  of  Bardesanes 
and  especially  of  his  son  Harmonius,  whose  elegant  dictit^iu  and  _ 
melodious  metres  were  imitated  by  Ephra?m.  Besides  these  hymn.«, 
ICphrosm  used  a  kind  of  irregular  rhythmic  measure — that  is,  an 
arrangement  in  lines  of  an  equal  number  of  syllables,  falling  occa- 
sionally into  regular  metre  and  rhyme — for  all  his  works  in  Syriac, 
except  his  commentaries.  He  is  said  by  Sozomen  to  have  written 
300,000  verses. 

§  11.  First  among  the  Latin  fathers,  and  belonging  in  a  great 
measure  to  the  ante-Niceneage,  stands  Lactaxtius,^  whom  Jerome 
calls  the  mi.st  learned  man  of  his  time,  and  whose  eloquence  and 
pure  Latin  style  have  won  for  him  the  title  of  the  Christian  Cicero. 
He  was  born  of  heathen  parents;  and,  though  probably  a  native 
of  Italy,  he  belongs  by  his  education  to  the  African  school  of  Latin 
learnin<^  having  studied  under  the  famous  rhetorician  and -apologist, 
Arnobius,  of  Si^a  in  Numidia.     His  first  fame  was  acquired  by  a 

•  His  full  name  was  Lucius  Ca:cimis  Firmianus  Lactantius;  ^hence 
it  has  been  infrrred  that  he  was  a  native  of  Firmium  {Fermo)  in  Italy. 


Cent.  IV.  LATIN  FATHERS.— LACTANTIUS.  327 

metrical  work  entitled  Symposion,  which  consisted  of  a  hundred 
riddles,*  in  hexameter  triplets,  for  the  amusement  of  guests  at 
table.  He  was  invited  by  Diocletian  to  Nicomedia,  to  teacii  Latin 
eloquence  ;  but,  finding  few  hearers  in  that  Greek  city,  he  devoted 
himself  to  writing.  He  embraced  Christianity  eitlier  before  or 
during  tlie  Diocletian  persecution,  the  cruelties  of  which  he  wit- 
nessed, though  he  was  not  himself  a  sufferer  ;  and  he  devoted  his 
rhetorical  powers  to  tlie  defence  of  the  Gospel.  In  312,  Constantine 
called  him  to  Gaul,  to  be  the  tutor  of  his  son  Crispus;  and  Lactan- 
tius  lived  at  the  Western  court  a  life  of  self-denying  simplicity.  He 
died  at  Treves  at  a  great  age,  about  330. 

The  fame  ol'  Lactantius  rests  on  his  great  apologetic  work,  the 
"Divine  Institutes,"'-  a  refutation  of  heathenism,  and  defence  of 
Christianity,  addressed  chiefly  to  the  educated  classes,  replete  with 
learning,  and  carefully  elaborated  in  style.  It  appears  to  liave  been 
begun  during  the  Diocletian  persecution,  and  was  completed  in  its 
present  form  about  a.d.  321,  when  Lactantius  dedicated  it  to  Con- 
stantine as  the  first  Christian  Emperor.  Another  apologetic  work, 
in  a  vehement  tone,  "On  the  Deaths  of  the  Persecutors,"^  is  of 
value  for  the  history  of  the  imperial  persecutions  of  Christianity, 
from  Nero  to  Diocletian  and  his  colleagues.  Besides  the  tracts 
De  Opijicio  Dei  and  De  Ira  Dei,*  we  have  several  fragments  of 
Lactantius  in  prose  and  verse.° 

The  power  of  Lactantius  lies  in  his  eloquence  and  dialectic  skill 
rather  than  in  theology  and  philosophy.  Jerome,  while  comparing 
him  to  Cicero,  regrets  that  he  had  not  shown  the  same  ability  in 
declaring  Christian  truth  as  lacility  in  destroying  heathen  errors.^ 
Writing  before  doctrinal  theology  was  firmly  settled,  lie  departed 

'  A!ni(jm'ita. 

^  InstitutioiiHin  Dkinaruin,  Libri  vii.  The  seven  books  are  on  the  fol- 
lowing subjects: — 1.  De  Falsa  liclujione.  2.  De  Origine  Error  is.  3.  De 
Falsa  Sapkntia.  4.  Dc  Vera  Sapientia.  5.  De  Jtislitia.  6.  De  Vera 
Ciiltu.  7.  Dc  Vita  Bccita.  There  is  also  an  abstract  of  the  work  by 
Lactantius  himself,  ontitleel  Epitome  ad  Fciitadium  Fratrem. 

*  De  Morte,  or  Mortibus  Fersccnitoncm.  The  genuineness  of  the  work 
has  been  questioned  by  some  high  authorities ;  but  its  style  is  that  of 
Lactantius,  it  suits  his  time  and  circumstances,  and  it  appears  to  be  quoted 
by  Jerome  under  the  title  Dc  Fcrsccutionc. 

*  The  former  treats  of  the  Divine  wisdom  shown  in  the  constitntion  of 
man's  nature ;  the  latter  vindicates  the  harmony  of  God's  goodness  with 
His  primitive  justice,  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  His  abhorrence  of 
evil. 

*  Among  these  are  Camiina  de  Phocnice,  De  PassioiK  Domini,  and  De 
Besurrectione  Domini. 

*  Hieron.  Epii^t.  58,  otl  Panlinum: — "Lactantius,  qu.isi  quidam  fluvius 
eloquentia;  Tullianae,  utinam  tani  nostra  alKrmare  potuisset,  quam  facile 
aliena  destruxit." 


328  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.        Chap.  XIII. 

from  what  became  the  standard  of  orthodoxy  on  various  points,  and, 
though  not  branded  with  heresy,  he  falls  short  of  the  rank  of  an 
acknowledged  Father  of  the  Church.  But  no  ancient  Christian 
writer  has  been  more  generally  read. 

§  12.  Hilary  of  Poitiers,^  so  styled  from  his  birthplace  and 
bishopric,  was  so  distinguished  for  his  defence  of  orthodoxy  and 
opposition  to  Arianism  in  Gaul,  as  to  be  called  the  "  Athanasius  of 
the  West."  Born  a  heathen,  about  the  end  of  the  third  century, 
he  was  one  of  those  converts  who  found  in  the  Scriptures  that  light 
on  the  mysteries  of  life  which  they  had  vainly  souglit  from  the 
philosophers.  H^  was  already  of  mature  age  when  he  embraced 
Christianity,  with  his  wife  and  his  daughter  Apra.  Having  been 
chosen  bishop  of  his  native  city  in  350,  he  made  a  decided  stand 
against  Arianism,  and  was  banished  by  Constantius  to  Phrygia 
(35G).  He  was  recalled  (361),  and  again  banished,  and  lived  in 
retirement  till  his  death  in  368. 

During  his  first  exile  Hilary  wrote  his  great  work  On  the  Trinity,^ 
t-o  which  be  added  various  tracts  against  Arianism  and  its  sup- 
porters. His  Commentaries  on  the  Psalms  and  IMatthcw  are  for 
the  most  part  free  translations  of  Origen,  His  hymns  rank  next  to 
those  of  Ambrose.^  The  writings  of  Hilary  are  distinguished  for 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  deep  and  earnest  discussions 
of  dogmatic  theology,  and  the  skill  with  which  he  expresses  the 
ideas  of  his  Greek  models  of  thought,  Origen  and  Athanasius,  in 
the  less  flexible  Latin  tongue.  He  contributed  much  to  the  settlement 
of  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  tho  jierson  of  Christ. 

§  13.  The  fourth  century  closes  and  the  fifth  opens  with  the 
life  of  HiKRONYMUs,*  commonly  called  St.  Jerome,  who  was  in 
some  respects  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Fathers,  the  most  learned 
man  of  his  age,  and  the  chief  link  between  the  religion  and  learning 
of  the  East  and  West.  His  character  is  well  described  as  ex- 
hibiting "extraordinary  intellectual  gifts  and  a  sincere  zeal  for 
the  service  of  Christ,  strangely  combined  with  extravagance, 
love  of  ix)wer,  pride,  vanity,  violent  irritability,  and  extreme 
bitterness  of  temper.","     He  was   born,   jjrobably   about   340,*  at 

'  Hilarius  Pictaviensis. 

'  l)c  Trinitate,  Libri  .\ii.  His  other  polemic  works  arc,  On  Synods,  or 
the  Faith  of  the  Oricntctls  (358)  ;  tracts  Against  Constantius  and  Against 
Auxentius  (the  Arian  bishop  of  Jlilan);  and  fragments  of  a  History  of  the 
Synod  of  Arimirutm  and  Scletic'a. 

'  His  famous  morning  hymn,  beginning  "  Lucis  largitor  splendide,"  was 
written  for  his  daughter. 

*  His  full  name  was  Eusebius  Hieronymu.s  Sophronius. 

*  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  333. 

*  The  date  of  331,  given  in  the  chronicle  of  Prosper  Aquitanus,  seems 
certainlv  too  earlv,  as  that  of  346  seems  too  late. 


Cekt.  IV.  HIERONYMUS  OR  JEROME.  329 

Stridou,  on  the  borders  of  I'annonia  and  Dalmatia,  of  wealthy 
Christian  parents,  and  thoronghly  educated  at  Home  in  that  profane 
learning  which  he  scorned  in  the  ardour  of  conversion/  while  his 
writings  are  the  best  vindication  of  its  use.  Among  his  teachers  was 
the  heathen  rhetorician  Donatus,  the  famous  commentator  on  Terence 
and  Cicero.  Though  his  Christian  faith  was  strongly  confirmed  by  his 
visits  on  Sundays  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs  in  the  Catacombs,  he 
often  confesses  with  grief  that  he  yielded  to  the  sensual  temptations 
of  a'  great  city.  On  receiving  baptism  (about  370),  he  devoted 
himself  to  a  life  of  ascetic  discipline,  joined  with  literary  labour. 
Either  before,  or  about  this  time,  he  travelled  to  Treves  and  Aquileia 
to  improve  his  knowledge ;  and,  on  removing  frcca  Rome  to  Antioch, 
he  carried  his  library  with  him. 

§  14.  At  Antioch  Jerome  attended  the  exegetical  lectures  of 
the  younger  ApoUinaris,  and,  after  visiting  the  most  celebrated 
hermits  in  the  neighbourhood,  he  retired  to  the  desert  of  Chalcis 
(374).  Amidst  the  severities  of  his  ascetic  discipline,  he  was 
troubled  with  the  sensual  temptations  called  up  by  his  imagina- 
tion ;  and,  to  strengthen  the  resistance  of  jxniitence  and  prayer, 
he  found  occupation  for  his  mind  in  the  study  of  Hebrew,  which 
he  learnt  from  a  converted  Jew.  Jerome's  seclusion  did  not  prevent 
his  taking  a  vehement  part  in  the  contests  for  the  See  of  Antioch 
and  the  Meletian  controversy  on  the  hyiiostusis ;  and  in  377  he 
left  the  desert,  and  was  ordained  a  presbyter  by  Paulinus,  bishop 
of  Antioch,  who,  however,  left  Jerome  free  to  travel  in  pursuit  of 
learning  and  for  the  advancement  of  monasticism.  About  380  he 
went  to  Constantinople,  where  the  sermons  of  Gregory  Xazianzcn 
against  Arianism  excited  his  reverence  for  that  Father.  Here  he 
produced  the  first-fruit  of  those  applications  of  his  Latin  tongue  and 
learning  to  his  Greek  and  Hebrew  studies  which  form  his  great 
title  to  distinction  in  literature,  and  that  not  exclusively  ecclesi- 

'  See  the  comment  of  Hilton  (Areopaijitica,  pp.  42-3,  Aiber's  reprint) 
on  the  celebrated  dream  (related  by  Jerome  to  his  female  discij)ie  Kusto- 
chiuni).  in  which,  during  a  severe  illness,  he  thoinjht  that  he  was  dead, 
and  called  before  the  judgment-seat  ot'  Christ,  where  his  jirofession  of 
Christianity  was  answered  by  the  reproach,  "Thou  liest ;  thou  art  not  a 
Christian,  but  a  Ciceronian  ;  for  where  thy  treasure  is,  there  will  thy 
heart  be  also."  He  was  severely  scourged,  and,  waking  with  the  pain 
and  marks  of  the  stripes  upon  him,  he  took  a  solemn  oath  never  again  to 
open  a  heathen  book.  An  answer,  even  more  decisive  than  Milton's 
raillery,  is  furnished  by  Jerome's  own  apology  t'or  the  noble  use  whiih  he 
afterwards  made  of  his  heathen  learning — that  it  was  all  only  a  dream,  and 
even  if  it  were  more,  his  vow  was  an  engagement  for  the  future,  not  a  blot- 
ting out  of  what  he  remembered  of  the  past  ('•  Disi  me  sa'culares  literas 
non  deinceps  lecturum ;  de  future  sponsio  est,  non  prateritiE  memoria; 
abolitio  "). 


330  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.        Chap.  XHI. 

astical :  for  it  was  now  that,  besides  translating  the  Homilies  of 
Origen  on  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel,  he  rendered  a  lasting  service  to 
the  study  of  history  by  his  Latin  version  of  the  Chronicon  of 
Eusebius. 

§  15.  Jerome  went  next  to  Eome  (382),  where  he  lived  three 
years,  assisting  Bishop  Damasus  in  his  correspondence  with  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Churches;^  and  it  was  under  his  influence 
that  Jerome  undertook  that  revision  of  the  Latin  version  of  the 
Scriptures  which  he  afterwards  completed  in  the  East  (see  §  18). 

At  the  same  time  Jerome  laboured  hard  for  the  establishment  of 
nionasticism,  which  had  as  yet  gained  little  hold  at  Rome,  and  was 
strongly  opjxjsed  even  by  the  clergy.  Appealing  especially  to  the 
old  noble  and  wealthy  families,  who  had  been  among  the  last  to 
embrace  Christianity,  he  offered  them  within  the  Church  a  new 
field  of  distinction  and  heroism,  and  invited  them  to  turn  their 
villas  into  monastic  retreats.  Such  was  his  success  that  he  boasts 
of  having  reversed  the  saying  of  St.  Paul :  ^  "  Formerly,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  the  Apostles,  there  were  few  rich,  few  powerful, 
few  noble  among  the  Christians.  Now  it  is  no  longer  so.  Not 
only  among  the  Christians,  but  among  the  monks  are  to  be  found 
a  multitude  of  the  wise,  the  noble,  and  the  rich."^  His  chief  dis- 
ciples were  among  the  ladies  of  these  noble  families,  whose  rank 
is  marked  by  such  names  as  Marcella,  Furia,  Asella,  Paula,  and 
Fabiola.  He  gathered  them  around  him  to  expound  the  Scriptures, 
in  which  some  of  them  were  so  well  read  as  to  put  questions  beyond 
his  power  to  answer ;  and,  when  he  was  taunted  with  instructing  the 
weaker  sex,  he  replied  that,  if  men  would  ask  him  about  Scrij^ 
ture,  he  would  not  occupy  himself  with  women."*  "He  answered 
their  questions  of  conscience ;  he  incited  them  to  celibate  life,  lavish 
beneficence,  and  enthusiastic  asceticism ;  and  flattered  their  spiritual 
vanity  by  extravagant  praises.  He  was  the  oracle,  biographer, 
admirer,  and  eulogist  of  these  women,  who  constituted  the  spiritual 
nobility  of  Catholic  Pome."^  There  was  much  in  this  teaching  to 
excite  spiritual  pride ;  and  it  has  been  well  observed  that,  in  treating 
his  favourite  topic  of  virginity  (often  with  more  than  questionable 
good  taste),  Jerome  always  puts  forth  celibacy  as  in  itself  the 
great  merit,  rather  than  the  devotion  and  ascetic  discipline  for  which 
it  gave  the  opportunity." 

§  16.  Two  of  these  noble  ladies  are  most  closely  connected  with 

'  Hieron.  Epist.  cxxiii.  10.  Ou  the  meaning  of  the  passage,  see 
Kobertson,  vol.  i.  p.  335. 

^  1  Cor.  i.  26.  '  Epist.  Ixvi. 

*  Epist.  Ixv.  1;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  335.  *  Schaft",  vol.  ii.  p.  211. 

"  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  337. 


Cent.  LV.  JEROME  AT  ROME  AND  BETHLEHEM.  331 

Jerome's  history — the  Avidowed.  matron  Paula,  who  had  ah-cady 
adopted  a  strict  religious  lite,  and  her  daughter  Eustochium,  the 
first  Eoman  maiden  of  high  birth  who  devoted  her  virginity  to  God. 
Naturally  the  lioman  nobles  looked  with  suspicion  on  these  inti- 
macies ;  and  Jerome  showed  little  meekness  under  the  groundless 
calumnies  that  he  provoked.  The  populace,  too,  were -excited 
against  the  monks  on  beholding  the  grief  of  Paula  at  the  funeral 
of  lier  widowed  daughter  Blesilla,  whose  end  was  thought  to  have 
been  hastened  by  her  austerities.^  "See,"  cried  the  spectators, 
"  how  she  weeps  for  her  child  after  having  killed  her  with  fasting !  " 
They  called  out  for  the  death  or  banishment  of  the  monks;  and 
Jerome  wrote  a  reproof  to  Paula  for  the  display  of  grief  wliich  had 
given  this  ccasion  to  the  enemy.^  Some  of  his  virgin  disciples 
aesented  his  censures  on  their  inconsistencies  of  dress  and  manner ; 
and  he  made  enemies  of  the  Roman  clergy,  whom  he  charged, 
perhaps  truly,  with  ignorance,  selfishness,  luxury,  and  rapacity, 
while  they  were  able  to  retort  complaints  of  Jerome's  arrogance. 

§  17.  Ill  disgust  at  these  vexations,  soon  after  the  death  of 
Damasus,  he  left  Pome  for  the  East  (385),  and  he  was  followed 
U)  Antioch  by  Paula  and  Eustochium,  in  spite  of  the  moving 
entreaties  of  Paula's  family  that  she  would  not  abandon  them. 
The  master  and  Jiis  disciples  travelled,  sometimes  together  and 
sometimes  apart,  through  the  holy  places  of  Palestine ;  and  here 
again  Jerome  has  rendered  lasting  services  by  liis  labours  in  identi- 
fying the  sites  of  Scripture  history.  Proceeding  to  Egypt,  they 
passed  some  time  with  the  monks  of  Nitria ;  and  Jerome's  thirst 
for  learning  led  him  to  attend  tlie  lectures  of  Didymus,  the  last 
great  master  of  the  catechetical  school  of  Alexandria, 

Jn  386-7  they  took  up  their  permanent  abode  at  Bethlehem, 
which  had  now  already  become  a  great  resort  of  pilgrims  and  resi- 
dence of  religious  devotees,  by  whom  Paula  was  regarded  with  high 
reverence.  She  supplied  Jerome,  in  his  little  cell,  with  the  bread, 
Avater,  pulse,  and  coarse  clothing,  which  was  all  that  he  would 
accept.  After  a  time,  the  sale  of  his  remaining  patrimony  enabled 
him  to  build  a  monastery,  and  a  hospital  open  to  all  except 
heretics. 

§  18.  Jerome's  chief  occupation  was  on  the  Latin  version  of  the 
Scriptures  which  he  had  begun  at  Rome.  He  was  at  first  content 
with  correcting  the  old  Latin  version  (new  known  as  the  *  Italic ') 
from  the  Septuagint  text  in  Origen's  Hexapla,^  as  he  had  corrected 
the  Gospels  at  Rome  from  the  Greek  Testament ;  but  he  was  led  on 

'  Both  Paula  and  Blesilla  learnt  Hebrew,  aud  vied  with  one  another  in 
repeating  the  Psalms  in  the  original  language.  -  Lpist.  xxxix.  5. 

^  He  procured  his  copy  from  the  library  at  Oaesarea. 


332  FATHERS  OF  THE  NICENE  CHURCH.        Chap.  XIII. 

to  tlie  great  undertaking  of  a  translation  direct  from  the  Hebrew —  a 
marvellous  work  for  one  man  in  that  infant  age  of  critical  learning. 
He  was  rewarded  as  Origcn  had  been  before  him,  and  many  another 
since,  down  to  our  own  age.  He  liad  been  denounced  at  Rome  as 
a  corrupter  of  tlie  Gospels,  and  now  he  was  accused  of  daring  to 
improve  on  the  inspired  version  of  the  LXX.,  and  of  bringing  a 
"liarabbas  of  the  s)-nagogue"  to  disparage  the  books  which  the 
Apostles  had  delivered  to  the  Church.'  Even  Augustine  wrote  to 
dissuade  him  from  the  task,  on  the  narrower  grounds  (also  familiar 
in  later  times)  that  previous  translators  could  have  left  little  room 
for  improvement,  and  that  a  Latin  version  disagreeing  with  the 
LXX.  would  be  a  dangerous  source  of  perplexity  and  ground  of 
cavil.2  Jerome's  replies  were  in  part  satisfactory  to  his  friend  ; 
and  he  persevered  in  completing  the  work  which  became  the 
foundation  of  the  Latin  version,  used  as  the  authoritative  edition 
of  the  Scriptures  in  the  Latin  Church,  by  the  name  of  the 
Vulgate  (Editio  Vuhjata,  i.  e.  "in  common  use").^ 

§  19.  While  Jerome  was  prosecuting  these  labours,  besides  an  ex- 
tensive correspondence  with  Augustine  and  other  leaders  of  the 
Church,  and  with  Christians  who  looked  to  him  as  their  spiritual 
director,  Paula  and  Eustochium  joined  him  in  eager  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  spent  their  time  and  substance  in  works  of  charity. 
The  daughter  devotedly  tended  her  mother,  whose  ascetic  self-dis- 
cipline was  increased,  instead  of  being  relaxed,  as  her  age  advanced. 
After  building  several  monasteries,  both  for  women  and  men,  she 
gave  away  what  was  left  of  her  property  ;  re])lying  to  Jerome's  re- 
monstrances, that  she  wished  to  die  in  poverty,  and  to  be  indebted 
to  cliarity  for  her  shroud.  To  charity  also  sh»  commended  her 
daughter,  who  had  nothing  of  her  own  while  her  mother  lived,  and 
■was  left  with  the  charge  of  a  multitude  of  jwor  recluses,  and  with 
the  burthen  of  debts  which  Paula  had  contracted  to  keep  up  her 
almsgiving.     Paula  died  after  a  residence  of  about  twenty  years  at 

'  This  strange  estimate  of  Jerome's  efforts  to  correct  the  LXX.  by  the 
original  Hebrew  text  is  due  to  Rutinus,  who,  from  being  Jerome's  devoted 
friend  and  admirer,  had  become  his  bitter  enemy.  Absurd  as  it  seems,  it 
was  ])aralleled  by  a  like  accusation  brought  against  the  students  of  the 
Greek  Testament  by  the  admirers  of  the  Vulgate,  at  the  restoration  of 
learning;  and,  even  in  our  own  day,  we  have  been  told  that  Greek  has  none 
of  the  uses  which  batin  has  for  the  divine ! 

*  Augustin.  Epist.  .\xviii. ;  Hieron.  L'pist.  Ivi.  cxii.  cxvi.  ;  Robertson, 
vol.  i.  p.  341. 

^  This  piirase  is  often  applied  by  Jerome  himself  to  the  LXX.,  as  the 
translation  of  7}  koiv^  ?«5o(ns,  as  that  Version  was  .already  called.  On 
the  whole  subject  of  the  Latin  Versions  of  the  Bible  see  the  Dictionary  of 
Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  Vl'LGATK. 


A.D.  420.  DEATH  AND  WORKS  OF  JEROME.  333 

Bethlehem,  and  was  buried  with  a  splendid  funeral  in  the  Church 
of  the  Nativity  (404).  Eustochium  died  fifteen  years  later,  and 
Jerome  followed  her  in  the  next  year,  having  reached  the  age  of 
eighty-nine  (a.d.  420). 

Jerome's  is  one  of  the  three  greatest  names  among  the  Latin 
fathers  of  this  age.  Of  the  other  two,  Ambrose  has  claimed  our 
notice  in  the  history  of  this  century ;  and  his  great  disciple, 
Augustine,  belongs  more  properly  to  the  following  age,  not  only 
in  time,  but  as  the  chief  author  of  a  new  development  of  doctrinal 
theology. 

§  20.  The  voluminous  writings  of  Jerome  may  be  classed  under 
four  heads : — 

I.  Epistol.e  :  Letters  to  private  friends,  bishops,  and  otliers,  on 
a  great  variety  of  subjects,  personal,  theological,  ecclesiastical,  pole- 
mical, and  moral.  They  extend  over  the  half  century  from  his 
bajitism  to  his  death,  and  make  up  the  number  of  150  (three  of 
which,  however,  are  spurious),  including  those  addressed  to  Jerome, 
and  some  between  other  correspondents  relating  to  him. 

II.  Tkact.\tus,  sive  Opuscula  ;  including,  among  others.  Lives 
of  the  Hermits  St.  Paidy  St.  Ililarion,  and  St.  Malchus ;  a  trans- 
lation of  the  monastic  Rxde  of  St.  Fachvmius;  writings  against 
various  heretics  ;  his  three  books  in  answer  to  the  attacks  made 
upon  him  by  his  former  friend,  Rutinus  of  Aquileia ;  an  explana- 
tion of  all  the  Hebrew  proper  names  that  occur  in  the  Scriptures ; 
and  especially  his  De  Viris  JUustribus,  or  De  Scriptoribus  Ecdesias- 
ticis,  a  series  of  l'6o  short  biographies  of  the  most  eminent  Christian 
teachers. 

III.  CoMMKXTARii  BiBLici,  ou  a  great  number  of  the  books  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament. 

IV.  BiBLioTUECA  DiviNA ;  his  Latin  Version  of  the  Scriptures. 
His  translations  of  the  Chronicon  of  Eusebius,  and  of  the  same 

writer's  work  on  the  topography  of  the  Holy  Land,  have  been 
already  mentioned  (§  2).^ 

'  The  earlier  editions  cf  Jerome's  works,  by  Erasmus,  9  vols,  fob,  Basil. 
1516  'and  reprints),  by  JIarianus  Victorinus,  9  vols,  fol.,  Rom.  156fi  (and 
reprints),  and  the  £;rand  Benedictine  edition,  by  Pouget  and  Martigny,  5 
vols,  fol.,  Paris.  1693-1706,  are  all  superseded  by  the  edition  of  Vallarsi, 
11  vols,  fol.,  Veron.  1734-1742,  reprinted  with  some  improvements,  iu 
11  vols.  4to.,  Venet.  1766. 

16* 


Ambo  of  S.  ApoUinare  Nuovo,  Ravenna. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

AUGUSTINE  AND  THE  PELAGIAN  CONTROVERSY. 

A.D.  354-429. 

§  1.  Controversies  of  the  Fifth  Century  in  the  East  and  West :  the  Xestorian, 
Eutychian,  and  Pclaiiim.  §  2.  AUGUSTIXE — His  Confessions — His  early- 
Life  and  Studies.      §3.  His  moral  ami  inttllectual  Errors — Manicheism 

His  Life  at  Carthage,  Rome,  and   Jlilan.     §4.  Influence  of  Anihrose, 

and  Conversion  of  Augustine.  §  5.  Death  of  his  Mother;  his  stay  at 
Rome,  and  return  to  Africa — His  involuntary  Ordination — He  is  made 
Bishop  of  Hippo — His  Death.  §  6.  Works  of  Augustine :  L  Autobio- 
graphical;  the  Confessions,  Retractations,  &c. :  II.  Philosophical;  Ih'a- 
loijites  ;  in.  Apologetic;  the  Cittj  of  God:  IV.  Doctrinal:  V.  Polemical; 
On  Heresies,  and  against  Manicheism,  Donatism,  and  Pelagianism  : 
VI.  Exegetical :  VII.  Practical  and  Ascetic  Works.  §  7.  Influence  of 
Augustine  on  Theology — The  Latin  Cath^lic  system.  §  8.  The  Pelagian 
Controversy — Doctrines  of  the  Church  on  Sin  and  Grace — Different  Views 


A.D.  354.  AUGUSTINE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  335 

in  the  East  and  West.  §  9.  Life  and  Works  of  PelaGIUS — His  con- 
nection with  CcF.LESTiCS.  §  10.  Their  Visit  to  Africa — Accusations  of 
Heresy — Augustine  writes  against  the  Pelagians.  §  11.  Pelagius  iu 
Palestine  —  Opposed  by  Jerome,  and  accused  by  Paulus  Orosius  — 
Councils  in  Palestine.  §  12.  Appeals  to  Rome — Decisions  of  Innocent  I. 
and  Zosi.MUS — Condemnation  of  Pelagianism — Subsequent  History  of  the 
Doctrine  in  the  East  and  West.     §  IJ.  Semi-pelagianism. 

§  1.  The  transition  from  the  Ibiirlh  to  the  fifth  century,  which 
forms  the  epoch  of  the  final  severance  of  the  Eastern  and  "Western 
Empires,  is  marked  also  by  two  great  lines  of  theological  development 
and  controversy  in  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches.  Not  that 
either  was  indifferent  to  any  great  question  aflecting  the  common 
faith,  but  each  became  the  special  field  of  discussions  that  arose 
from  the  circumstances  of  the  churches  and  the  ideas  and  character 
of  their  leaders.  Wliile  the  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures  in  the  person  of  Christ  engaged  the  speculative  genius  of 
the  East,  passing  on  from  the  question  of  His  coequal  deity  to  the 
mysteries  involved  in  His  twofold  nature,  the  West  saw  the  rise  of 
the  great  controversy  concerning  the  relation  of  God's  supreme 
ordination  of  all  things,  and  His  sovereign  grace,  to  the  free  will  and 
efforts  of  Man  in  his  fallen  state ;  a  controversy  which  has  lasted 
ever  since,  while  men  of  every  age 

''  have  reason'd  high 
Of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  anU  fate — 
Fixt  fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute — 
And  found  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

These  controversies  are  known  as  the  Nestor ian  and  Euiijchian  in  the 
East,  and  the  Pikif/ian,  in  connection  with  which  the  genius  of  the 
great  Augustine  left  its  lasting  impress  on  the  theology  of  the  West. 
§  2.  The  earnest  and  aflecting  'Confessions  of  St.  Augustine,' 
written  in  liis  forty-sixth  year,  furnish  us  with  the  facts  of  his 
earlier  life,  and  give  a  deep  insight  not  only  into  his  personal  charac- 
ter, but  also  into  tlie  elements  of  moral  consciousness  which  united 
with  his  views  of  Scripture  to  mould  his  theology.  "  They  are  a 
sublime  efi'usion,  in  which  Augustine,  like  David  iu  the  51st  Psalm, 
confesses  to  God,  in  view  of  his  own  and  succeeding  generations, 
without  reserve,  the  sins  of  his  youth  ;  and  they  are  at  the  same 
time  a  hymn  of  praise  to  the  grace  of  God,  whicli  led  him  out  of 
darkness  into  light,  and  called  him  to  service  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  .  .  .  The  reafler  feels  on  every  hand  that  Christianity  is  no 
dream  or  illusion,  but  truth  and  life,  and  he  is  carried  along  in 
adoration  of  the  wonderful  grace  of  God."  ' 

'  Schatr,  vol.  iii.  p.  990. 


336  AUGUSTINE  AND  I'ELAGIUS.  Chap.  XIV. 

AuRELii's  AuGUSTiNUs  was  born  at  the  village  of  Thagaste  in 
Numidia  (not  far  from  Hippo  Regius,  his  future  bishopric)  on  the 
Ides  (13th)  of  November,  a.d.  354.  His  fixther,  Patricius,  a  man  of 
curial  rank,  but  narrow  circumstances,  was  a  heatlien,  but  received 
baptism  before  his  death.  His  mother,  Monica,  shines  forth  as  one 
of  the  brightest  examples  of  piety  in  the  early  Church.  J'rom  his 
parents  Augustine  derived  the  passionate  sensibility  of  the  African 
nature,  and  the  affectionate  sympathies  whicli  were  cherished  by 
the  love  of  his  mother,  wliile  his  openiug  mind  was  trained  by  her 
noble  intellect.  >She  caused  her  infant  son  to  be  entered  as  a  cate- 
chumen ;  but  the  baptism,  which  he  earnestly  desired  in  a  sudden 
and  dangerous  illness,  Mas  deferred  lest  he  should  incur  tlie  deeper 
guilt  of  sin  after  baptism.^  His  father  made  efforts  beyond  his 
means  to  provide  an  education  which  might  secure  his  son  an 
honourable  and  lucrative  employment,  and  sent  him  to  the  schools 
of  Madaura  and  Carthage.  His  abilities  were  early  manifest ;  but 
his  application  was  irregular  and  his  choice  of  studies  capricious, 
especially  in  a  neglect  of  Greek,  which  he  laments  that  he  could 
only  remedy  imperfectly  in  later  life.^  About  the  time  Avhen  he 
went  to  Carthage,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  Augustine  lost  his 
father ;  and  a  rich  citizen  .of  Thagaste,  named  Romanian,  aided  his 
mother  to  bear  the  expense  of  his  education. 

§  3.  The  youth  had  already  been  enticed  into  those  moral  and 
intellectual  wanderings,  amidst  which  lie  was  preserved  from  ruin 
by  the  sense  of  religion  impressed  on  him  by  his  mother's  care,  and 
embodied  in  the  grand  sentence  at  the  beginning  of  his  Confessions  ; 
"Thou  hast  made  us  for  thyself,  and — "  the  following  words  fall 
of  themselves  into  a  metrical  motto — 

'"Our  heart  is  restless  till  it  rest  in  Thee."  ^ 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  was  already,  by  a  concubine,  the  father 
of  a  boy,  whom  he  named  Adeodatus.  In  the  following  year,  the 
reading  of  Cicero's  "  Hortcnsius"  awakened  in  his  mind  a  longing 
for  higher  wisdom,  in  search  of  which  he  turned  to  the  Scriptures, 
but  was  repelled  by  their  simplicitj'.  That  internal  conflict  between 
the  knowledge  of  the  good  he  had  been  taught  and  the  con.scious- 

'  We  have  seen  how  strongly  this  motive  for  late  baptism  was  urged  by 
Tertullian,  the  great  light  of  the  African  Church. 

-  This  groat  e-xainjile  of  the  evil  of  neglecting  the  highest  organ  of  the 
utterances  of  the  human  mind  in  secular  and  sacred  literature  is  the  more 
conspicuous  from  the  manifest  influence  which  a  Latin  organ  of  expression 
has  had  on  the  theology  of  the  Western  Church.  Witness,  among  the  very 
foundations  of  the  faith,  the  difference  between  credo  and  -iriaTfuw. 

^  Conf.  i.  1  : — "  Fecisti  nos  ad  Te,  et  inquietum  est  cor  nostrum,  donee 
requiescat  in  Te." 


A.D.  38(>  CONVERSION  OF  AUGUSTINE.  337 

ness  of  the  sin  into  which  he  had  fallen,  of  which  his  theology 
afterwards  attempted  to  solve  the  mystery  and  remedy,  may 
account  for  the  charm  he  saw  in  the  Manicheaa  doctrines,  wliich 
were  then  spreading  widely  and  secretly,  even  among  the  clergy  and 
monks.^  He  became  an  outer  member  of  the  sect,  from  his  nine- 
teenth to  his  twenty-eighth  year ;  but  he  soon  began  to  discover 
the  hypocrisy  and  sensuality  which  were  thinly  veiled  by  false 
philosophy  and  ascetic  professions ;  and  a  famous  Manichean  bishop, 
to  whose  arrival  at  Carthage  Augustine  had  looked  for  a  solution  of 
his  doubts,  proved  to  be  as  inconsistent  in  life  and  as  empty  in  his 
fluent  discourse  as  the  other  leaders.  Augustine,  who  had  been 
teaching  grammar  and  rhetoric  at  Thagaste  and  Carthage,  disgusted 
at  the  disorderly  habits  of  the  students,  now  removed  to  Eome  (383), 
where  he  gave  up  Manicheism  only  to  fall  into  scepticism,  varied 
with  vain  strugizles  for  clearer  light  from  the  study  of  Plato.  After 
about  six  months,  finding  his  income  precarious,  as  the  Roman 
students  had  the  habit  of  deserting  a  professor  without  paying  for 
his  lectures,  Augustine  was  glad  to  obtain  an  appointment  as  a 
public  teacher  of  rhetoric  at  Milan,  whither  his  mother  followed 
him  to  watch  his  wandering  course  (384). 

§  4.  Augustine  had  meanwhile  become  a  hearer  of  Ambrose,  at  first 
only  to  judge  of  his  far-famed  eloquence  ;  but  his  mind  was  gradually 
opened  to  conviction.  He  resumed  the  profession  of  a  catechumen, 
and  turned  again  to  the  study  of  Scripture,  and  especially  the 
writings  of  St.  Paul.  He  now  found  difficulties  vanish,  as  he  felt  the 
simple  adaptation  of  the  truth  to  his  spiritual  wants.  He  was  still 
subject  to  the  passions  of  his  lower  nature;  but  the  forces  were 
gathering  for  the  crisis  which  was  to  change  liis  heart  and  mind 
and  life.  A  fellow-countryman,  coming  to  visit  him,  related  some 
details  of  the  lives  of  St.  Anthony  and  other  hermits,  which  struck 
Augustine  the  more  as  his  attention  had  never  been  given  to  the 
monastic  life.  In  its  then  primitive  freshness,  he  saw  all  the  beauty 
and  grandeur  of  it.s  self-denial  and  devotion  to  God  alone,  and  this 
rebuke  of  his  self-indulgence  excited  the  most  violent  agitation. 
One  day  in  September  386,  the  tumultuous  conflict  of  thought 
drove  him  forth  from  the  company  of  his  dearest  friend,  Alypius, 
to  the  garden  of  the  villa  Cassiciacum,  where  he  threw  himself  under 
a  fig-tree,  and,  in  a  passion  of  tears,  jiraj'ed  for  deliverance  from  the 
bondage  of  his  sins.  The  voice  of  a  child  from  a  neighbouring 
house  broke  in  upon  his  solitude,  singing,  "Take  up  and  read." 
Accepting  it  as  a  voice  from  heaven,  he  went  home  and  opened  his 
Bible  at  the  passage:- — "Xot  in  rioting  and  drunkenness,  not  in 
chambering  and  wantonness,  not  in  strife  and  envying ;  but  put  ye 
»  See  above,  (.'hap.  IX.  §  15.  ^  Ro,„    ^■^^■^    13^  ^4 


338  AUGUSTINE  AND  PELAGIUS.  Chap.  XIV. 

on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  make  not  provision  for  the  flesh,  to 
fulfil  the  lusts  thereof."  He  at  once  felt  that,  by  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  he  "  put  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  was  transformed 
into  a  new  man.  His  sense  of  the  constant  nearness  of  God,  who 
had  at  length  been  found  by  him,  is  expressed  in  powerful  language 
befitting  every  redeemed  soul :  ~"  I  have  loved  Thee  late !  And  lo ! 
Thou  wast  within,  but  I  was  without  and  was  seeking  Thee  there. 
And  into  Thy  fair  creation  I  plunged  myself  in  my  ugliness  ;  for 
Thou  wast  with  me,  and  I  was  not  with  Thee.  .  .  .  Thou  didst 
breathe,  and  I  drew  breath,  and  breathed  in  Thee."  In  the  history 
of  conver.-^ions,  thg,t  of  Augustine  is  marked  beyond  all  gainsaying 
as  resembling  that  of  Paul  in  its  sudden  decisiveness  (though  in 
both  cases  after  long  preparation),  and  as  only  second  to  that  of  the 
Apostle  in  its  consequences  to  the  Church.  At  the  ensuing  vintage 
vacation  Augustine  resigned  his  professorship,  and  retired  into  tlie 
country  with  his  mother  and  some  chosen  friends.  On  Easter  Eve 
(.387)  he  was  baptized  by  Ambrose,  with  his  son  Adeodatus  and  his 
friend  Alypius,  who  afterwards  became  Bishop  of  Thagaste. 

§  5.  Having  sold  his  goods  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  and  devoted 
his  life  to  the  service  of  Christ,  Augustine  was  induced  by  his 
mother  to  return  to  Africa.  But  they  had  only  reached  Ostia,  to 
begin  the  voyage,  when  Monica  died  in  her  fifty-sixth  year,  in  the 
arms  of  her  son,  rejoicing  in  the  fulfilment  of  her  xmfailing  faith 
and  prayers  for  his  conversion.  Augustine  remained  above  a  year 
at  Eome,  where  he  wrote  two  books  contrasting  Christian  and 
Manichean  morality,  and  some  other  works.  About  the  end  of 
388,  he  resumed  his  voyage  to  Carthage,  and  retired  to  a  small 
estate  at  his  native  village,  where  he  spent  three  years  in  meditation, 
study,  and  writing,  with  his  friends  Alypius  and  Euodius. 

He  was  now  so  well  known  and  esteemed,  that  he  was  afraid  to 
show  himself  in  any  city  where  a  bisliopric  was  vacant;  but  he 
could  not  long  escape  ordination.  He  had  accepted  an  invitation  to 
Hippo,  where  there  was  no  such  vacancy,  and  was  sitting  as  a 
hearer,  when  the  bishop,  Valerius,  referred  in  his  sermon  to  the  need 
of  another  presbyter  in  the  church.  The  acclamations  of  the  people 
named  Augustine  for  the  office,  and  he  reluctantly  received  ordina- 
tion (391).  Valerius,  who,  being  a  Greek,  did  not  preach  with  ease 
in  Latin,  often  put  forward  Augustine  in  the  pulpit,  and  gave  him 
a  large  share  in  the  administration  of  the  church.  Four  years  later, 
or.  the  ground  of  his  own  age  and  infirmity,  Valerius  obtained 
Augustine's^  consecration  as  his  colleague  (393),  and  died  shortly 

-  Both  Augustine  and  Valerius  were  then  ignorant  that  the  eighth 
Nicene  oanon  forbad  the  establishment  of  two  bishops  in  the  same  city, 


A.D.  430.  DEATH  OF  AUGUSTINE.  839 

afterwards.  Augustine  held  the  bishopric  for  thirty-five  years ;  and, 
though  the  city  of  Hijipo  ranked  below  Carthage,  the  character  of 
its  bishop  made  him  the  recognized  leader  of  the  African  Church.' 
He  led  a  life  of  mild  asceticism  with  his  clergy  in  the  same  house, 
which  was  also  a  school  of  theology,  and  sent  forth  ten  bishops  and 
many  of  tlie  lower  orders.^  No  woman  was  permitted  to  enter  the 
house,  or  to  see  him  alone ;  and  the  rule  extended  even  to  his  sister, 
whom  he  set  over  one  of  the  monasteries  which  he  founded  for 
women.  He  wore  the  black  dress  of  the  Eastern  coenobites,  with  a 
cowl  and  leathern  girdle,  and  lived  almost  entirely  on  vegetables. 
The  common  meal  was  seasoned  with  reading  and  free  conversation, 
in  which  the  character  of  an  absent  person  was  never  allowed  to  be 
touched.  He  preached  frequently,  often  daily,  in  his  own  church, 
and  whenever  he  visited  the  cities  of  the  province.  But  by  his  letters 
and  influence  he  laboured  through  the  whole  Western  Church,  and 
affected  the  Eastern  also,  especially  in  contending  against  the 
Manichean,  Donatist,  and  Pelagian  heresies.  In  his  seventy-second 
year  his  friend  Heraclins  was  chosen  to  be  his  colleague  in  the 
bishopric  ;  and  he  died  four  years  later  during  the  siege  of  Hippo  by 
the  Vandals  (Aug.  28th,  430).  Thus,  the  greatest  light  of  the 
African  Church  lived  almost  to  witness  the  fatal  blow  given  to  it 
by  these  barbarous  Arians.  The  library  which,  asihis  sole  property, 
he  left  to  the  church,  was  jireserved  from  the  sack  of  the  city, 
which  was  utterly  destroyed  by  tlie  Vandals,  so  that  he  had  no 
successor  in  the  bishopric. 

§  6.  The  vast  body  of  works,  on  which  Augustine  laboured  during 
his  whole  life,  are  divided  into  the  following  classes,  besides  some 
lost  rhetorical  essays  and  discourses  written  before  his  conversion  :* 

I.  Autobiographical,  including  the  Confessions  and  Retractations, 

except  in  cases  where  one  of  them  was  a  reconciled  Novatianist  (Possid. 
viii. ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  413). 

'  His  fame  is  still  preserved  by  the  name  oi .Ruini  Kehir,"  i\\Q  great 
Christian,"  by  the  Arabs  of  the  city,  which  is  best  described  in  the  words 
of  Gibbon: — '-The  maritime  colony  of  Hippo,  about  200  miles  west  of 
Carthage,  had  formerly  acquired  the  distinguishing  epithet  of  licgius,  from 
the  residence  of  the  Numidian  kings;  and  some  remains  of  trade  and 
l)opulousness  still  adhere  to  the  modern  city,  which  is  known  in  EurojJC  by 
the  corrupted  name  of  Bona."  The  modern  town  was  built  from  the  ruins 
of  Hippo,  at  a  distance  of  two  miles,  and  was  rebuilt  by  the  French  in 
1832. 

-  ''Combining,  as  he  did,  the  clerical  life  with  the  monastic,  he  became 
unwittingly  the  founder  of  the  Augustinian  order,  which  gave  the  re- 
former Luther  to  the  world  "  (Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  994).  The  Augustine  or 
Austin  Friars  appeared  first  in  the  eleventh  century. 

*  Among  these  were  a  treatise  "  On  the  Beautiful  and  Fit "  {De  Pulchro 
et  Aptd),  and  Orations  and   Eulogies  delivered  at  Carthage,  Rome,    and 


3-iO  AUGUSTINE  AND  PELAGIUS.  Chap.  XIV. 

the  former  acknowledging  his  personal  sins,  the  latter  his  theoretical 
errors.  The  Confessions,  written  about  a.d.  400,  are  in  thirteen 
books  :  the  first  ten  giving,  in  the  form  of  a  continuous  prayer  and 
confession  to  God,  an  account  of  his  life  down  to  his  return  to 
Africa ;  while  the  last  three  (with  a  part  of  the  tenth)  form  an 
appendix  treating  of  speculative  and  theological  philosophy  and 
the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  in  tacit  opposition  to  the  Manicheans.  The 
Confessions  proper  form  a  book  not  to  be  described  or  praised,  but 
to  be  read  as  the  masterpiece  of  all  similar  works,  which  have  more 
or  less  been  modelled  upon  it.  In  the  L'etractations,  written  in  427, 
Augustine  employed  the  evening  of  his  life  in  reviewing  his  own 
works  in  chronological  order,  in  the  sj^irit  of  the  texts  which  he 
quotes  as  mottoes : — "  In  the  multitude  of  words,  there  wanteth  not 
sin:"^  and  seeking  to  withdraw  "every  idle  word"  that  he  had 
uttered,  before  being  called  to  "  give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of 
judgment ;  "^  for  "if  we  would  judge  ourselves,  we  should  not  be 
judged."'  The  result  leaves  the  great  features  of  his  theological 
system  untouched  ;  but  the  spirit  of  the  work  makes  it  "  one  of  the 
noblest  sacrifices  ever  laid  upon  the  altar  of  truth  by  a  majestic 
intellect  acting  in  obedience  to  the  purest  conscientiousness."  * 
There  is  also  a  large  autobiographical  element  in  the  numerous 
Letters  of  Augustine,^  and  in  the  Questio)ii  and  Answers,^  in  which 
he  embodied  for  general  use  his  discussions  of  the  many  questions 
submitted  to  him  by  friends  and  pupils. 

IT.  Philosophical  Works,  partaking  also  of  a  theological  character, 
in  the  form  of  Dialogues,  composed  partly  in  his  retirement  at  the 
Villa  Cassiciacum,  near  Milan,  where  he  spent  half  a  year  before  his 
baptism  in  instructive  and  stimulating  conversation,  in  a  sort  of 
Academy  or  Christian  Platonic  banquet,  with  Monica,  his  son 
Adeodatus,  his  brother  Navigius,  his  friend  Alypius,  and  some 
cousins  and  pupils ;  and  partly  during  his  second  residence  at 
Rome,  and  his  retirement  after  returning  to  Africa.''  "  These  works 
exhibit  as  yet  little  that  is  specifically  Christian  or  churchly  ;  but 
they  show  a  Platonism  seized  and  consecrated  by  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  fall  of  high  thoughts,  ideal  views,  and  discriminating 
argument.     They  were  designed  to  present  the  different  stages  of 

Milan ;    besides  works  on    grammar,  dialectics,   rhetoric,   geometry,   and 
arithmetic.     The  works  of  this  class  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Benedictine 
editions  are  spurious,  though  some  of  them  still  find  defenders. 
»  Pro7.  X.  19.  -  Matt.  xii.  06.  '  1  Cor.  si.  31. 

*  Morell  Mackenzie,  in  Dr.  Smith's  Did.  of  Bioi/.,  Art.  AUGUsriNUS. 

*  The  Benedictine  edition  gives  'J70  (including  Letters  to  A'jgustiue)  iu 
chronological  order,  from  A.D.  386  to  429. 

*  QucEstiones  and  Responsiones. 

'  It  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate  these  works. 


A.D.  430.  WORKS  OF  AUGUSTINE.  341 

human  thought  by  which  he  himself  had  reached  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth,  and  to  serve  others  as  steps  to  the  sanctuary.  They 
form  an  elementary  introduction  to  his  theology.  He  afterwards, 
in  liis  Betractations,  withdrew  many  things  contained  in  them."^ 
But  the  philosophical  element  pervaded  all  his  works;  and,  by  his 
refutation  of  the  Pagan  and  Manichean  systems,  and  his  profound 
discussions  of  Divine  omnipotence  and  human  freedom,  of  the  origin 
of  evil,  and  other  foundations  of  human  life  in  its  relation  to  God, 
he  has  done  more  service  to  true  philosophy  than  any  other  Father. 

III.  Among  his  Apologetic  IVorks,  that  on  the  "City  of  God" 
stands  pre-eminent.  It  was  called  forth  by  the  great  crisis  of  the 
falling  Empire  of  Kome,  when  the  Pagans  renewed  the  old  argu- 
ment against  Christianity,  that  the  gods  of  the  State  were  proving 
their  anger  for  its  apostasy  from  the  old  worship. 

The  capture  of  Pome  by  the  Goths  (-ilO)  was  the  immediate 
occasion  of  the  work,  which  Augustine  began  in  413  and  finished  in 
426.  Its  object  is  to  conkast  the  cities  of  earth,  the  human  jiolities 
which  are  transitory  in  their  very  nature — from  the  beginning  of 
the  world  to  imperial  Pome — with  the  eternal  "  city  which  hath 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God."  ^  The  first  ten  books 
meet  the  objections  to  Christianity  from  the  calamities  of  the  times, 
and  other  arguments  for  heathenism ;  the  other  ten  contrast  the 
worldly  and  spiritual  polities  in  their  origin,  their  course,  and  their 
end.  The  work  forms  a  fit  climax  to  the  series  of  early  Christian 
apologies,  as  well  as  "the  first  attempt  at  a  comprehensive  philo- 
sophy of  history  under  the  view  of  two  antagonist  currents  or 
organized  forces,  a  kingdom  of  this  world,  \vhich  is  doomed  to  final 
destruction,  and  a  kingdom  of  God  which  will  last  for  ever."^ 

IV.  His  ThcoJogkal  Works  of  a  doctrinal  character  include 
a  defence  of  faith  against  the  Gnostic  knowledge  (392)  ;  ^  a  Dis- 
course on  the  Apostles'  Creed®  delivered  before  a  Council  at  Hippo, 
at  the  request  of  the  bishops,  while  Augustine  was  still  a  presbyter 
(393) ;  four  books  On  Christian  Doctrine  "^  (397-426),  and  another 
catechetical  manual;'^  and  a  comj^endium  of  Christian  Faith  and 
Morals,  written  towards  the  close  of  his  life  at  the  request  of  Lau- 
rentius  (421  or  later).** 

V.  Augustine's  Polemic  writings  are  at  once  the  most  copious 
source  of  information  on  the  history  of  doctrine  in  the  primitive 

>  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  1008.     ^  Heb.  xi.  10,  16.      ^  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  1011. 

*  De  Utilitate  credendi.  ^  l>c  Fide  et  Symbolo. 

*  Be  Doctrina  Christiana,  Libri  iv. 
'  De  catcchizandis  rudibus. 

®  Enchiridion,  or  De  Fide,  Spe,  et  Caritate,  also  entitled  Mamtale  ad 
Laurentium. 


342  AUGUSTINE  AND  PELAGIUS.  Chap.  XIV. 

Church,  and  the  fullest  exponent  of  the  theology  which  he  developed 
in  conflict  with  all  the  chief  heresies  of  his  age.  Two  arc  of  a 
geneial  character :  that  On  the  True  Bdigion  (390),^  maintaining 
that  it  was  to  be  found  with  the  Catholic  Church,  and  not  with  the 
heretics  and  schismatics  ;  and  that  On  Heresies,^  giving  an  account 
of  88  heretical  sects,  from  the  Simonians  to  the  Pelagians  (428-430). 
His  special  controversial  works  are  a  multitude  of  tracts  against  the 
particular  heresies  of  Manicheism,  Donatism,  Arianism,  Pelagiauism, 
and  semi-Pelagianism,  equally  remarkable  for  their  force  of  argu- 
ment and  their  freedom  from  personal  antipathy. 

Vf.  His  Exegeiical  works,  in  the  form  of  Commentaries  and 
Homilies,  are  more  remarkable  for  edifying  thought  than  critical 
exposition.  For  the  niceties  of  criticism  he  was  ill-fitted  by  the 
habit  of  his  mind,  which  turned  rather  to  general  views  of  truth, 
and  also  by  his  ignorance  of  Hebrew  and  his  imperfect  knowledge 
of  Greek. 

Vn.  His  Practical  and  Ascetic  w.orks  comprise  396  short  Dis- 
courses on  Scripture  texts,  festivals,  the  lives  of  Apostles,  saints, 
and  martyrs,  and  other  themes,  and  various  treatises  on  morals 
and  the  ascetic  and  monastic  life. 

§  7.  Augustine  is  conspicuous  above  all  the  Fathers,  and  indeed 
above  all  Christian  teachers  between  St.  Paul,  his  great  teacher, 
and  Luther,  his  disciple,  for  his  influence  on  the  formation 
of  doctrinal  theology,  especially  in  the  Western  Church.  It  was 
througli  his  eftbrts  that  the  Canon  of  Scripture  (inclusive,  how- 
ever, of  the  Apocrypha)  was  finally  settled  in  its  present  form  by 
the  Councils  of  Hippo  (393)  and  Carthage  (397).  From  him  the 
Manichcan  heresy  received  its  deathblow,  and  the  Kicene  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  was  developed  by  the  double  procession  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  as  a  fixed  article  in  the  creed  of  tho  "Western  Church.  The 
questions  about  the  twofold  nature  of  Christ  only  began  to  agitate 
the  East  about  the  time  of  his  death -^  but  he  had  already  an- 
nounced the  formula  of  Pope  Leo  ihc  Great,  "Two  natures  in  one 
per.son."  But  Augustine's  chief  distinction  is  as  "  the  principal 
theological  creator  of  the  Latin-Catholic  sj'stem,  as  distinct  from 
the  Greek  Catholicism,  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  evangelical  Pro- 
testantism on  the  other.  He  ruled  the  entire  theology  of  the 
Middle  Age,  and  became  the  father  of  scholasticism  in  virtue  of 
his  dialectic  mind,  and  the  father  of  mysticism  in  virtue  of  his 

'  De  Vera  Rdigione. 

*  De  IJieresihus  ad  Quodvidkleitm ;  addressed  to  a  deacon  at  Carthage. 

'  "  He  was  summoned  to  the  Council  of  F.phesus,  which  condemned  Nes- 
torianism  in  4'M,  but  died  a  year  before  it  met.  He  prevailed  upon  the 
Gallic  monk,  Leporius,  to  retract  Nestorianism.  His  Christolotjy  is  in 
many  points  defective  and  obscure."     (Schalt',  vol.  iii.  p.  1018.) 


A.D.  430.  INFLUENCE  OF  AUGUSTINE.  343 

devout  heart,  without  being  responsible  for  the  excesses  of  either 
system." '  "  He  had  a  creative  and  decisive  hand  in  almost  every 
dogma  of  the  Church,  completing  some  and  advancing  others.  The 
centre  of  his  system  is  the  free  reiheminy  gracn  of  God  in  Christ, 
operating  through  the  actual  historical  Church.  He  is  Evangelical 
or  Pauline  in  his  doctrine  of  sin  and  grace,  but  Catholic  (that  is  Old 
Catholic,  not  Roman  Catholic)  in  his  doctrine  of  the  Church.  Tlie 
Pauline  element  comes  forward  mainly  in  the  Pelagian  controversy, 
the  Catholic-churchly  in  the  JJoncUist ;  but  each  is  modified  by  the 
other."  2 

§  8.  Augustine's  part  in  the  Donatist  controversy  has  already 
been  noticed;*  the  Felagian  is  of  deeper  and  more  universal  interest, 
involving  the  great  questions  of  man's  sinful  nature  and  his  redemp- 
tion, of  God's  sovereign  grace,  and  its  harmony  with  the  free  will  of 
man.  Before  Augustine,  we  find  no  attem^it  to  give  definite  form  to 
these  doctrines,  beyond  the  common  assertion  of  man's  moral  apos- 
tasy and  accountability,  the  curse  of  sin  and  the  need  of  redeeming 
grace.  The  Greek  fathers  insisted  most  on  the  freedom  of  man's 
co-operation  with  divine  grace,  in  opposition  to  Gnostic  dualisnr 
and  fatalism,  while  the  Latin  fathers  laid  the  greater  stress  on  man's 
hereditary  sin  and  guilt  and  God's  sovereign  grace.  It  was  through 
Augustine's  teaching  that  the  ^^'estern  Church  affirmed  the  supre- 
macy of  the  divine  part  in  the  whole  work  of  redem])tion,  from  its 
eternal  design  to  its  eternal  accomjilishment,  making  even  human 
freedom  to  will  good  the  fruit  of  diviue  grace,  so  as  to  give  God  ah 
the  glory ;  while  Pela^^ianism  ascribes  the  chief  part  to  man's  free 
will  and  effort,  and  reduces  diviue  grace  to  a  mere  auxiliary  in  the 
work  of  conversion  and  holiness.* 

§  9.  Pklagius,*  a  native  British  moidc,  born  about  the  middle  of 

>  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  1018. 

^  Ibid.,  1)11.  998,  999.  The  .same  historian  obsei-ves  that  Augustine 
"adopted  Cyprian's  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and  completed  it  in  the  con- 
flict with  Donatism  by  transferring  the  predicates  of  unity,  holiness,  uni- 
versality, exclusiveness,  and  maternity,  directly  to  the  actual  Church  of 
the  time,  with  a  firm  episcopal  organization,  an  unbroken  succession,  and 
the  Apostles'  Creed." 

'  Chap.  X.  §  9. 

*  The  three  forms  of  the  doctrine  have  been  described  by  the  technical 
terms  of  the  synenjism  {i.e.  "working  together")  of  the  Greek  Church, 
which  makes  the  divine  grace  and  human  will  co-ordinate  ])owers  ;  the 
dkine  inonenjisin  (*'  sole  working  ")  of  Augustine  ;  and  the  /ncman  moner- 
gism  of  Pelagius.  The  semi-Fi'lajianism,  which  prevailed  in  the  West 
after  the  death  of  Augusiine,  and  reappeared  in  the  Protestant  Church  as 
Arim'nianism,  has  a  close  atlinity  to  the  Greek  synergism. 

*  The  name  XleXdytos  (Pelagius)  appears  to  have  been  assumed  as  the 
Greek  and  Latin  equivalent  (from  ir4\ayos,  pehigus,  "sea")  of  his  native 
Celtic  name  Mor-gan  (or  Mor-cmt,  "sea-brink"),  which  marks  him  as  a 


344  AUGUSTINE  AND  PELAGIUS.  Chap.  XIV, 

the  fourtli  century,  is  spoken  of  resi:)ectfiill}'  by  his  strongest  oppo- 
nents. His  keen  intellect  was  well  trained  by  learning,  especially 
in  the  Greek  theology  of  the  school  of  Antioch.  His  character  was 
gentle  and  his  life  blameless;  but  his  calm  virtue  was  that  of  the 
self-reliant  ascetic.  In  one  of  his  letters  he  says,  "  As  often  as  I 
have  to  speak  concerning  moral  improvement  and  the  leading  of  a 
holy  life,  I  am  accustomed  first  to  set  forth  the  power  and  quality 
of  human  nature,  and  to  show  what  it  can  accomplish."  We  know 
nothing  of  his  life  till  he  appears  at  IJomo,  where,  says  Augustine, 
"he  lived  very  long  and  kejit  the  best  company."  There,  already  in 
advanced  age  (as  he  tells  us  himself),  he  wrote  a  brief  Commentary 
on  tlie  Epistles  of  Paul  (404)  ;^  and  he  gives,  as  an  eye-witness,  a 
vivid  description  of  the  sack  of  Rome  bj-  Alaric  (410).^^ 

In  the  course  of  his  earnest  labours  to  reform  the  morals  of  the 
corrupt  city,  he  won  over  to  the  monastic  life  an  advocate  of 
distinguished  birth,  named  Ccelestius.  "It  was  from  this  man, 
younger,  more  skilful  in  argument,  more  ready  lor  controversy,  and 
more  rigorously  consistent  than  his  teacher,  that  the  controversy 
took  its  rise.  Pelagius  was  the  moral  author,  Coelestius  the  in- 
tellectual author,  of  the  system  represented  by  them.  They  did 
not  mean  actually  to  found  a  new  sj"stem,  but  believed  themselves 
in  accordance  with  Scripture  and  established  doctrine.  They  were 
more  concerned  with  the  ethical  side  of  Christianity  than  with  the 
dogmatic ;  but  their  endeavour  after  moral  perfection  was  based 
upon  certain  views  of  the  natural  power  of  the  will,  and  these 
views  proved  to  be  in  conflict  with  the  antliropological  principles 
which  had  been  developed  in  the  African  church  for  the  previous 
ten  years  under  the  influence  of  Augustine."^ 

§  10.  When  the  two  friends  jiassed  over  from  Italy  to  Africa,  in 
411,  they  seem  to  have  had  so  little  fear  of  being  regarded  as 
heretics,  that  they  went  first  to  Hippo  in  order  to  visit  Augustine. 
He,  being  absent  at  Carthage,  replied  in  a  cordial  tone  to  a  letter 
addressed  to  him  by  Pelagius.  At  Carthage,  however,  the  desire 
of  Coelestius  to  be  ordained  a  presbyter  called  forth  a  discussion  of 
his  opinions ;  and  Paulinus,  a  deacon  of  Milan,*  charged  him,  before 
a  council  at  Carthage  (412),  with  several  errors  discovered  in  his 

native  of  the  sea-shore.  The  famous  monastery  of  Bangor-ys-coed  ("  Bangor 
under  the  wood "),  for  which  he  is  sometimes  claimed,  was  founded  a 
century  after  he  left  Britain. 

'  "  This  Commentary,  which  has  been  preserved  among  the  works  of 
Jerome,  disphiys  a  clear  and  sober  exegetical  talent."  (Schaff',  vol.  iii.  p.  791.) 

"  Epist.  ad  Dcmetritiin,  ap.  Augustin.  Epist.  No.  l-t'2. 

^  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  792. 

*  I'aulinus  afterwards  wrote  the  Life  of  Ambrose  at  the  request  of 
Augustine. 


A.D.  412.  PELAGIUS  AND  C(ELESTIUS.  345 

works.  The  most  important  of  these  were  the  following?  :— That 
Adam  wa.s  created  mortal,  and  would  have  died,  even  if  he  had  not 
sinned  ;  that  Adam's  fall  injured  himself  alone,  not  the  human 
race ;  that,  consequently,  children  come  into  the  world  in  the  same 
condition  in  which  Adam  was  before  the  fall ;  that  tlic  human 
race  neither  dies  in  consequence  of  Adam's  nUl,  nor  rises  again  in 
consequence  of  Christ's  resurrection  ;  that  the  Law,  as  welfas  the 
Gospel,  leads  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  that  even  before  Chrisc 
there  were  sinless  men ;  and  that  children  dyini:  in  infancy,  even 
though  unbaptized,  have  eternal  life.  Instead  of  meeting  the 
charge  by  directly  defending  or  disowning  these  proposidons, 
Coelestius  treated  them  as  mer&.  speculative  questions,  on  which 
different  opinions  were  held  in  the  Church.  On  his  refusing  to 
recant,  he  was  excommunicated  by  the  synod  ;  and  he  took  his°de- 
parture  for  Asia,  where  he  was  ordained  a  presbyter  at  Ephesus.  His 
doctrines,  however,  spread  both  in  Africa  and  Sicily ;  and  Augus- 
tine, who  had  taken  no  part  in  these  proceedings,  wrote  sev'eral 
tracts  against  the  new  opinions,  but  in  a  tone  of  respect  and  for- 
bearance towards  Pehigiiis  himself  (412-415). 

§  11.  Meanwhile  Pelagius  had  gone  to  Palestine  and  gained 
many  followers,  especially  among  the  Origenists.  Jerome  wrote 
against  him  with  characteristic  vehemence,  Avhile  contemptuously 
avoiding  the  mention  of  liis  name.  But  the  opposition  of  Jerome, 
besides  its  strong  personal  spirit,  was  ratlier  against  the  supposed 
Origenismof  Pelagius,  than  from  zeal  for  the  Augustinian  doctrines; 
for  even  in  his  treatise  against  the  Pelagians,  which  Augustine 
praises,  his  teaching  on  the  freedom  of  the  will  and  predestination 
is  of  a  "  semi-Pelagian  "  complexion. 

The  foremost  antagonist  of  Pelagius  was  one  of  Jerome's  pupils, 
Paulus  Orosius,  a  young  Spanish  presbyter,  who  had  been  sent 
by  Augustine  to  Jerome  as  the  bearer  of  letters  relating  to  tiie  con- 
troversy, and  had  stayed  to  .'-tudy  under  the  great  teacher  in  Pales- 
tine. He  came  forward  as  the  accuser  of  Pelagius  at  a  synod  held 
by  John,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  stating  that  Coelestius  had  been  con- 
demned at  Carthage,  and  that  Augustine  had  written  against  his 
opinions.  John,  who  was  a  great  admirer  of  Origen,  showed  a 
strong  leaning  to  Pelagius,  and  gave  great  ofl'ence  to  the  other  party 
by  ijcrmitting  him,  though  he  was  only  a  layman,  to  sit  among  the 
presbyters.  As  both  parties  belonged  to  tlie  "Western  Churcl"  the 
synod  determined  to  refer  the  controversy  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
Innocent  1.(402-417);  and,  meanwhile,  a  second  synod,  held  at 
Lydda  (Diospolis),  acquitted  Pelagius  of  participation  in  the 
opinions  of  Coelestius,  which  he  himself  somewhat  disingenuously 
spoke  of  as  foolish  but  not  heretical. 


346  AUGUSTINE  AND  PELAGIUS.  Chap.  XIV, 

§  12.  In  416  Pelagianism  was  again  condemned  by  two  North 
African  synods,  and  tlieir  sentences  were  commi\nicated  to  Pope 
Innocent,  whose  judgment  was  also  requested  in  a  confidential 
letter  from  Augustine  and  four  other  African  bishops.  He  seized 
the  occasion  to  praise  the  Africans  for  referring  the  matter  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter,  and  fully  approved,  their  condemnation  of 
Coelestius  and  Pelagius.  A  letter,  which  Pelagius  had  Avritten  in 
defence  of  his  orthodoxy,  did  not  reach  Piome  till  the  death  of 
Innocent  (417).  His  successor,  Zosimus  (417-418),  listened  with 
favour  to  these  assurances,  as  well  as  to  those  of  Coelestius,  who 
now  came  to  Pome" ;  and  he  addressed  strong  letters  of  censure  to 
the  African  bishops,  whom  he  enjoined  to  submit  to  the  authority 
of  the  Poman  see.  They,  however,  met  at  Carthage,  to  protest 
against  the  judgment  of  Zosimus,  and  drew  up  eight  (or  nine) 
canons  defining  and  anathematizing  the  Pelagian  heresies  (418). 
They  also  obtained  edicts  from  the  Emperor  Honorius  against  the 
Pelagians.  Zosimus,  who  had  a  very  imperfect  understanding  of  the 
controversy,  now  turned  right  round,  and  issued  an  encyclical  letter 
to  all  bishops  of  the  East  and  West,  anathematizing  Pelagius  and 
Coelestius,  approving  the  decisions  of  the  Council  of  Carthage,  and 
pronouncing  sentence  of  deposition  and  banishment  on  all  who 
should  refuse  to  subscribe  the  encyclical  (418).  Eighteen  Italian 
bishops  were  accordingly  deposed  ;  but  most  of  them  recanted  and 
were  restored.  One  of  their  iHimber,  however,  Julian,  of  Eclanum 
in  Campania,  proved  himself,  in  banishment,  the  ablest,  most 
learned,  and .  most  sj'stematic  defender  of  Pelagianism,  and  a 
vehement  opponent  of  Augustine.'  The  exiled  bishops,  as  well  as 
Coelestius,  were  received  kindly  at  Constantinople  by  the  patriarch 
Nestorius,  but  the  Emperor  Theodosius  II.  commanded  them  to 
leave  the  city  (421)).^ 

Two  years  later  the  third  (Ecumenical  Council,  at  Ephesus,  in- 
cluded Ccelestius  in  its  condemnation  of  Nestorius,  and  communi- 
cated to  Pope  Celestiue  its  approval  of  the  acts  of  the  Western 
councils  against  the  Pelagians.  "Pelagianism  was  thus  externally 
vanquished.  It  never  formed  an  ecclesiastical  sect,  but  simply  a 
theological  school.  It  continued  to  have  individual  adherents  in 
Italy  till  towards  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  so  that  the 
lloman  bishop,  Leo  the  Great,  found  himself  obliged  to  enjoin  on  the 
bishops  by  no  means  to  receive  any  Pelagian  to  the  communion  of 

'  Augustine  wrote  a  large  ti'eatise  against  Julian,  Contra  Jidianum 
Lihri  VL  ;  and  another,  also  in  six  books,  which  was  left  unKnished  at  his 
death,  Opus  imperfect uin  contra  seeumhun  Jidiani  responsiotiem. 

-  We  have  no  information  about  the  later  life  and  death  of  Pelagius  or 
Coelestius.  Julian  is  said  to  have  ended  his  life  as  a  schoolmaster  in  Sicily 
CA.D.  450),  after  giving  up  all  his  property  for  the  poor  during  a  famine. 


A.D.  431,  f.  SEMI-PELAGIANISM.  347 

the  Church  without  an  express  recantation The  position 

of  the  Greek  Church  upon  this  question  is  only  negative ;  she  has 
in  name  condemned  Pelagianism,  but  has  never  received  the  posi- 
tive doctrines  of  Augustine.  She  continued  to  teach  synergistic 
or  semi-Pelagian  views,  without,  however,  entering  into  a  deeper 
investigation  of  the  relation  of  human  freedom  to  divine  grace."' 

§  13.  Midway  between  the  heresy  of  Pelagius  and  the  Augus- 
tinian  doctrines  of  free  and  irresistible  grace  and  of  absolute  pre- 
destination, there  arose  a  strong  and  highly-respected  party  in  the 
Church,  which  advocated  the  views  described  in  tlie  Middle  Ages 
by  the  term  JSe/ni-pelagianism.  The  leader  of  tliis  party  was  a 
contemporary  of  Augustine,  John  Cassian,  an  eastern  monk,  whom 
we  have  mentioned  as  the  founder  of  convents  for  men  and  women 
at  Massilia;-  and  his  opinions  obtained  much  favour  in  Southern 
Gaul.  It  is  needless  here  to  describe  the  points  of  difference  which 
Augustine  himself  regarded  as  not  deviating  from  his  doctrine  in 
essentials.^ 

After  the  death  of  Augustine,  the  defence  of  his  doctrines  was 
zealously  maintained  in  Gaul  by  two  laymen.  Prosper  of  Aquitaine* 
and  Hilarius.  Going  to  Pome,  they  obtained  from  Pope  Celestine  a 
Letter  to  the  Bishoj^s  of  Gaul,  eulogizing  Augustine,  and  discouraging 
the  whole  controversy  as  unprofitable  (431).  The  Semi-Arian  views 
were  upheld  by  the  famous  S.  Vincent  of  Lerins  and  by  Faustus, 
bishop  of  IJiez  (towards  the  end  of  the  oth  century),  who  wrote  a 
celebrated  treatise  "On  Grace  and  Free  Will."  But  the  writings  of 
Faustus  were  condemned  by  Pope  Gelasius  in  a  decretal  epistle;* 
and  the  Semi-pelagian  tenets  were  condemned  by  synods  at  Orange 
(529)  and  Valence  (530).  But  the  views  of  Cassian  were  still 
widely  popular,  especially  among  the  monks ;  and  we  shall  see 
them  ultimately  prevailing  in  the  Galilean  Church  (Chap.  XXII. 
§§  1-4-18). 

'  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  801. 

-  Chap.  XII.  §  18  ;  where  see  also  what  is  said  of  Vincentius  Lerinensis. 
The  principal  work  of  John  Cassian  is  his  'Conferences'  of  Egyptian 
monks  on  true  asceticism  (  Vujinti  quatuor  Collationes  Fatrurn). 

^  See  the  treatises  De  I'rdedestinatione  Siinctoruin  and  Dc  Dono  Per- 
sevcrnniia;,  in  which  he  combats  the  opinions  of  Cassianus  and  his  followers, 
while  speaking  of  them  personally  with  higl)  regard. 

*  Besides  his  numerous  tracts  on  this  controversy,  Prosper  wrote  Poems, 
and  a  Chronicle  (if  not  two  :  see  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Poman  Biographtj,  s.  c.) 

*  Patrolog.  lix.  164.  This  decretal  "  is  memorable  as  containing  the 
earliest  Roman  catalogue  of  forbidden  books." — Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  549. 


Ancient  Svrian  Church  of  the  Sixth  Century. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES. 

TO   THE   FOURTH   GENERAL   COUNCIL   AT   CHALCEDON,    A.D.  451. 

§  1.  Christological  Controversies,  on  the  Divine  and  Human  Natures  in 
Christ — Opposite  Views  of  the  Schools  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch — 
Part  taken  by  the  Roman  Church — The  five  Stages  of  the  Controversy. 
§  2.  The  Apolli/iirian  Hercsij.  §  3.  The  Ncstorian  Controversy — DlO- 
DORUS  of  Tarsus  and  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia — Nestorius,  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  preaches  against  the  epithet  Theotohos,  ''  Jlother  of 
God."  §  4.  He  is  condemned  by  Cyril  of  Alexandria  and  Pope  Celes- 
TINE — Part  taken  by  John  of  Antioch  and  Theodoret,  Bishop  of  Cyrus. 
§  5.  The  Third  (Ecumenical  Council  at  Ephesus — The  parties  of  Cyril  and 
Nestorius  condemn  each  other — Feeble  Decision  of  Theodosius  H. — A 
compromise  is  effected,  and  Nestorius  made  the  victim.  §  6.  Continu- 
ance of  the  Nestorian  Doctrines  at  Edessa — The  Nestorian  Church  in 
Persia.  §  7.  Its  missionary  and  civilizing  energy — In  Arabia — In  India: 
the  "  Christians  of  St.  Thomas  " — In  Central  Asia :  "  Prester  John  '" — 


Cent.  IV.  V.       CHRISTOLOGICAL  CONTROVERSIES.  349 

The  present  Nestorians— §  8.  The  Eutychian  Controversy — DlOSCURUS  of 
Alexandria — Monophysite  Doctrine  of  Eutyciies — Conibatted  by  TiiEO- 
DORET — Flavian,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  —  Pope  Leo  I.  THE 
Great  :  his  Letter  to  Flavian.  §  9.  The  Latrocinium,  or  Robber  Synod 
of  Ephesus —Deposition  and  Murder  of  Flavian.  §  10.  Marcian  suc- 
ceeds Theodosius  II. — The  Fourth  (Ecumenical  Council,  at  Chalcedon 
— Condemnation  of  Dioscurus  and  the  Robber  Synod — New  Confession 
of  Faith— The  See  of  Constantinople  declared  second  to  Rome,  with 
equal  rights. 

§  1.  The  greatest  divisions  of  theological  opinion  in  the  Church 
have  aUvays  arisen  from  attempts  to  reconcile  co-ordinate  truths, 
each  resting  on  its  own  evidence,  but  the  one  seeming  logically  to 
exclude  the  other.  While  the  Western  Church  was  agitated  by  the 
great  question  between  divine  sovereignty  and  man's  free  will,  the 
Eastern  Church  was  disputing  over  another  stage  in  the  controversy 
concerning  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  Christ.  The  Arian 
controversy,  which  had  been  concerned  chiefly  with  the  essential 
relations  of  the  Word  or  Son  of  God  to  the  Father,  in  their  co- 
existence from  tlie  past  eternity,  was  succeeded  by  another  con- 
cerning the  relation  between  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  the 
person  of  the  incarnate  Clirist.^  The  seeds  of  this  controversy  also 
may  be  found  in  the  fertile  and  suggestive  speculations  of  Origen. 
The  Alexandrian  school,  imbued  with  his  mystical  spirit,  regarded 
the  union  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ  as  so  complete,  as  to  seem  to 
merge  his  humanity  in  his  divinity,  or  at  least  to  mix  the  human 
nature  with  the  divine;  a  view  which  was  afterwards  developed  into 
the  Monophysite  ^  heresy.  The  school  of  Antioch  or  Syria,  led  by 
'i'heodore,  bishop  of  Mopsuestia,  inclined  to  the  opposite  extreme  of 
an  abstract  separation  of  the  two  natures.  "In  both  cases,  the 
mystery  of  the  incarnation,  the  veritable  and  permanent  union  of 
the  divine  and  human  in  the  one  person  of  Clirist,  which  is  essential 
to  the  idea  of  a  Redeemer  and  Mediator,  is  more  or  less  weakened 
or  altered.  In  the  former  case  the  incarnation  becomes  a  transmu- 
tation or  mixture^  of  the  divine  and  human;  in  the  latter  a  mere 
indiuelling*  of  the  Logos  in  the  man,  or  a  moral  unioii^  of  the  two 
natures,  or  rather  of  the  two  persons.  It  was  now  the  problem  of 
the  Church,  in  opposition  to  both  these  extremes,  to  assert  the 

'  As,  in  the  technical  language  of  the  Church  historians,  the  former 
controversy  has  been  called  t/teoloijical,  so  the  latter  is  styled  christological, 
and  its  subject  christology.  The  Pelagian  controversy  is,  in  like  manner, 
distinguished  by  the  terms  anthropology  and  anthropological. 

-  That  is,  the  recognition  of  only  one  nature  in  the  incarnate  God: 
from  fxovos,  sole,  and  cpi'/inr,  nature.  The  student  should  remember  the 
quant  it  1/  of  the  v,  Monophysite. 

*  'SivyKpaais.  *  'EmKjjffis.  *  'ivvi<piM. 

17 


360    NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES.      Cuap.XV. 

personal  unity  and  the  distinction  of  the  tivo  natures  in  Christ  with 
equal  solicitude  and  precision.  This  she  did  through  the  Christo- 
logical  controversies  -which  agitated  the  Greek  Church  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years  with  extraordinary  violence.  The  I?oiuan 
Church,  though  in  general  much  more  calm,  took  an  equally  deep 
interest  in  this  work  by  some  of  its  most  eminent  leaders,  and  twice 
decided  the  victory  of  orthodoxy,  at  the  Fourth  General  Council  and 
at"  the  Sixth,  by  the  powerful  influence  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome."^ 
The  whole  course  of  the  controversy  includes  five  successive  stages : 
(1)  The  ApoUinarian  controversy,  on  the  question  of  the  full 
humanity  of  Christ;  (2)  The  Nestorian  controversy,  down  to  the 
rejection  of  tlie  ilouhh personality  of  Christ  by  the  Third  CEcumenical 
Council,  at  Ephesus  (a.d.  431);  (3)  The  Eutychian  controversy,  to 
the  condemnation  of  the  doctrine  of  one  nature  only  in  the  person  of 
Christ  by  the  Fourth  Ecumenical  Council,  at  Chalcedon  (a.d.  451)  ; 
(4)  The  Monophysite  controversy,  to  the  Fifth  General  Council,  at 
Constantinople,  a.d.  553;  (5)  The  Monothelite  controversy,  ending 
with  the  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of  one  will,  by  the  Sixth  General 
Council,  at  Constantinople  (a.d.  680). 

§  2.  AVe  have  already  had  occasion  to  speak  of  the  two  theo- 
logians of  the  Alexandrian  school,  named  ApoUinaris,  or  more 
properly  Aix)lliuarius,^  father  and  son,  who,  in  their  zeal  for  the 
Nicene  doctrine,  denied  the  existence  of  a  rational  human  soul  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  contended  that  the  place  of  such  a  soul  was  sup- 
plied by  the  divine  Logos.  The  doctrine  was  first  suggested  by  tl.e 
elder  ApoUinaris,  bishop  of  Laodicea  in  Syria,  and  more  fully 
developed  by  the  younger,  who  was  a  presbyter  of  the  same  church. 
It  was  at  first  treated  as  a  speculation  rather  thaii  a  heresy.  It 
was  rejected  by  a  council  at  Alexandria  (362),  but  without  condemn- 
ing its  author ;  and  Athanasius,  who  hi^zhly  esteemed  the  j'ounger 
AjwUinaris  for  his  services  to  the  Catholic  cause,  wrote  against 
his  errors  without  naming  him.*  It  was  not  till  375  that  he 
began  to  form  a  separate  heretical  sect ;  and  he  died  in  390. 

His  followers  diverged  into  various  modes  of  stating  his  opinions, 
in  opiX)sition  to  which  the  Catholic  Church  insisted  on  the  full  and 
perfect  humanity  of  Christ,  in  soul  as  well  as  body  and  animal  life. 
The  ApoUinarians  were  condemned  by  councils  at  Rome,  under 
Bishop  Damasus  (377  and  378),  and  by  the  General  Council  of 

'  Srhaff,  vol.  lii.  pp.  707-8. 

^  The  name  Apollinarius  ('AiroAXicopios)  is  given  by  all  the  Greek 
Fathers,  and  by  .Jerome  (Fir.  lllust.  c.  104):  but  the  form  ApoUinaris  is 
used  by  most  ecclesiastical  historians. 

*  Epiphanius,  in  relating  the  beginning  of  the  controversy,  speaks  of 
him  as  "  the  aged  and  venerable  ApoUinaris  of  Laodicea,  dear  even  to  the 
blessed  father  Athanasius,  and,  in  fact,  to  all  the  orthodox." 


A.D.  400,  f.  THE  NESTORIAN  HERESY.  351 

Constantinople  (381) ;  and  imperial  decrees  were  directed  against 
them  (388,  397,  and  428).  The  remains  of  the  sect  were  ultimately 
mertfed  in  that  of  the  ^Monophysites. 

§  3.  A  view  directly  opposite  to  the  ApoUinarian  was  developed 
ill  the  same  and  the  succeeding  period  by  two  distinguished  theo- 
logians of  the  school  of  Antioch — Diodorus,  bishop  of  Tarsus  (o&. 
39-4),  and  Thkodoke,  bishop  of  Mopsuestia,  in  Cilicia  (393-428), 
who  virtually  represented  Christ  as  having  a  twofold  personality, 
by  the  complete  distinction  of  his  divine  and  human  natnrcs.  But 
the  heretical  sect  which  maintained  this  view  derived  its  name 
from  Nestokil's,  who  was  at  first  a  monk,  then  a  presbyter  at 
Antioch,  and  finally  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  (a.d.  428).  "He 
was  an  honest  man,  of  great  eloquence,  monastic  piety,  and  with  the 
spirit  of  a  zealot  for  orthodoxy ;  but  impetuous,  vain,  imprudent, 
and  wanting  in  sound  practical  judgment.  In  his  inaugural  sermon 
he  addressed  Theodosius  II.  with  these  words: — 'Give  mc,  0 
Emi>eror,  the  earth  purified  of  heretics,  and  I  will  give  thee  heaven 
for  it;  help  me  to  fight  the  heretics,  and  I  will  help  thee  to  fight 
the  Persians.'  "^  He  obtained  from  the  Emperor  new  edicts  against 
the  Arians,  Novatians,  and  other  heretics ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  he 
endeavoured  to  protect  the  Pelagians,  with  whom  he  sympathised 
in  their  doctrine  of  free  will,  but  not  in  their  denial  of  original  sin. 
It  was  his  very  zeal  for  the  i)urity  of  Christian  doctrine  that  made 
Kestorius  an  unintentional  lieresiarch. 

The  extreme  zeal  for  Nicene  orthodoxy,  joined  with  a  tendency 
to  the  beginnings  of  Mariolatry,  had  introduced  into  the  worship  of 
the  Church,  at  Constantinople  and  elsewhere,  the  epithet  "Mother 
of  God,"-  which  had  alreadj'  been  applied  to  the  Virgin  Mary  by 
Origen  and  some  of  the  fathers  of  the  Alexandrian  school,  as 
Alexander,  Athanasius,  and  Basil.  Of  course  none  of  them  used 
the  term  in  the  absurd  and  blasphemous  sense  that  a  creature 
could  give  birth  to  the  Creator,  but  to  signify  that  Jesus  Christ 
had,  at  his  very  birth,  the  perfect  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures.  But  the  Antiochene  theologians  maintained  that  Mary 
could  only  give  birth  to  the  human  person  of  Christ,  which  became 
the  dwelling-place  of  the  Deity.  Thus  Theodore  of  Mojisuestia, 
objecting  vehemently  to  the  term  theotokos,  says,  "  Mar}'  bore 
Jesus,  not  the  Logos,  for  the  Logos  was,  and  continues  to  be,  omni- 
present, though  He  dwelt  in  Jesus  in  a  s|)ecial  manner  from  the 
beginning.  Therefore  Mary  is  strictly  the  mother  of  Christ,  not 
the  mother  of  God.  Only  in  a  figure  can  she  be  called  also  the 
mother  of  God,  because  God  was  in  a  peculiar  sense  in  Christ. 

«  Socrates,  //.  E.  vii.  29 ;  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  pp.  715-6. 
*  ©eoTOKos,  Deipara,  genitrix  Dei,  mater  Dei. 


352     NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES.     Chap.  XV. 

Properly  speaking,  she  gave  birth  to  a  man  in  whom  the  imion  with 
the  Logos  had  begun,  but  was  still  so  incomplete  that  he  could  not 
vet  (till  after  his  baptism)  be  called  the  Son  of  God." ' 

When  Nestorius  became  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  he  found,  as 
he  tells  us,  some  calling  Mary  the  Mother  of  God  (^${ot6kos),  while 
others  called  her  the  Mother  of  Man  (dvdpcoTTOTOKos).  Following 
Theodore,  he  proposed  the  middle  term.  Mother  of  Christ  (Xpia- 
TOKos) ;  and  both  he  and  the  presbyter  Anastasius,  whom  he  had 
brought  from  x\ntioch,  preached  against  the  objectionable  phrase. 
Thenceforward  the  term  became  the  watchword  of  what  was  soon 
called  the  Nestoriati  controversy,  as  the  term  homocmsios  had  been 
of  the  Arian.  The  popular  feeling  was  inflamed  by  the  monks,  who 
were  generally  of  the  Alexandrian  school.  They  contradicted 
Nestorius  in  the  pulpit  and  insulted  him  in  the  street ;  while  he 
retaliated  by  calling  in  the  civil  power  to  punish  the  monks  with 
imprisonment,  and  even  corporal  chastisement. 

§  4.  The  leader  of  the  opposition  at  Constantinople  was  Proclus, 
bishop  of  Cyzicus,  who  proclaimed  the  honour  due  to  the  Virgin 
in  the  real  spirit  of  Mariolatry.  On  the  wider  stage  of  the  Church 
a  far  more  important  antagonist  arose  in  Cyril,  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria (from  about  a.d.  412) ;  a  man  of  great  energy,  and  in  learning 
far  superior  to  Nestorius,  but  of  a  most  passionate  and  dis[mtatious 
temper,  and  surpassing  in  arrogance  and  violence  his  uncle  and 
predecessor,  Theophilus,  the  persecutor  of  Chrysostom.  With  him 
the  dispute  was  quite  as  much  one  of  ambition  about  the  authority 
of  the  rival  patriarchates,  as  of  zeal  for  orthodox  doctrine.  Cyril 
wrote  letters  to  Nestorius,  to  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  his  wife 
Eudocia  and  his  sister  Pulcheria,  and  finally  to  Pope  Celestine  I. 
(422-432),  and  various  bishops  both  of  the  East  and  West.  Celes- 
tine,  already  oflended  by  the  countenance  which  Nestorius  had 
given  to  the  Pelagians,  held  a  council  at  Pome,  which  condemned 
and  deposed  Nestorius  (430);  a  remarkable  instance  of  authority 
assumed  by  Rome  over  Constantinople.  Cyril,  rejecting  the  proffered 
mediation  of  a  fourth  patriarch,  John  of  Antioch,  held  a  council  at 
Alexandria,  at  the  desire  of  Celestine,  which  pronounced  twelve 
anathemas  against  Nestorius,  who  replied  by  twelve  counter  ana- 
themas, charging  his  oiiponents  with  the  Apollinarian  heresy. 
Among  the  eminent  men  now  drawn  into  the  controversy  was  the 
great  expositor  and  church  historian,  Theodoret,  bishop  of  Cyrus 
in  Syria  (from  about  a.d.  420),  who  wrote  against  Cyril  at  the 
request  of  John  of  Antioch. 

'  Quoted  by  Schafl'.  vol.  iii.  p.  717.  It  will  be  seen  how  little  this  figura- 
tive sense,  in  which  Theodore  admits  the  use  of  the  term,  diti'ers  from  the 
meaning  with  which  it  was  adopted  by  the  orthodox. 


A.D.  431.       GENERAL  COUNCIL  OF  EFHESUS.  3o3 

§  5.  The  controversy  seemed  now  to  demand  the  decision  of  the 
universal  Church ;  and  the  Emperors  of  the  East  and  West, 
Tlicodosius  II.  and  Valentinian  III.,  convened  a  Third  (EcuTnenkal 
Council  to  meet  at  Ephesus,'  at  reutecost,  a.d.  431.  Theodosius, 
unable  to  attend  in  person,  was  represented  by  Count  Candidian, 
the  captain  of  his  body-guard.  The  Emperor  gave  his  special 
protection  to  Nestorius,  who  was  the  first  to  arrive  with  sixteen 
bishops  and  an  armed  escort.  But  his  party  was  far  outnumbered 
by  that  of  Cyril,  who  came  attended  by  fifty  Egyptian  bishops, 
besides  monks,  parahoJani^  slaves,  and  seamen,  under  the  banner  of 
St,  Mark  and  the  Holy  Mother  of  God.  His  cause  was  supported 
by  Memnon,  archbishop  of  Ephcsus,  with  forty  suffragan  bishops 
of  Asia  and  twelve  from  Pamphylia,  and  by  the  general  voice  of 
the  clergy  and  monks  of  Asia  INliuor.  Pope  Celestine  was  represented 
by  two  bishops  and  a  presbyter,  -nho  affected  the  judicial  authority 
of  the  Roman  see,  but  were  really  on  the  side  of  Cyril.^  But  these 
papal  envoys  did  not  arrive  till  after  the  first  sittings  of  the  council, 
and  the  chief  supporter  of  Nestorius,  John  of  Antioch,  was  detained 
on  the  journey,  with  his  bishops. 

Without  waiting  for  their  arrival,  Cyril  opened  the  council 
(June  22nd),  disregarding  the  protest  of  the  imperial  commis- 
sioner. Nestorius,  who  refused  to  appear  till  all  the  bishops  should 
be  assembled,  was  condemned  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  this 
imjxirfect  council,  who  anathematized  himself,  his  doctrine,  his 
faith,  his  followers,  and  all  who  should  hold  fellowship  with  him 
or  should  refuse  to  anathematize  him.  This  first  sitting  was 
closeil,  late  at  night,  by  the  sentence  of  deposition,  subscribed  by 
about  two  hundred  bishops  : — "  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is 
blasphemed  by  him,  determines  tlirough  this  holy  council  that 
Nestorius  be  excluded  from  the  episcopnl  oftice,  and  from  all  sacer- 
dotal fellowship."  The  sentence  was  communicated  to  him  next 
day  by  an  edict,  in  which  he  was  called  a  new  Judas.  But  he  sent 
an  indignant  protest  to  the  Emj^eror,  whose  commissioner  declared 
the  decrees  invalid.  Under  this  official  protection,  John  of  Antioch, 
arriving  a  few  days  later  with  forty-two  bishops,  proceeded  at  once  to 
hold  a  separate  council  in  his  own  lodgings,  which  deposed  Cyril  and 
Memnon,  and  excommunicated  the  other  bishops  of  their  party. 
The  ensuing  scenes  of  mutual  recrimination,  intrigue,  and  violence 

'  With  regard  to  the  place  of  meeting,  Schaff  observes  that  it  was 
"  where  the  worshij)  of  the  Virgin  Mother  of  God  had  taken  the  place  of 
the  worship  of  the  light  and  life  dispensing  virgin  Diana;"  and  that  the 
popular  feeling  at  Ephesiis,  as  at  Constantinople,  was  in  opposition  to 
Nestorius.  *  See  above.  Chap.  XII.  §  11. 

^  Augustine  had  been  summoned  by  a  special  imperial  mandate,  but  he 
died  (as  we  have  seen)  the  year  before  the  council  met  (Aug.  28th,  430). 


354      NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES.    Chap.  XV. 

•were  disgraceful  alike  to  both  parties.  AVhen  the  papal  envoys  at 
length  arrived,  Cyril  held  a  second  session  (July  10th),  followed  by 
five  more,  making  seven  in  all,  in  which  the  council  issued  several 
circular  letters  and  six  canons  against  the  Nestorians  and  Pelagians. 

Both  parties  now  appealed  to  the  Emperor,  whose  favour  for 
Nestorius  was  overpowered  by  the  demonstrations  of  the  monks  and 
people  of  Constantinople.  He  adopted  the  feeble  compromise  of 
confirming  the  deposition  alike  of  Nestorius  and  of  Cyril  and 
Memnon,  and  sent  a  high  officer,  John,  to  Ephesus,  to  publish  the 
sentence,  arrest  the  deposed  bishops,  and  try  to  effect  a  recon- 
ciliation. The  bishops  of  the  majority,  who  claimed  to  be  the 
Council,  petitioned  the  Emperor  to  release  Cyril  and  Memnon,  as 
not  having  been  deposed  by  them  ;  while  the  other  party  attempted 
to  vindicate  their  orthodoxy  by  transmitting  to  the  Emperor  a 
creed,  in  which  the  disputed  word  theotokos  was  admitted,  as  ex- 
pressing the  uncovfiised  union^  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ. 
Theodosius  summoned  eight  representatives  of  each  party  to  argue 
the  question  before  him  at  Clialcedon ;  amongst  whom  were  the 
Koman  deputies  on  the  one  side,  and  John  of  Antioch  and  Theo- 
doret  on  the  other.  The  conference,  however,  led  to  no  result, 
and  the  Council  of  Ephesus  was  dissolved  in  October  431.  Cyril 
and  Memnon  were  set  free  from  their  prison  at  Ephesus  ;  and, 
Nestorius  having  been  already  sent  back  to  his  cloister  near  Antioch, 
Maximian  was  appointed  his  successor  in  the  see  of  Constanti- 
nople. The  result,  therefore,  of  these  confused  proceedings  was  to 
brand  Nestorius  with  heresy. 

Two  years  later  the  more  moderate  of  the  Antiochian  party 
made  a  compromise  with  their  victorious  opponents.  The  patri- 
arch John  sent  to  Cyril  a  creed,  drawn  up  by  Tlieodoret,  which 
asserted  the  twofold  nature  in  Christ,  but  applied  to  Mary  the 
phrase  "Mother  of  God"  to  express  the  union  ivithout  confusion 
of  the  divine  and  human  natures,^  and  "  because  God  tlie  Logos 
was  made  flesh  and  man,  and  united  with  himself  the  temple  (i.e. 
humanity),  even  from  the  conception ;  which  temple  he  took  from 
the  Virgin."  Cyril  sent  an  answer,  adopting  this  confession  with  some 
further  explanations,  and  agreeing  to  the  restoration  of  communion, 
on  the  condition  that  the  condemnation  of  Nestorius  should  be 
confirmed.  The  Antiochenes  accordingly  joined  in  anathematizing 
his  "wicked  and  profane  innovations;"  and  the  unhappy  ex- 
patriarch  was  made  the  victim  of  restored  peace.  Dragged  from 
his  cloister,  after  four  years  of  quiet  retirement,  to  successive  places 
of  exile  in  Arabia  and  Egypt,  he  bore  with  meekness  the  perse- 

'    'KcTvyx^'^os  evccffiS. 

^  Kara  rauTTjv  rrjf  rrjs  aavyx^rov  ifuxrews  fvvoiav. 


A.D.  431.  f.  NESTORIAN  CHURCHES.  355 

cutions  he  liad  once  so  arrogantly  inflicted,  and  wrote  the  story  of 
liis  own  life  under  the  title  of  a  "  Tragedy."  ^  He  died  some  time 
alter  439,  but  the  exact  time  and  place  are  unknown ;  though 
tradition  has  assigned  him  a  grave  in  Upper  Egypt,  upon  which  the 
^lonophysite  Jacobites  annually  cast  stones  in  sign  of  execration. 
His  writings  were  burnt  by  order  of  Theodosius  II. ;  and  the  con- 
demnation of  Nestorius  was  extended  to  his  deceased  teacher, 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia. 

§  6.  The  Nestorian  doctrines,  however,  lingered  in  the  famous 
theological  school  of  Edessa,  till  it  was  dissolved  by  the  Emperor 
Zeno  (489).  Several  teachers  of  the  school  found  a  refuge  in  the 
neighbouring  empire  of  Persia,  where  the  Nestorian  theology  had 
already  taken  root ;  and  they  were  favoured  by  the  kings  out  of 
opposition  to  the  Roman  Empire.  Bavsunias,  bishop  of  Kisibis 
(435-489),^  founded  a  theological  scliool,  which  greatly  lielped  to 
perpetuate  the  Nestorian  doctrines,  as  well  as  to  spread  Christianit}'  in 
the  East.  Ado^jting  the  name  of  C/iahlcean  or  Assi/riau  Ghristkms 
(while  called  JSestorians  by  their  oi>ponents),  tiiey  held  a  council  at 
Seleucia  on  the  Tigris,  and  renounced  connection  with  tlie  Church  of 
the  Koman  Empire  (498).  They  liad  a  iiatriavch,  wdiose  see  was 
first  at  Seleucia-Ctesiphon  (496-7G2),  and  afterwards  at  Bagdad, 
where  he  bore  the  Aiabic  title  of  Yazdich  {cuthoJiats).  In  the 
tliirteenth  century  he  had  no  less  than  twenty-five  metropolitans 
under  him. 

§  7.  The  Nestorian  Church  well  redeemed  whatever  taint  of 
heresy  hung  about  its  origin  by  the  missionary  zeal  which  spread 
Christianity  from  Persia  to  Arabia  and  India,  Tartary  and  China. 
With  their  religion,  they  difU'used  Greek  and  other  learning,  and 
founded  schools  and  hospitals.  It  was  from  a  Nestorian  monk, 
named  Sergius,  that  Mohammed  is  supposed  to  have  derived  his 
knowledge  of  Christianity ;  and  the  sect,  protected  by  him,  imparted 
to  the  Arabians  much  of  the  culture  which  they,  in  their  turn, 
brought  back  to  the  West.^  In  India,  the  Nestorian  missionaries 
liave  left  the  permanent  fruit  of  their  labours  in  the  Christians  of  the 
Malabar  coast,  who,  with  less  reason,  trace  their  first  evangelization 
to  tiie  Apostle  Thomas.  Next  to  him,  they  reverence  the  memory 
of  Theodore  and  Nestorius  in  their  Syriac  liturgy,  and  they  own 
subjection  to  the  Nestorian  patriarchs.     With  the  exception  of  a 

'   See  the  Fragments  in  Evagrius,  //.  E.  i.  7. 

*  This  Barsumas  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  contemporary  Mono- 
physite  abbot  Barsumas.  a  saint  of  the  Jacobites. 

'  See  the  important  remarks  of  Alexander  von  Humboldt  (Kosmos,  vol. 
ii.  p.  247,  f.)  on  the  connection  of  Xestorianism  with  the  culture  and  phj-- 
sical  science  of  the  Arabians,  quoted  by  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  pp.  731-2. 


356      NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES.    Chap.  XV. 

compulsory  connection  with  Rome  tliroui^h  the  agency  of  the 
Jesuits  under  the  Portuguese  rule  in  tliat  part  of  India  (1599- 
1G63),  they  have  enjoyed  the  fiee  exercise  of  their  religion.  They 
now  form  a  community  of  about  70,000  souls  under  their  priests 
and  elders. 

The  Christianity  founded  by  the  Nestorians  in  Central  Asia  was 
famed  throughout  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  by  the  I'abulous 
accounts  of  their  convert,  the  priest-king  John  (l-'rester  John),  of 
the  Kerait,  to  whom  several  Popes  sent  unsuccessful  missions. 
This  Christian  state,  if  it  ever  existed,  was  overthrown  by  Zenghis 
Khan,  and  very  slight  traces  of  Nestorian  Christianity  are  left  in 
Tartary  and  China.  In  their  chief  seats  on  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates, the  Nestorians  were  cruelly  persecuted  by  the  Mongol!*, 
and  they  were  almost  exterminated  by  Timour  (Tamerlane)  at  the 
end  of  the  fourteenth  century.  A  remnant  still  survives  in  Kur- 
distan and  Armenia,  imder  a  patriarch,  whose  seat  was  at  Mosul  on 
the  Tigris,^  from  1559  to  the  seventeenth  century,  and  since  then 
in  a  retired  valley  on  the  borders  of  Turkey  and  Persia.  The  people 
are  poor  and  ignorant,  and  have  been  much  reduced  by  war,  pla:zue, 
and  cholera.  'I'hey  are,  however,  willing  reci|tients  of  the  teaching 
of  Protestant  missionaries ;  and  hopes  are  entertained  of  their 
proving  the  best  medium  for  again  spreading  Christianity  among 
their  Mohammedan  neighbours,  as  their  ancestors  did  among  the 
heathen.'*  Another  portion  of  the  Nestorians,  especially  those  in 
the  cities,  have  joined  the  Roman  Catholic  communion.  They  are 
called  Chaidajans — the  ancient  name  of  the  whole  community — 
and  are  under  tlie  government  of  a  patriarch  at  Bagdad. 

§  8.  The  Nestorian  controversy  was  speedily  followed  by,  or 
rather  naturally  gave  birth  to,  the  Eufychian,  in  which  the  orthodox 
and  heretical  parties  in  some  degree  changed  places,  by  a  reaction 
against  the  Alexandrian  doctrine.  The  Council  of  Ephesus,  in  con- 
denming  Nestorius,  attempted  no  definition  of  the  orthodox  view  of 
the  two  natures  in  Christ.  The  creed  adopted  as  a  comprumise  was 
distasteful  to  many  of  Cyril's  followers,  and  he  himself  explained  it 
quite  differently  from  Theodoret  and  the  other  divines  of  Antioch. 

On  his  death,  in  444,  he  was  succeeded  by  Dioscurus  (444-451), 
a  man  of  far  less  ability,  and  of  a  still  more  passionate  and  ambitious 
spirit,  who  aimed  at  exalting  his  see  to  supiemacy  over  the  Eastern 
Church,  With  this  view  he  jmt  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
Monophysite  party,  in  open  antagonism  to  the  school  of  Antioch. 

*  This  town  is  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Tigris,  opposite  to  the  site  of 
Nineveh. 

2  The  mission  to  the  Nestorians  is  conducted  by  the  American  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions. 


A.D.  444,  f.     THE  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSY.         357 

The  chief  theological  champion  of  the  Monophysite  doctrine  was 
EuTYCHEs,  an  aged  presbyter  and  archimandrite  in  Constantinople, 
respected  for  his  personal  character,  but  described  by  rojie  Leo  the 
Great  as  "  very  ignorant  and  unskilled."  He  maintained  that  our 
Lord,  after  his  incarnation,  had  not  in  any  sense  two  natures,  but  one 
only,  and  tliis  tlie  nature  of  God  who  had  become  flesJi  and  man. 
"  The  impersonal  human  nature  is  a::similated  and,  as  it  were,  deified 
by  the  personal  Logos,  so  that  his  body  is  by  no  means  of  the  same 
substance  (ofioovaiov)  with  ours,  but  a  divine  body.  All  human 
attributes  are  transferred  to  the  one  substance,  the  humanized 
Logos.  Hence  it  may  and  must  be  said :  God  is  born ;  God  suf- 
fered ;  God  was  crucified  and  died.  He  asserted,  therefore,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  capability  of  suffering  and  death  in  the  Logos-personality, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  deification  of  the  human  in  Christ."* 

Theodoret  attacked  the  Eutychian  doctrine  as  a  compound  of 
various  heresies,  and  defended  the  Antiochian  confession  in  three 
dialogues  (-147);  and  he  was  supported  by  Domnus,  patriarch  of 
Antioch,  against  the  charge  of  dualizing  heresy  brought  against 
him  by  Dit)scuru3.  Botli  parties  sought  support  from  tlie  imperial 
court,  and  the  controversy  was  transferred  to  Constantinople.  At  a 
synod  held  by  the  patriarch  Flavian,  Eutyches  was  deposed  and 
excommunicated,  and  the  council  adopted  the  confession,  "  that 
Christ,  after  the  incarnation,  consisted  of  two  natures  in  one  sub- 
stance (Iii/postasis)  and  in  one  person,  one  Christ,  one  Son,  one 
Lord"  (448).  This  decision  was  approved  by  the  authority  of 
Leo  L,  bishop  of  Piome  (440-4G1),  surnamed  the  Great,  who  now 
appears  in  the  character,  which  he  maintained  during  his  pontificate, 
of  arbiter  in  the  disputes  of  the  Eastern  Church.  He  expressed  his 
opinion  in  several  letters,  especially  one  to  Flavian,  "which  forms 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Christolog}',  and  in  which  he  gave  a 
masterly,  profound,  and  clear  analysis  of  the  orthodox  doctrine  of 
two  natures  in  one  person  "  (449).^ 

§  9.  Dioscurus  now  j^re vailed  on  the  Emperor  (o  summon  a 
General  Council,  which  met,  like  the  last,  at  Ephesus  (August  449), 
and  well  earned  the  designation  of  Latrociniiim  or  Synod  of 
lidbbers?  A  hundred  and  thirty-five  bishops  met  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Dioscurus,  who  was  supported  by  an  armed  guard  and  a 

'  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  737. 

-  IbiJ.,  vol.  iii.  p.  738.  This  Epistola  Doqmatica  ad  Flaviamtm  was  sent 
with  another  addressed  to  the  Council  of  Ephesus  ;  and  the  two  were  after- 
wards adopted,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Tome  of  St.  Leo."  by  the  Council 
of  Chalcedon,  and  obtained  almost  the  authority  of  a  creed.  Some,  inded 
regarded  it  as  a  miraculous  production,  corrected  by  St.  Peter  himself. 

'  ^vyoSos  XrjaTpiKri,  Latrocinium  Ephesinum.  It  is  first  so  called  by  Loo 
the  Great,  in  a  letter  to  Pulcheria  (July  20th,  451).     On  account  of  its 

17* 


358      NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES.    Chap.  XV. 

more  formidable  force  of  monks  and  parabolani.  The  delegates  of 
Leo  could  not  obtain  a  hearing  for  his  Epistle  to  the  Council. 
Eusebius  of  Dorylajum,  who  had  accused  Eutyches  at  Constanti- 
nople, was  howled  down  by  the  monks  with  cries  of  "  Let  him  be 
burnt  alive  !  As  he  has  cut  Christ  in  two,  so  let  Eusebius  be  cut 
in  two."  Eutyches  was  at  once  absolved,  on  repeating  the  Kicene 
Creed  and  anathematizing  all  heresies.  Then  the  condemnation 
of  Flavian  and  Eusebius  was  loudly  demanded,  especially  by  the 
monks  of  Eutyches ;  and  Dioscurus  hastened  to  proclaim  their 
deposition.  In  vain  did  Flavian  protest  against  this  violent  assump- 
tion ;  and  when  the  Bishop  of  Iconium,  clasping  the  knees  of  Dios- 
curus, entreated  him  not  to  proceed,  the  haughty  president  exclaimed, 
"  Would  you  make  a  sedition  ?  Where  are  the  guards  ?"  As  if  by 
a  preconcerted  signal,  the  soldiers  rushed  in,  armed  with  swords 
and  clubs,  and  carrying  chains  and  fetters,  followed  by  a  mob  of 
monks  awA.  j^ctraholani.  The  bishops  of  Flavian's  party  were  beaten 
and  carried  off  in  chains,  and  he  himself  was  so  maltreated  that  he 
died  of  his  wounds  three  days  later,  at  an  obscure  village  in  I>ydia, 
to  which  he  was  banished  by  the  council ;  all  the  members  having 
been  awed  by  this  violence  into  signing  his  deposition.  The  deacon 
Hilarus,  who  alone  refused,  had  to  fly  for  his  life,  and,  after  many 
hardships  on  his  long  journey,  carried  to  Leo  the  report  of  this  mis- 
called "  Council  of  the  Universal  Church."  Not  only  Flavian,  but 
Domnus,  Theodoret,  and  Leo  himself  were  included  in  the  sentence 
of  deposition  and  excommunication.  The  decrees  of  the  council 
and  its  sentences  against  the  bishops  were  ratified  by  the  imperial 
edicts  of  Theodosius  II.  and  Valentinian  III. 

§  10.  On  the  arrival  of  Hilarus  at  Rome,  Leo  convened  a  synod, 
which  pronounced  the  proceedings  at  Ephesus  null  and  void ;  and 
he  addressed  letters  of  protest  to  Theodosius  and  his  sister  Pulcheria, 
and  to  the  Church  at  Constantinople.  Theodoret  also  appealed 
to  the  Emperor  against  the  sentence  of  deposition.  Though  Leo 
won  the  sympathy  of  Valentinian  and  his  mother  Placidia,  when 
they  visited  Eome  at  the  Feast  of  St.  Peter  (450),  Theodosius  per- 
sisted in  approving  the  acts  of  the  "  llobber  Synod  ;"  but  his  death 
in  the  same  year  (July)  made  a  complete  doctrinal  revolution. 
The  able  and  virtuous  senator  Maecian,  who  succeeded  to  the 
Eastern  Empire  by  his  marriage  with  Pulcheria,  the  sister  and 
heiress  of  Theodosius,  was  favourable  to  Leo  ;  and  the  new  patriarch 
Anatolius,  though  appointed  Flavian's  successor  by  the  influence  of 
Dioscurus,  now  took  the  same  side. 

outrageous  violence,  and  still  more  because  of  the  reversal  of  its  proceed- 
ings by  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  this  synod  is  not  included  in  the  list  of 
(Ecumenical  Councils. 


A.D.  451.  GENERAL  COUiNTIL  OF  CHALCEDON.  359 

In  May  451,  Marcian  convened  a  Fourth  (Ecumenical  Council  to 
meet,  not  however  in  Italy,  as  Leo  wished,  but  in  the  East,  at  Nica;a, 
in  the  hope  that  it  might  rank  with  the  First  Council  in  authority 
and  in  restoring  peace  to  the  Church.  Such,  however,  was  the 
tumultuous  behaviour  of  the  two  parties  on  their  assembling,  that 
the  sittings  were  at  once  transferred  to  Chalcedon,  on  the  bank  of 
the  Bosporus  opposite  to  Constantinople.  The  council,  which  was 
Oldened  in  the  church  of  St.  Euphemia  on  the  8th  of  October,  451, 
was  the  most  numerous  of  all  tiie  Ecumenical  Councils,^  and  only 
second  in  doctrinal  importance  to  that  of  Is'icaja.  It  was  comjwsed 
entirely  of  Oriental  bishops,  with  the  exception  of  two  Koman 
bishops  and  a  presbyter,  as  the  delegates  of  Leo,  and  two  African 
bishops.  But  the  Western  Church  was  not  ill  represented  by  the 
high  authority  which  Leo  had  earned  in  the  controversy,  and  his 
legates  now  first  took  the  place  of  clerical  presidents  in  an 
Oecumenical  Council. 

The  six.  lay  commissioners,-  who  presided  as  repfesentatives  of 
the  Emperor,  had  some  trouble  in  calling  the  bishops  to  a  sense 
of  the  indecency  of  the  tumultuous  cries*  with  which  each  party 
assailed  its  opponents,  especially  Theodoret  on  the  one  side,  and 
Dioscurus  on  the  other.  The  outcry  against  Theodoret  was  only 
appeased  by  his  consenting  to  anathematize  Nestorius  and  all  who 
did  not  call  Mary  the  "  Mother  of  God,"  or  who  divided  the  one 
Christ  into  two  Sons.  But  the  indignation  against  Eutyches  and 
the  Robber  Synod  was  so  much  the  stronger,  that  most  of  the 
Egyptians  Avent  over  to  the  other  side.  At  the  first  sitting  the 
proceedings  of  the  Robber  Synod  were  annulled,  the  orthodoxy  of 
Flavian  was  affirmed,  and  Dioscurus,  after  vainly  seeking  to  ex- 
tenuate his  share  in  the  violence  perpetrated  at  Ephesus,  was 
deposed  and  committed  to  custody.  The  second  session  was  oc- 
cupied in  reading  the  Nicajno-Constantinopolitan  Creed,'*  two  letters 
of  Cyril,  and  Leo's  famous  Letter  to  Flavian,  which  Avas  greeted 
with  applause  and  cries  of  "  This  is  the  faith  of  the  Fathers !  This 
is  the  faith  of  the  Apostles !  So  we  all  believe !  Anathema  to  him 
who  believes  otherwise!  Even  so  did  Cyril  teach.  Peter  hath 
spoken  by  Leo."  The  third  session  was  held  for  the  formal  trial  of 
Dioscurus  on  various  charges  of  avarice,  injustice,  and  immorality ; 
and  being  thrice  cited  without  appearing,  he  was  deposed  from  the 
clerical  office,  and  afterwards  banished  by  the  Emperor  to  Gangra, 
in  Paphlagonia,  where  he  died  three  j^ears  later.  Eutyches  was 
likewise  banished. 

'  The  number  of  bishops  is  variously  stated,  from  520  to  630. 
^  "Apxavrts,  jitdices.  ^  'EKfio'fia-fis  SrjfxoriKal. 

*  See  Chap.  XI.  §  7. 


360      NESTORIAN  AND  EUTYCHIAN  CONTROVERSIES.    Chap.  XV. 

The  fourth  and  fifth  sessions  were  devoted  to  the  most  important 
work  of  adopting  a  confession  of  the  Catholic  faith,  consisting  of 
the  Nicoeno-Constantinopolitan  Creed,  with  the  addition  of  a  state- 
ment of  the  doctrine  in  dispute  (almost  in  the  terms  of  Leo's  Epistle), 
by  which  Christ  is  "  acknowledged  in  two  natures,^  without  con- 
fusion, without  conversion,  witliout  severance,  and  without  division." 
On  the  public  reading  of  this  confession,  all  the  bishops  repeated  the 
or}',  "  This  is  the  faith  of  the  Fathers !  This  is  the  laitii  of  the 
Apostles!  To  this  we  all  agree  !  Thus  w-e  all  think !"  Their  con- 
cord was  confirmed  by  those  anathemas  on  all  dissentients,  without 
which  no  affirmation  of  the  truth  was  now  thought  valid.  1'he 
formal  ratification  of  the  new  creed  was  made  at  the  sixth  session, 
in  presence  of  the  Emperor  and  Empress,  who  were  hailed  as  another 
Coustantine  and  Helena.  "When  Marcian  gave  thanks  to  God  for 
the  restoration  of  the  true  faith,  and  promised  to  punish  all  authors 
of  new  controversies,  the  bishops  exclaimed,  "  Thou  art  both  priest 
and  king,  victor  in  war,  and  teacher  of  the  faith." 

The  remaining  sessions,  making  sixteen  in  all,  were  occupied 
with  various  matters  of  jurisdiction  and  order,  and  with  the  enact- 
ment of  28  canons,  by  the  last  of  which  the  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople was  declared  second  in  rank  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  but  with 
equal  rights.  Leo  protested  against  this  canon,  because  it  was 
based  on  the  civil  rank  of  the  two  capitals.  For  the  see  of  Rome 
he  claimed  the  supremacy  and  authority  derived  from  its  founder, 
St.  Peter,  the  chief  of  the  Apostles ;  while  he  objecteil  to  the  eleva- 
tion of  Constantinople  above  the  apostolic  sees  of  Alexandria, 
Antioch,  and  Jerusalem.  The  Council  ended  on  the  ]st  of  No- 
vember. Its  decrees  were  accepted  by  both  the  Eastern  and 
Western  churches,  and  efl'ect  was  given  to  them  by  imperial  edicts 
which  condemned  all  Eutychians  to  banishment  and  their  writings 
to  the  flames. 

'  There  are  two  readings  of  this  phrase:  the  present  Greek  text  having 
(K  Svo  <i>v<recijv  (^' of  two  natures"),  and  another  reading,  preserved  in 
the  Latin  version,  iv  Svo  (bvaemv,  in  (lit  ibus  naturis.  The  latter  appears 
to  be  the  original  form,  directed  expressly  against  the  Monophysite  error, 
in  the  interest  of  which  the  eV  may  have  been  changed  to  €k,  as  if  it  might 
mean  one  nature  arising  out  of  the  confluence  of  two.  (See  the  full  dis- 
cussion of  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  74:5.) 


St.  Sophia,  at  Constantinople. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE  MONOPHYSITE  AND  MONOTHELITE 
CONTROVERSIES    IN    THE    EASTERN    CHURCFI. 


FROM    THE    COUNCIL    OF    CHALCEDOX    TO    THE    SIXTH    GENERAL    COUNCIL 
AT   CONSTANTINOPLE,    A.D.    451-681. 

§  1.  Sequel  of  the  Monophysite  Controversy — Violent  Conflict  of  the  Parties 
— Schisms  at  Jerusalem,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch — The  Emperor  Leo  ]. 
enforces  the  Decrees  of  Chalcedon.  §  2.  Accession  of  Zeno  and  usurpa- 
tion of  Basiliscl's,  who  supports  the  Monophysites — Acacius,  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople  — Restoration  of  Zeno.  §  3.  Fall  of  the  Western 
Empire  ;  but  nominal  perpetuation  of  the  Roman  Empire,  with  Zeno  as 
sole  Emperor  — Influence  on  the  Eastern  Empire  and  the  Papal  Power. 
§  4.  The  Henoticon  of  Zeno :  its  failure — Schism  between  Rome  and 
Constantinople — State  of  Parties  at  the  time  of  Zeno's  death*.  §  5.  The 
Emperor  Anastasius — Deposition  of  Bishops — Riots  at  Constantinople. 
§  6.  Justin  I. — Restoration  of  Orthodoxy — Reconciliation  with  Rome. 
§  7.  Edicts  against  Heretics — Remonstrances  of  TheODORIC,  King  of 
Italy — Embassy  of  Pope  John  I.  to  Constantinople — His  return  and  im- 
prisonment by  Theodoric.  §  8.  Justinian  I. — His  character  and  re- 
ligious policy — The  Church  of  St.  Sophia — The  Schools  of  Athens  closed 
— Laws  against  Pagans  and  Heretics.  §  9.  The  Empress  Theodora  sup- 
ports the  Jlonophysites— The  Patriarch  Anthimus — Popes  Silverius  and 
Vigilius.  §  10.  Renewal  of  the  Origenist  Disputes  in  Palestine — Theo- 
dore Ascidas — Edict  against  the  "Three  Articles"  of  Nestorianism — 
Pope  Vigilius  at  Constantinople — His  Quarrel  with  the  Emperor.  §  11. 
The  Fifth  General  Council,  the  Second  of  Constantinople,  condemns  the 
Three  Articles — Partial  Reaction  against  Monophytisni — Political  Result : 


362  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Cuap.  XVI. 

Byzantine  Church  constitution  —  Schism  in  the  Western  Church. 
§  12.  Heresy  and  Death  of  Justinian — Justin  II. :  his  Edict  of  Tolera- 
tion —  End  of  the  Jlonophysite  ■  Controversy  within  the  Empire  — 
§  13.  The  Monothelitc  Controversy — The  Patriarch  Sergius  and  Theodore 
of  Pharan — The  Ecthesis  of  the  Emperor  Hijraclils.  §  14.  Constan- 
TINE  III.,  HeuaclkONAS,  and  Martina — Constans — The  Patriarch 
Pyrrhus  and  Pope  Theodore  I. — The  Patriarch  Paul — The  Type  of 
Constans— Its  Condemnation  by  Pope  Jlariin  I. — His  cruel  Treatment — 
Popes  Eugeuius,  Vitaliati,  and  Adeodatus  II. — Coxstantixe  IV.  and 
Pope  Agatho.  §  15.  The  Sixth  General  Council :  the  Third  of  Constanti- 
nople— Condemns  the  Monothelites,  and  defines  the  orthodox  Doctrine — 
Its  Condemnation  of  a  Pope  concurred  in  by  another  Pope.  §  16.  Mono- 
physite  churches  existing  to  the  present  time :  (1)  The  Jacobites  of  Syria 
and  Mesopotamia ;  (2)  The  Armenian  Church ;  (^3)  The  Coptic  Church 
of  Egypt,  and  the  Church  of  Abyssinia ;  (4)  The  Maronites  of  Mount 
Lebanon. 

§  1.  The  mutual  congratulations  of  the  bishops  and  Emperor  at 
Chalcedon  arc  now  read  in  the  light  of  the  proverbial  irony  of 
history,  and  both  the  extremes  which  they  forbad — the  Nestorian 
and  the  Mono2)hysite — are  represented  by  sects  in  existence  at  the 
present  day.  We  may  here  throw  a  forwaid  glance  at  the  subse- 
quent course  of  the  controversy,  for  which  the  Council  of  Chalcedon 
proved  but  a  new  starting-point.  Its  confession  and  decrees  were 
violently  impugned,  especially  in  Egypt  and  Palestine,  by  a  large 
party,  who  rejected  indeed  the  Eutychian  doctrine  of  the  absorption 
of  the  human  nature  into  the  divine,  and  granted  that  the  nature 
of  Christ  was  composite,  but  took  their  stand  on  the  oneness  of  that 
nature.  From  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  all  who  held 
this  view  were  included  by  the  Catholics  under  the  common  name 
of  Monophysitcs^  while  they  in  turn  stigmatized  the  adherents  of 
the  Chalcedonian  symbol  as  Dyophysitcs'^  and  Nestorians.  The 
great  formula  of  the  Monophysites  was  "  Ood  has  been  crucified  ^^ ; 
and  this  tliey  embodied  in  their  liturgical  worsliip  as  an  addition  to 
the  Catholic  Trisagion  or  Sanctus,  '^Uo\y  God!  Holy  Almighty! 
Holy  Immortal !  tvho  hast  been  crucified  for  us,  have  mercy  upon 
lis!"  Hence  they  were  also  called  Theopaschites,^  a  term  almost 
exactly  equivalent  with  the  Patripassians  of  earlier  times. 

The  general  charactx?r  of  these  complicated  controversies,  which 
convulsed  the  Eastern  Church  for  just  a  century,  from  the  Fourth 
General  Council,  at  Chalcedon,  to  the  Filth  at  Constantinople  (451- 

•  Muvo(pv<TlTai,  from  fiSvri  (pvffis,  one  only  nature.  "They  conceded  the 
fK  Svo  (pvfffwv  (as  even  Eutyches  and  Oioscurus  had  done),  but  denied  the 
4i>  Svo  (pva-fffiv  after  the  fvwffis."  (Schall',  vol.  iii.  p.  763.)       *  Avotpvahai. 

'  06O7ra(rx«Tai,  J.  e.  those  who  held  that  Ood  suffered  in  the  passion  of 
Christ. 


A.D  457.  THE  EMPEROR  LEO  I.  363 

553)^  is  thus  described  by  Professor  Schaff:' — "The  external  liistory 
of  the  controversy  is  a  history  of  outrages  and  intrigues,  depositions 
and  banishments,  commotions,  divisions,  and  attempted  reunions. 
Immediately  after  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  bloody  fights  of  the 
monks  and  rabble  broke  out,  and  Monophysite  factions  went  off  in 
schismatic  churches."  Of  these  schisms  a  very  brief  notice  will 
suffice.  In  Palestine  a  monk  named  Theodosius  was  set  up  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  patriarch  Juvenal  of  Jerusalem  (451-453).  He  was 
countenanced  by  the  Empress  Eudocia,  widow  of  Theodosius  II., 
who  was  won  back  to  the  Catholic  faith  chiefly  by  the  persuasions 
of  Simeon  Stylites.  Meanwhile  Theodosius  was  deserted  by  his 
adherents  and  Juvenal  was  restored. 

At  Alexandria  the  use  of  military  force,  with  much  bloodshed,  was 
needed  to  support  the  new  patriarch  Proterius,  elected  as  successor 
to  Dioscurus  (-152).  On  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Marcian  (457),  two 
Monophysite  leaders,  Timothy  yElurus'^  and  Peter  Mongus,'  raised  a 
new  sedition,  supported  by  an  excited  mob.  Timothy  was  consecrated 
as  patriarch  by  two  deposed  bishops,  and  Proterius  was  murdered  in 
the  baptist'cry  of  his  cathedral,  and  his  corpse  was  horribly  insulted. 
The  new  Emperor,  Leo  I.,  "the  Thracian"  (Thrax)* — the  first 
prince  who  was  crow-ned  by  an  ecclesiastic,  Anatolius,  the  patriarch 
of  Constantinople — began  his  reign  by  confirming  the  acts  of  his 
predecessor  concerning  religion.  In  reply  to  a  requisition  to  the 
principal  bishops  and  monks  of  all  the  provinces,®  he  received  their 
xmanimous  approval  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  and  condemnation 
of  the  election  of  ^Elurus,  who  was  banished  to  Cherson.  At 
Antioch,  Peter  the  Fuller®  was  twice  raised  to  the  patriarchate  by 
the  Monophysites,  and  twice  expelled,  in  the  reign  of  Leo. 

§  2.  Leo  died  in  474,  leaving  an  infant  grandson,  Lko  II.,  the 
son  of  his  daughter  Ariadne  and  her  Isaurian  husband,  who  had 
changed  his  native  name  for  the  Greek  Zeno,  and  who  obtained  the 
purple  by  the  susj^icious  death  of  the  infant  Emperor  within  a  year. 
But  Zeno  fled  to  Isauria  at  the  threat  of  a  rebellion  by  the  widow 
of  Leo  I. ;  and  the  Senate  proclaimed  her  brother  Basiliscus  Emperor 
(475).     He  rewarded  his  Monophysite  supporters  by  recalling  their 

'  Vol.  iii.  pp.  764-5. 

-  ArAoupor,  the  Cat.  *  Vldyyos,  the  Hoarse. 

*  From  the  death  of  Theodosius  II.  the  Empire  fell  to  a  succession  of 
military  adventurers,  whose  lives,  and  the  civil  history  of  their  reigns, 
may  be  read  in  the  Students  Gibl)on. 

*  This  appears  to  have  been  a  device  for  obtaining  a  judgment  equiv.i- 
lent  to  that  of  a  General  Council,  without  the  trouble,  and  (as  parties  now 
stood)  the  dan£;er,  involved  in  conveninc;  such  an  assembly. 

'  'O  yuatpfvs,  Fullo.  It  was  he  who  introduced  into  the  liturgy  the 
formula,  ''  God  was  crucified  for  us." 


364  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH,  Chap.  XVI. 

banished  bishops,  Timothy  /Elurus  and  Peter  the  Fuller,  and^took 
upon  himself — what  no  former  Emperor  had  done,  except  as  con- 
firming the  decisions  of  a  Council — to  publish  an  encyclical  letter,' 
condemning  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  and  laying  down  definitions 
of  faith.  The  edict  was  subscribed  by  the  new  patriarchs  of  Alex- 
andria and  Antioch,  and  five  hundred  other  bishops. 

But  the  Patriarch  Acacius,^  whose  religious  policy  had  been 
hitherto  courtly  and  equivocating,  now  came  lorward  as  the  decided 
champion  of  the  expelled  Emperor  and  tiie  creed  of  Chalcedon,  and 
roused  the  monks  and  populace  by  his  preaching.  Daniel  the  Stylite, 
to  whom  both  parties  had  sent  envoys  as  the  most  revertd  oracle  of 
the  age,  came  down  from  his  ijiliar  and  appeared  at  Constantinople 
to  confirm  the  orthodox  faith  by  miracles  and  denounce  judgments 
on  the  usurper.  Zeno  was  now  marching  against  the  capital,  sup- 
ported by  barbarian  levies  and  by  the  whole  orthodox  party. 
Basiliscus  issued  a  new  edict,^  reversing  his  encyclical  and  approving 
the  faith  of  Chalcedon.  But  it  was  too  late.  On  the  approach  of 
Zeno,  he  took  refuge  in  a  church,  and  is  said  to  have  been  delivered 
up  by  Acacius  to  the  vengeance  of  his  rival  (477).  Most  of  the 
bishops  who  had  subscribed  the  encyclical  made  their  submission  to 
the  faith  of  the  restored  Emperor.  Peter  the  Fuller  was  again 
ejected  from  the  see  of  Antioch.  Timothy  iElurus  had  died  in  the 
same  year,  and  Peter  Mongus,  who  had  been  irregularly  consecrated 
as  his  successor,  was  expelled,  but  not  banished;  and  we  shall 
presently  find  new  troubles  arising  from  his  renewed  claims  to 
the  see  of  Alexandria. 

§  3.  The  restoration  of  Zeno  was  attended  by  an  event  of  the 
greatest  moment  in  the  history  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  Emperor 
Valentinian  III.,  the  last  descendant  of  the  great  Theodosius  in  the 
West,  had  been  killed  in  455,  having  survived  the  real  overthrow 
of  his  empire  by  the  barbarians,  though  its  nominal  existence 
was  prolonged  for  twenty  years  under  the  brief  reigns  of  eight 
successors.  'J'he  last  of  these,  who  by  a  strange  coincidence  bore 
the  names  of  the  founder  of  Pome  and  of  her  imperial  line, 
EoMULUS  AuGUSTULUS,  was  deposed  by  the  barbarian  chief  Odoacer, 
and  made  a  form.al  abdication  of  the  Einpire  (47G). 

But  this  act,  though  truly  called  the  Fall  of  the  Western  Empire, 
Avas  something  quite  different  in  form  ;  and  its  form  involved  con- 
sequences of  real  importance  in  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history 
of  the  three  following  centuries.  Nothing  was  further  from  the  in- 
tention of  the  Pomans  than  to  confess  that  the  Empire  of  Home 
had  come  to  an  end.  The  Senate,  which,  from  the  rise  of  Augustus 

'  'E^Ku/cAiOJ'.  *  Elected  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  in  171. 


A.D.  482.  ZENO'S  "  HENOTICON."  365 

to  the  fall  of  Augustulus,  had  always  been  in  theory  the  supreme 
authority  as  much  as  it  was  dnrin<j;  the  llepublic,  and  had  often 
used  that  authority  in  disposing  of  the  vacant  purple,  now  decreed 
the  reunion  of  the  Empire  under  the  Emi'eror  who  reigned  at 
Constantinople.  They  sent  an  address  to  Zeno,  representing  that 
the  West  no  longer  needed  a  separate  emperor  ;  and  Zeno  appointed 
the  barbarian  chief,  whtun  his  troops  had  saluted  king  of  Italy,  as 
his  Vicar,  with  the  title  of  Patrician.  It  was  likewise  with  a  com- 
mission from  Zeno  that  the  great  Theodoric,  fourteen  years  later, 
overthrew  Odoacer,  and  founded  the  kingdom  of  the  Ostrogoths  in 
Italy. 

The  new  rulers  of  the  West  seem  to  have  been  proud  of  the  pres- 
tige derived  from  their  nominal  connection  with  the  old  Koman 
Empire,  of  wlijch  many  forms  and  institutions  were  continued; 
while  the  sovereigns  at  Constantinople  claimed  to  be  still  h'oman 
Emperors,  and  enforced  their  claim  when  the  opportunity  otVered, 
so  as  for  a  time  to  lecover  a  large  part  of  their  old  dominion  in  the 
"West.  Thus  the  tradition  of  the  Old  P^mpire  was  preserved  at 
Eome,  till  it  was  replaced  by  the  new  Homan  Empire  of  Charles 
the  Great  (a.d.  800).  This  view  throws  light,  not  only  on  the  re- 
lation of  the  Eastern  Emperors  to  the  West,  but  on  the  growing 
power  of  the  Pope,  as  a  living  and  present  representative  of  Home's 
imperial  authority  in  religion,  co-ordinate  with  the  civil  authority 
which  liad  now  become  a  dead  letter,  or  was  at  best  in  a  state  of 
suspended  vitalit^^ 

§  4.  Soon  after  the  accession  of  Zeno,  the  violence  of  the  contro- 
versy had  so  far  abated,  and  the  ^lonophy sites  had  given  up  so 
much  of  the  strict  Eutychian  doctrines,  that  a  new  compromise 
seemed  practicable.  By  the  advice  of  Acacius,  Zeno  issued  a  pro- 
posal, aiidresscd  primarily  to  the  ]  atriarchate  of  Alexandria,  but 
intended  for  acceptance  by  all  the  churches,  under  the  title  ol  Heno- 
ticon,  or  Form  if  Union.'  While  anathematizing  both  Nestorius  and 
Eutychcs,  it  declared  the  Kica^no-Constantinopnlitan  Creed  to  be 
the  only  binding  symbd,  thus  tacitl}'  receding  from  the  Confession 
of  Chalccdon,  which  was  referred  Xo  in  terms  which  the  Catholics 
considered  disparaging.  Avoiding  any  distinct  mention  of  the  single 
or  twofold  nature  of  Christ,  it  stated  that  He  is  " consubstantial 
with  the  Father  as  touching  his  Godhead,  and  with  us  as  touching 
his  manhood,"  and  that  "  the  miracles  and  sufferings  were  of  one  and 
the  same  Person."  It  contained  no  reference  to  Leo's  Letter  to 
Flavian;  and,  being  put  furth  without  any  consultation  with  Pome, 
was  sure  to  be  rejected  there.     In  fact,  the  Henoticon  oflended  both 

'  '^voiTiKvv,  literally,  "  conducive  to  union,"  from  iv6w,  to  make  one 
(4V). 


366  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI- 

parties,  created  a  new  division  among  the  Monophysites  themselves, 
and  opened  a  schism  between  the  churches  of  liome  and  Constan- 
tinople, which  lasted  five-and-thirty  years. 

This  last  result  was  partly  due  to  a  new  dispute  about  the 
bishopric  of  Alexandria.  On  the  death  of  the  restored  patriarch 
Timothy  (482),  a  successor  was  elected,  John  Talaia,  whom  the 
Emperor  rejected  as  having  been  connected  with  a  rebellious 
officer.  Talaia,  banished  from  Alexandria,  took  refuge  at  Rome ; 
and  Peter  Mongus,  the  expelled  Monophysite  patriarch,  was  re- 
instated in  the  see,  on  his  subscribing  the  Henoticon.  Ui)on  this 
the  extreme  Eutychians  renounced  his  authority,  and  formed  a 
separate  sect,  called  the  Acephali^  to  conciliate  whom  Peter  anathe- 
matized the  Council  of  Chalcedon  and  the  letter  of  Leo  to  Flavian, 
and  took  severe  measures  against  such  of  the  Catholics  as  refused 
to  submit  to  him.  The  latter  ap]  lied  for  aid  to  Pome,  and  two 
successive  popes,  Simplicius  and  Felix  III.,^  wrote  in  his  favour 
both  to  Zeno  and  Acacius,  who  nevertheless  adhered  to  Peter.  Felix 
cited  Acacius  to  Pome,  to  answer  for  holding  communion  with 
the  heretical  patriarch,  and  caused  an  Italian  synod  to  pronounce 
his  deposition  and  excommunication  in  an  unprecedented  form,  "as 
having  been  condemned  by  the  judgment  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  by 
apostolical  authority,  so  that  he  should  never  he  tmloosed  from  the 
anathema  jn'onoimced  against  him."  ^ 

The  people  of  Constantinople  were  warned  that  all  who  adhered 
to  the  patriarch  would  be  excommunicated  by  the  Poman  Church ; 
and  many  of  the  stricter  monks*  renounced  his  authority  for  that 
of  Pome.  In  short,  the  whole  Eastern  Church  was  treated  by  the 
Romans  as  heretical  for  its  refusal  to  break  with  Acacius.  John 
Talaia,  still  excluded  from  Antioch,  was  placed  by  Felix  in  an 
Italian  bishopric.  Peter  the  Fuller — who,  like  his  namesake  at 
Alexandria,  had  been  restored  to  the  see  of  Antioch  on  signing  the 

'  'AK€<l>a\oi,  "  headless,"  because  they  had  no  bishop. 

^  St.  Leo  the  Great  was  succeeded  in  401  by  St.  Hilary;  he  by  St.  Sim- 
plicius in  468;  and  he  bj'  St.  F"elix  in  483.  To  avoid  confusion,  we  follow 
the  custom  of  calling  this  Pope  Felix  111.,  though  it  is  hardly  correct,  as 
it  appears  to  involve  the  recognition  of  a  Felix  II.,  who  was  an  intruder 
set  up  by  the  Arians  against  Liberius,  a.d.  3.35. 

*  Harduin.  ii.  831-2;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  524.  "A  patriarch  was  properly 
amenable  only  to  a  general  or  other  great  council  ;  but  it  was  pretended 
that  Acacius  fell  under  the  condemnation  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon.  as 
having  communicated  with  persons  whose  opinions  were  there  condemned." 
The  assumption  was  the  more  glaring,««s  the  charge  against  Acacius  was 
not  that  of  heresy,  but  only  the  bidding  of  communion  with  heretics. 

■•  Especially  those  called  Aca-uictic  ('AKoi/ii7Toi,  i.  e.  sleepless),  because 
by  means  of  classes  they  took  turns  in  keeping  >ip  an  unintermittent  course 
of  worship. 


A.D.  491.  THE  EMPEROR  ANASTASIUS.  367 

Henoticon— (lied  in  488  ;  and  Acacius  died  in  489,  and  Avas  suc- 
ceeded' by  Euphemius,  a  zealous  opponent  of  the  Monophysites. 
Peter  Mongus  died  in  490.  "  At  the  death  of  Zeno,  in  491,  the 
Church,  instead  of  having  been  united  by  his  Henoticon,  was 
divided  into  three  great  parties.  Antioch,  under  Palladius,  and 
Alexandria,  under  Athanasius,  were  Monophysite ;  Jerusalem  held 
with  Constantinople  ;  while  Rome  and  the  West  stood  aloof."  ^ 

§  5.  Anastasius,^  by  his  marriage  with  the  widow  of  Zeno,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Empire,  with  so  high  a  reputation  for  juety  and  virtue, 
that  he  was  greeted  with  the  cry,  "  Peign  as  you  have  lived."  But 
his  orthodoxy  was  suspected  by  the  patriarch  Euphemius,  and  his 
memory  is  branded  by  Catholic  writers  as  a  lieretic  and  persecutor. 
The  truth  seems  to  be  that  he  attempted  to  hold  the  balance 
between  the  two  parties,  on  the' basis  of  the  Henoticon,  and  that  he 
used  strong  measures  against  the  zealots  of  both  extremes,  who 
kept  the  Eastern  patriarchates  in  constant  commotion  throughout  his 
long  reign.  The  overtures  made  by  the  Emi)cror  and  the  Patriarch  of 
Constantinojile  for  reconciliation  with  Piome  were  haughtily  si»nrned 
by  Pope  Gelasius  (492-490)  ;  the  conciliatory  proposals  of  whose 
successor,  Anastasius  II.  (496—498),  were  cut  short  by  his  death; 
and  the  next  Pope,  Symmachus  (498-514),  treated  the  Emperor 
Anastasius  as  a  heretic. 

The  patriarch  Euphemius,  who  had  only  consented  to  the  Em- 
peror's elevation  on  his  promise  to  maintain  the  faith  of  Chalcedon, 
was  deposed  and  banished  on  what  the  Catholics  call  a  I'alse  political 
charge;*  and  his  successor,  Macedonius,  had  the  same  fate  (a.d 
511  or  512).  The  patriarchs  of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem,  Flavian 
and  Elias,  were  deposed  for  Nestorianism,  though  both  made  large 
concessions  to  the  Monophysite  doctrine  (512  and  513).  The  intro- 
duction of  the  words  "  who  was  crucified  for  us  "  ''  into  the  liturgy 
of  Constantino[)le,  by  the  monk  Severus,"  had  already  caused  a 
collision  between  the  orthodox  and  the  Monophysites ;  but  when, 
after  the  deposition  of  Macedonius,  the  Em[)eror  attempted  to 
enforce  the  order  of  the  new  patriarch,  Timothy,  for  the  use  of  the 
clause,  the  capital  became  the  scene  of  riot,  fire,  and  murder  ;  the 
statues  of  Anastasius  were  thrown  down,  and  he  himself  fled  from 
the  city  ;  and  it  was  only  by  his  pultlic  humiliation  and  offer  to 
abdicate,  that  the  people  were  won  back  to  quiet  and  submission 

'  After  Fr.ivitta,  who  only  held  the  patriarchate  for  four  months. 
^  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  525. 

3  He  was  sixty  years  old,  and  reigned  twenty-seven  years,  a.d.  491-518. 
*  "Falso   damnatus."      Marcelliu.  A.n.  49tj.     (Patrol,   li.)     Robertson, 
vol.  i.  p.  526.  *  See  above,  §  1. 

"  He  afterwards  succeeded  Flavian  as  Patriarch  of  Antioch. 


368  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI. 

(512).  The  cause  of  orthodoxy  was  again  taken  up  by  Vitalian, 
uii  insurgent  Gotliic  or  b'cythian  chief,  who  ravaged  'i  hrace,  and 
forced  the  Emperor  to  consent  to  recal  the  banished  bisho2:s,  to 
acknowledge  the  decrees  of  Clialcedon,  to  renew  communion  with 
Rome,  and  to  call  a  General  Council,  at  which  the  Pope  should 
assist  (516).  But  the  agreement  with  Rome  was  frustrated  by  tlje 
extravagant  demands  of  Pope  Hormiisdas  (514-523),  the  successor 
of  Symmachus,  and  the  Emperor  died  two  years  later  (518). 

§  G.  Justin  I.,  originally  a  Dacian  peasant  who  had  been  en- 
rolled in  tiie  guards  of  Leo  and  had  risen  to  high  rank  and  wealth, 
was  now  made  Emperor  by  the  acclamations  of  the  soldier}'.^  The 
new  prince  and  the  new  patriarch,  John,-  complied  with  the  ])opular 
outcries  for  a  change  of  religious  policy.  Severus  of  Antioch  and 
the  other  Monophysite  bishops  were  deposed,  and  most  of  them  fled 
to  Alexandria,  where  the  party  was  too  strong  to  be  u[)rooted.  The 
result  of  tliis  concourse  was  a  new  series  of  disputes,  which  divided 
the  Monophysite  party  into  a  great  number  of  minor  sects  whose 
names  are  as  complicated  as  their  opinions.^  To  effect  a  reconcilia- 
tion with  Rome,  the  Emperor  agreed  to  the  demands  of  Hormisdas 
for  the  erasure  of  the  names  of  Acacius  and  all  the  bishops  who  had 
held  communion  with  him,  from  the  diptychs,  or  tablets  on  which 
all  who  were  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  were  enrolled.  But 
the  concession  excited  such  disturbances  in  some  cities,  that 
Hormisdas  was  induced  to  consent  to  the  retention  of  some  of  those 
whom  the  Orientals  regarded  as  orthodox,  and  to  empower  the 
patriarch  Epiphanius  (the  successor  of  John)  to  receive  back  the 
Eastern  churches  into  communion  with  Rome.  Thus  ended  this 
stage  of  the  Monophysite  controversy,  which  had  been  complicated 
by  the  schism  between  Rome  and  Constantinople. 

'  He  was  already  sixty-eight  years  old.  and  reigned  for  nine  years  (a.D. 
518-527). 

*  The  successor  of  Timothy,  who  had  died  shortly  before  Anastasius. 

^  These  divisions  turned  chiefiy  on  the  degree  in  which  the  humanity  of 
Christ  differed  from  ordinary  human  nature.  The  names  of  the  sects  were 
derived  both  from  tiieir  leaders  and  their  tenets.  Thus  the  Scvcrians 
(followers  of  Severus  of  Antioch),  stigmatized  as  Phthartolatrcc  (i.e., 
adorers  of  the  corruptible),  held  that  the  body  of  Christ  before  the  resur- 
rection was  mortal  and  corruptible  ;  while  the  Julianists  (from  Julian, 
bishop  of  Halicarnassus),  or  Aphthartodocetce,  approached  near  to  the  older 
Ihcctcc  in  holding  that  Christ's  body  was  incorruptible  from  the  first. 
The  Theinisti  ms  (from  Themistius,  a  deacon  of  Alexandria),  or  Aipioetiv, 
taught  that  Christ,  in  his  state  of  humiliation,  was  not  omniscient.  The 
Ktistolatnc  and  AhtistetCB  held  severally  the  op))osite  opinions,  that  His 
body  was  created  and  uncreated.  The  NiMtcs  (followers  of  Stephanus 
Niobcs,  the  most  consistent  of  the  Mouophysites)  rejected  every  attempt 
to  distinguish  the  two  natures,  as  they  had  become  one  in  Christ. 


A.D.  518,  f.  REIGN  OF  JUSTIN  I.  369 

§  7.  Justin  went  on  to  jirove  his  zeal  for  orthodoxy  by  edicts 
against  heretics,  who,  as  well  as  Jews,  Samaritans,  and  Paiiaus, 
were  forbidden  to  practise  their  religion,  and  excluded  from  civil 
and  military  oftice,  while  Matiicheans  were  condemned  to  death 
(623).  Though  the  Gothic  soldiery  of  the  Empire,  wlio  were 
Arians,  were  exempted  from  these  decrees,  they  gave  ofl'ence  to 
Theodoric,  king  of  Italy,  who  had  seen  in  the  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  Pope  and  the  Eastern  Courch  a  danger  that  his  subjects 
might  look  to  the  Emperor  as  their  civil  head.  The  edicts  were 
also  at  variance  with  that  toleration  Avhich  Theodoric  had  pro- 
claimed to  all  except  the  practisers  of  Pagan  rites ;  for  the  Gothic 
convert  to  an  heretical  faith  had  asserted  the  great  principle,  long 
since  forgotten  by  the  Christian  Church,  "  We  cannot  impose  re- 
ligion by  command,  since  no  one  can  be  made  to  believe  against  his 
will."'  He  wished  to  secure  the  .sirae  toleration  for  his  Arian 
fellow-believers  in  the  East ;  and,  after  remonstratiiig  with  Justin 
by  letter,  he  sent  an  embassy  to  Constnntino])le,  headed  by  Pope 
John  l.'*  This  fii-st  15ishop  of  Rome  who  hail  ever  viMted  Constan- 
tinople was  welcomed  with  unbounded  reverence,  and  Justin  re- 
ceived a  second  coronation  at  his  hands  (526).  'J  his  inflamed 
Theodoric's  jealousy  anew  ;  and,  though  John  succeeded  in  the  chief 
object  of  his  mission,  a  pretext  was  found  for  throwing  him  into 
prison,  where  he  soon  died.  ^ 

§  8.  Justin  died  about  a  year  after  Theodoric,  having  shortly  before 
associated  in  the  empire  his  nephew  Justinian  !.•»  (527),  whom  he  had 
sent  for  from  his  native  Dacian  village  and  brought  up  as  his  heir. 
Justinian's  first  act  was  to  confer  an  equal  share  of  authority  on  his 
wife  Theodora,  whose  beauty  and  talents  had  raised  her  from  a 

'  Comp.  Chap.  XVII  §  7.  The  judicial  murders  of  the  famous  Boethius 
and  his  fathor-iii-law  Symmachus  do  not  concern  us  here,  except  as  it  has 
been  believed  that  Boethius  was,  at  least  in  part,  a  victim  to  his  Catholic 
faith.  But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  author  of  the  'Consolation  of 
Philosophy'  was  a  Christian  at  all,  and  the  theological  works  ascribed  to 
liim  are  of  very  questionable  genuineness.  (See  F.  Nitzsrh,  Das  System  des 
Boethius,  Berlin,  1860;  and  Dean  Stanley's  article  Boethius  in  iha  Dic- 
tionarn  of  Greek  and  Eotiian  Biography.) 

*  Pope  from  523  to  526. 

3  On  the  relations  of  Theodoric  to  the  Papacy,  see  Chap.  XVII.  §  13. 

''  JlTSTiNiANUS  is  the  adoptive  derivative  of  Jl'STINUS.  Justinian  was 
born  near  Sardica  (the  moiern  Sophia),  and  was  forty-five  years  old  at 
his  accession,  and  reigned  thirty-eight  years  and  a  half,  a.'d.  .'^>27-565. 
The  chief  iiistorian  of  his  reign  is  the  Byzantine  rhetorician  Procopics, 
secretary  of  Belisarius,  and  senator  and  prefect  of  Constantinople,  of  whom 
Gibbon  says: — ''According  to  the  vicissitudes  of  courage  or  servitude,  of 
favour  or  disgrace,  Procopius  successively  composed  the  history,  the  pu)ie- 
gyric,  and  the  satire  of  his  own  times." 


370  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVL 

servile  birth,  the  despised  profession  of  a  butfoon  actress,  aud  a  life 
of  prostitution,  to  be  his  associate  in  the  empire,  and  who  exercised 
an  unbounded  sway  over  his  mind.  It  belongs  to  the  civil  historian 
to  describe  the  mingled  splendour  and  weakness,  virtues  and  vices 
of  this  famous  Emperor;  the  reconquest  by  his  generals,  Belisarius 
and  Narses,  of  a  large  i3art  of  the  lost  Western  Empire  in  Africa 
and  Spain,  Sicily  and  Italy ;  his  wars  witli  the  Persians,  and  his 
celebrated  digest  of  the  Koman  Laws ;  all  which  had  also  a  great 
influence  on  ecclesiastical  afiairs. 

In  religion  he  aimed  to  recover  the  supreme  authority  of  Constan- 
tine,  and  to  restore  the  Church  as  well  as  the  Empire;  to  unite 
divided  factions,  reclaim  heretics,  and  establish  the  standard  of 
orthodoxy  for  all  future  time.  "  In  all  these  undertakings  he  fancied 
himself  the  chief  actor,  though  very  commonly  he  was  but  the 
instrument  of  the  Empress  or  of  the  court  theologians  and  eunuchs; 
and  his  efforts  to  compel  a  general  uniformity  only  increased  the 
divisions  in  Church  and  State."  ^  He  affected  a  life  of  austere 
piety  ;^  spent  much  of  his  time  in  religious  studies,  mingled  in 
theological  controversies,  and  assumed  to  regulate  matters  of  faith, 
discipline,  and  worship.  The  means  for  his  munificence  in  building 
churches  and  hospitals  were  supplied  by  acts  of  extortion,  op- 
pression, and  conuption  of  justice. 

Among  the  "  Edifices  of  Justinian,"  w^hich  Procopius  describes 
in  a  special  book,  the  most  splendid  was  the  church  of  St.  Sophia 
(the  eternal  Wisdom).  Built  first  by  Constantino,  as  the  cathe- 
dral of  his  new  Eome,  the  church  was  burnt  down  at  the  time 
of  Chrysostom's  banishment,  and  again  in  the  great  riots  caused 
by  the  blue  and  green  factions  of  the  Circus  in  532.^  The  new 
edifice  was  guarded  against  a  like  fate  by  being  built  entirely  of 
stone  and  marble,  with  clamps  of  iron ;  and  Justinian  exclaimed 
on  the  day  of  its  dedication,  "  0  Solomon,  I  have  surpassed  thee !" 
The  splendid  dome,  which  the  architects  boasted  of  hanging  in  the 
air,  without  any  visible  suj^port  on  earth,*  was  almost  destroyed  by 
»  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  768. 

^  Procopius,  however,  says  that,  while  self-denying  as  to  food,  drink, 
and  sleep,  he  was  very  dissolute  in  morals,  (ffist.  Arcana,  12, 13  ;  Robert- 
son, vol.  i.  p.  534.) 

'  See  Gibbon's  famous  account  of  these  factions  of  the  Circus  and  the 
riots,  called  JVj^-ct,  from  their  watchword,  at  the  celebration  of  Justinian's 
Qutnqiiemalia.  Even  the  rival  colours  of  the  charioteers  were  made  sym- 
liols  of  theological  disputes,  the  blues  being  regarded  .as  champions  of 
orthodoxy  aud  of  the  Emperor,  but  more  especially  of  the  Empress 
Theodor.a,  who  had  been  insulted  by  the  green  faction  in  her  child- 
liood. 

■•  A  false  constructive  principle,  in  which,  it  has  been  observed,  tho 
architects  of  the  heavenly  Sophia  showed  little  earthly  wisdom. 


A.D.  527,  f. 


JUSTINIAN  I.  AND  THEODORA. 


371 


an  earthquake  (557),  and  was  rebuilt  with  an  increased  Iieight. 
The  restored  church  was  dedicated  a  second  time  in  the  thirty- 
sixth  year  of  Justinian's  reign  (562),  and  a  law  was  issued  pro- 
viding it  with  an  establishment  of  60  priests,  100  deacons,  40 
deaconesses,  90  sub-deacons,  110  readers,  25  singers,  and  100 
ostiaries.^ 

Justinian  took  the  final  step  for  the  extinction  of  Paganism  by 
an  edict  closing  tlie  schools  of  the  Neoplatouists  at  Athens,  where 
it  was  still  taught  as  an  esoteric  doctiine  (529).  Another  edict 
of  the  same  year  excluded  both  Pagans  and  heretics  from  all 
civil  and  military  offices, 

and  allowed  them  three  /^^'  ^^^'^'\^  /^ife^i'*^^-^ 

months  to  abjure  their 
false  religions  on  pain  of 
banishment,  or,  at  the 
least,  the  loss  of  all  civil 
rights.  The  edict  had 
its  effect  in  a  great  in- 
crease of  outward  con- 
formity to  Christianity 
and  orthodoxy ;  but  it 
provoked  an  insurrec- 
tion of  the  Samaritans,  and  also  some  terrible  examples  of  fanatic 
constancy,  tis  when  a  body  of  Phrygian  Llontanists  shut  them- 
selves up  in  their  churches,  which  they  set  on  fire  and  perished  in 
the  flames. 

§  9.  The  standards  of  orthodoxy  established  in  th(^  creeds  of  the  four, 
General  Councils — Nica!fi7  Constantirlople,  Eph'^stis,  and  ChalcedoA 
— were  embodied  as  laws  in  Justinian's  Code.  But  Theodora,  who 
had  become  a  votary  of  ascetic  practices  and  Monophysite  doctrines, 
obtained  the  appointment  of  Anthimus,  a  secret  enemy  of  the 
Chalcedonian  faith,  to  the  patriarchate  of  Constantinople  (535). 
His  heresy,  however,  was  exposed  by  Pope  Agapetus  I.  (535-6), 
whom  the  Gothic  king  of  Italy  had  sent  on  an  embassy  to 
Justinian ;  and  Anthimus  was  first  deposed  as  having  been  un- 
canonically  translated,  and  was  then  found  guilty  of  heresy  by  a 
council  held  by  his  successor,  Mennas  (536). 

Though  foiled  in  this  case,  the  Empress  availed  herself  of  the 
death  of  Agapetus  at  Constantinople  as  an  opportunity  for  seating  a 


Justinian  and  Theodora  (from  mosaics  at  St.  Vitalis, 
Havenna). 


'  Justin.  XoreU.  iii.  1  : — "Ample  .as  this  provision  in.iy  seem,  the  law 
w.ns  set  forth  as  a  check  on  the  practice  of  bishops,  who  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  ordainincr  clergy  without  any  limit,  and  without  considering 
whether  the  church  had  the  means  of  supporting  them."  (Robertson,  vol.  i. 
p.  535.) 


372  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI. 

Monophysite  on  St.  Peter's  throne.  The  Archdeacon  V'igilius,  who 
had  accompanied  Agapetus,  was  persuaded  to  be  a  candidate,  and 
to  promise  to  condemn  the  Council  of  Chalcedon.  Meanwhile, 
however,  the  sub-deacon  Silverius,  son  of  Pope  Hormisdas,  was 
elected  at  Rome ;  but  next  year  Belisarius,  who  had  recovered  the 
ancient  capital  aud  was  besieged  in  it  by  the  exjDelled  Goths,* 
deposed  Silverius  and  sent  him  a  prisoner  to  the  East  on  a  charge 
of  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  enemj',^  and  Vigilius  was 
elected,  paying  Belisarius  200  pounds  of  gold  for  his  interest.  But 
both  the  temper  of  his  clergy  and  his  own  orthodox  professions  to 
Justinian  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  perform  his  promises  to 
Theodora. 

§  10.  These  complications  were  increased  by  a  new  outbreak  of 
the  Origenist  disputes  among  the  monks  of  Palestine.  Appeals 
were  earned  to  Justinian,  who  wrote  to  Mennas,  censuring  certain 
opinions  of  Origen;.and  this  condemnation  was  confirmed  by  a 
S3'n()d  at  Constantinople,  and  subscribed  by  the  four  Eastern  jatri- 
archs  and  by  Bope  Vigilius.  Upun  this,  Theodore  Ascidas,  a  monk 
of  Origenist  opinions,  who  had  great  influfnce  over  Justinian,  after 
himself  signing  the  anathemas  against  Origen,  attempted  to  divert 
the  Emperor's  zeal  into  another  channel.  He  persuaded  him  that 
the  obstinate  Acephali  of  Alexandria  might  be  reconciled  to  the 
faith  of  Chalcedon  by  the  condemnation  of  the  Nestorian,  or  sus- 
pected, bishops  whom  that  Council  had  acknowledged. 

Accordingly  Justinian  issued  an  edict,  known  as  that  of  the 
"Three  Articles  or  Chapters,"^  condemning  (1)  the  jierson  and 
writings  of  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  in  toto ;  (2)  the  writings  of 
Theodoret  against  Cyril;  and  (3)  the  letter  of  Ibas,  bishop  of  Edessa, 
to  the  Persian  bishop  Maris,  complaining  of  the  outrages  committed 
by  the  party  of  Cyril.  "  Thus  was  kindled  the  violent  controversy 
of  the  Three  Chapters,  of  which  it  has  been  said  that  it  filled  more 
volumes  than  it  was  worth  lines."*  *- 

*  See  the  Student's  Gibbon,  pp.  317-319. 

*  Having  been  first  banished  to  Patara  in  Lycia,  Silverius  was  sent 
back  to  Italy  by  Justinian  for  a  further  investigation  of  his  case;  but 
Vio-ilius  contrived  to  have  him  seized  and  carried  off  to  the  island  of  Pal- 
niana,  where  he  died  of  hunger.     He  is  canonized  by  the  Church  of  Rome. 

•*  Tpia  Ke(pa.\ata,  tria  capitula.  This  term  signifies  properly  brief  propo- 
sitions under  which  certain  errors  are  summed  up  and  anathematized  ;  but 
in  this  case  it  describes  the  writings  themselves  (and  in  the  case  of  Theodore 
the  person)  which  are  condemned.  Hence  they  are  also  called  acrtfifj 
Ke<pd\aia,  iinpia  capitula,  and  the  ensuing  General  Council  confirmed  the 
condemnation  in  these  terms: — "  Prdf/Kta  igitur  frja  ca/5»Y«/a  anathema- 
tizamus,  id  est,  Theodorum  impiuin  Mopsuestenum  cum  nefandis  ejus 
eonscriptis,  et  quce  impie  Theodoretus  conscripsit,  et  impiam  epistolam  quse 
dicitur  Ibac."  *  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  770. 


A.D.  553.  THE  FIFTH  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  373 

All  bishops  were  required  to  subscribe  the  anathemas.  Those  of 
the  East  generally  submitted,  many  of  them,  inrkiding  the  four 
patriarchs,  with  great  reluctance,  and  some  were  banished  for 
refusal.  In  the  West  there  was  a  strong  opposition,  especiiilly  in 
Africa,  where  the  churches  lately  delivered  from  Vandal  ojipression 
showed  their  old  resistance  to  the  yoke  of  civil  power,  Koman  or 
barbarian.^  Even  Pope  Vigilius  did  not  dare  to  sign  the  edict;  and, 
lest  he  should  head  a  new  schism  between  the  East  and  West,  he 
was  summoned  to  Constantinople  and  detained  there  seven  years. 
The  Empress  Theodora-  persuaded  him  to  bind  himself  by  a  secret 
engagement  to  sup|iort  the  Emperor's  edict;  and  his  attempts  to 
persuade  the  Western  bishops  led  to  his  excommunication  by  an 
African  synod.  At  length  Vigilius  proposed  a  General  Council,  to 
which  Justinian  assented,  binding  the  Tope  anew  to  support  him  by 
an  oath  taken  on  the  nails  of  the  cross  as  well  as  on  the  Gospels. 
But  when,  as  a  further  safeguard  against  the  Pope's  using  the 
Council  for  his  own  aggrandizement,  the  Emperor  requii'ed  him  and 
the  other  bishops  to  sign  a  dictated  confession  of  faith,  Vigilius 
excommunicated  all  who  shoidd  comply,  and  took  sanctuary,  with 
the  Archbishop  of  Milan,  beneath  the  high  altar.  After  the  jicople 
had  been  horrified  by  an  attempt  to  drag  them  out  by  violence,  in 
which  the  holy  table  was  nearly  overturned,  Vigilius  accepted  the 
oaths  pledged  for  his  safety ;  but,  findiiuj;  himself  watched  bj'  the 
imperial  guards,  he  again  fled  to  the  church  of  St.  Euphemia  at 
Chalcedon.  He  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  to  return  to  Ct)nstan- 
ticople,  and  absented  himself  from  the  ensuing  Council.  During  his 
absence  at  Chalcedon,  the  patriarch  Meinias  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Eutychius,  a  jiartisan  of  the  Emperor.^ 

§  11.  In  May  553,  the  Fifth  General  Council,  beinc;  the  second 
held  at  Constantinople,  met  under  the  presidency  of  Eutj'chius. 
It  was  an  assembly  of  the  Eastern  Church,  to  which  all  the  165 
bishops  belonged,  except  five  Africans.  This  breach  of  the  promise  of 
a  fair  representation  of  the  Western  Church  was  urged  by  Vigilius 
(besides  the  plea  of  ill-health)  as  a  reason  for  his  refusal  to  attend 
the  Council,  to  which  he  was  repeatedly  summoned.  On  his 
attempt,  with  sixteen  other  bishops,  to  take  the  middle  course  of 
condemning  the  impugned  writings,  but  not  their  authors,  in  a 
paper  called    the    Constitutiun,   Justinian   produced   the    written 

'  See  Chap.  XVII.  §  4. 

^  She  died  the  year  after  the  arrival  of  Vigilius  at  Constantinople 
(54G). 

*  He  had  recommended  himself  to  Justininn  by  finding  a  precedent 
for  the  condemnation  of  deceased  heretics  in  Josiah's  burning  of  the 
bones  of  those  who  had  sacrificed  on  Jeroboam's  altar  at  Bethel  (2  Kings 
xxiii.  16). 

18 


374  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI. 

engagement  which  Vigilius  had  made  to  him.  For  this  breach  of 
faith  the  Emperor  demanded  the  erasm-e  of  the  Pope's  name  from 
the  diptychs,  while  professing  his  own  desire  to  remain  in  com- 
munion witli  the  lloman  Church.  The  Council  complied ;  they 
confirmed  by  their  anathema  the  Emperors  condemnation  of  the 
three  articles,  but  they  saved  the  authority  of  the  Council  of  Chalce- 
don  by  also  anathematizing  all  who  held  that  it  countenanced  the 
three  articles;  and  they  confirmed  the  decisions  of  that  and  the  pre- 
vious General  Councils.'^ 

Thus  the  controversy  issued  in  a  partial  reaction  towards  the 
Moiiophysite  doctrine  by  the  condemnation  of  the  Antiochene 
theology,  but  without  renouncing  the  Confession  of  Chalcedon. 
This  negative  declaration  of  doctrine  is  quite  insignificant  in  com- 
parison with  the  political  result.  Justinian's  great  aim  was  to 
establish  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  power  in  ecclesiastical  matters, 
especially  as  against  the  claims  of  the  Roman  see ;  and  from  that 
time  the  Church  of  the  East  had  its  character  fixed,  as  a  national 
church  under  its  own  bishops,  controlled  by  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  Emperor,  and  yielding  to  Home  the  respect  due  from  the 
younger  to  the  elder,  but  nothing  more.^ 

Vigilius,  after  protesting  at  first,  wrote  a  humiliating  submission 
to  the  decisions  of  the  Council,  and  was  suflered  to  depart  for 
Rome ;  but  he  died  on  the  voyage,  at  Syracuse  (555).  Pelagius  ^ 
was  chosen  his  successor  by  the  inlluence  of  Justinian  ;  and  for  the 
first  time  the  Emperor  assumed  authority  to  confirm  the  election  of 
a  Pope.*  With  the  aid  of  Narses,  Pelagius  enforced  the  decrees  of 
Constantinople  by  deposition,  banishment,  and  civil  penalties,  but 
they  were  generally  resisted  in  the  West.  The  bishops  of  Northern 
Italy,  Illyria,  and  Africa,  separated  from  Rome;  and  the  schism  was 
only  partly  healed  by  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  about  the  end  of  the 
century  .•' 

*  No  distinct  mention  seems  to  have  been  made  of  Origenism  ;  for  the 
Eleventh  Anathema,  in  which  Origen  is  condemned  with  other  heretics,  is 
pi'obubly  spurious.  The  reason  of  the  omission  may  be  that  a  local  synod 
at  Constantinople  had  already  promulgated  fifteen  anathemas  against 
Origen. 

-  An  interesting  parallel  miglit  be  drawn  between  the  Byzantine  and 
the  Anglican  Church  in  this  respect. 

*  Pelagius  I.  was  Pope  from  555  to  559. 

*  It  must  be  remembered  that  Justinian  acted,  not  as  the  Byzantine, 
but  as  the  Roman  Emperor,  de  facto  as  well  as  de  jure ;  for  he  was  now  in 
possession  of  Rome  and  Italy,  and  also  of  Africa  and  Spain. 

'  The  metropolitan  of  Aquiloia  (who  appears  to  have  assumed  the 
title  of  Patriarch  on  this  occasion),  with  the  bishops  of  Istria,  main- 
tained the  separation  from  Rome  lor  yet  another  century,  till  698  or 
701. 


A.D.  622,  f.  MONOTHELITE  DISPUTE.  375 

§  12.  By  sanctioning  the  Confession  of  Clialcedon,  the  Fifth 
Council  failed  to  reconcile  the  INIonophysites  to  the  Church. 
Justinian  himself,  in  his  old  age,  incurred  the  taint  of  Monophysite 
heresy  by  putting  forth  an  edict,  probably  under  the  influence  of 
Theodore  Ascidas,  sanctioning  the  doctrine  of  the  Aphtharfodoceta; 
(564).  Another  controversy  and  persecution  was  imminent,  when 
Justinian  died  at  the  age  of  eighty  (Nov.  14,  565). 

His  successor,  Justin  II. ,^  at  once  put  forth  an  edict  of  toleration, 
and  the  Monophysite  controversy  died  out  in  the  Roman  Empire, 
except  in  some  iiarts  of  Syria  and  Egypt.  The  hereby  was  also 
maintained,  like  Nestorianism,  beyond  the  limits  ot  the  Empire ; 
and  it  is  still  the  creed  of  what  may  be  called  "the  ancient nnliojial 
churches  of  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Armenia,  in  distinction  from  the  ortho- 
dox Greek  Church,  and  the  united  or  lloman  Church  of  the  East."  ^ 

§  13.  To  complete  the  history  of  the  whole  controversy,  it  is 
necessary  to  glance  forward  to  its  sequel  in  the  Monothelite  dispute 
of  the  seventh  century.  About  622,  the  Emperor  Heuaclius* 
attempted  to  heal  the  Monophysite  schism  on  the  basis  of  the 
doctrine  started  by  Scrgius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and 
Theodore,  a  bishop  of  Pharau  in  Arabia,  that,  in  the  twofold  nature 
of  Christ,  there  was  but  "  one  ivill*  and  one  life-giving  operation," 
namely,  the  Divine  will,  controlling  the  human.  Cyrus,  bishop  of 
Phasis,  one  of  the  Emperor's  advisers,  being  made  by  him  Patriarch 
of  Alexandria,  etiected  a  reconciliation  with  the  Monophysitcs  on 
the  basis  of  nine  articles,  one  which  stated  that  our  Lord  "  wrought 
the  acts  appertaining  both  to  God  and  man  by  one  theandric  (i.e. 
divinely-human)  operation.  This  compromise,  which  the  Mono- 
physites  regarded  as  a  triumph,  provoked  a  controversy,  which  tlie 
Emperor  endeavoured  to  settle  by  an  edict  called  the  Ecthesis,  or 
Exposition  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  forbrddiug  the  discussion  of  tlie 
question,  which  was  at  the  same  time  stated  in  terms  inclining  to 
the  Monothelite  view  (639).  The  Ecthesis  was  rejected  by  Pope 
John  IV. ,^  and  Heraclius  thereupon  disowned  it,  as  having  been 
pressed  I'pon  him  by  Sergius,  who  was  now  dead  (640). 

'  Justia  II.  was  Justinian's  nephew,  the  son  of  his  sister  Vigilantia. 
He  reigned  thirteen  j'ears,  505-578. 

-  Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  77S.  Jlost  of  their  rites  ami  doctrines  are  the  same 
as  those  of  the  orthodox  Greek  Church,  but  they  i<now  nothing  of  purgatorj' 
and  indulgences  ;  their  worship  is  simpler  than  either  the  Greek  or  Koman. 
and  it  is  conducted  in  the  old  vernacular  tongues,  which  are  now  dead 
languages.     See  further  in  §  IG. 

^  He  reigned  thirty-one  years,  from  GIO  to  641.     See  Chap.  XXI.  §  1. 

*  Hence  the  name  of  the  party,  Monothelites,  or,  more  properly,  Mono- 
theleti's  (fiovodeXriTaL),  which  is  first  found  in  John  of  Damascus. 

*  John  IV.  was  Pope  from  640  to  642. 


376  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI. 

§  14.  Heracliiis  died  in  641,  leaving  the  empire  to  his  two  sons, 
CoNSTANTiNE  III.,  the  son  of  his  tiist  wife,  Eiidocia,  and  Hera- 
CLEOSAS,  the  young  son  of  his  niece  and  second  Avife,  Martina. 
Constantine,  who  was  now  tliirty  years  old  and  always  in  weak 
health,  died  in  three  months ;  the  people  rose  against  Martina,  as 
the  suspected  author  of  his  death  ;  she  was  expelled  with  her  son ; 
and  CoNSTANS  11.,'  the  young  son  of  Constantine,  was  proclaimed 
Emperor.  The  patriarch  Pyrrhus,  accused  of  being  the  accomplice 
of  Martina,  fled  to  Africa,  where  he  entered  into  a  controversy  with 
Maximus,  a  noble  Byzantine  who  had  become  a  monk,  and  was  one 
of  the  ablest  opponents  of  tlie  Monothelite  doctrine.  After  a  public 
disputation  in  the  presence  of  the  governor  of  the  province,  Pyrrhus 
confessed  his  error,  and  went  with  Maximus  to  Pome,  where  he  was 
received  by  Pope  Theodore  I.^  as  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  (645). 
Pyrrhus  proceeded  to  Kavenna,^  the  seat  of  the  imperial  Exarch, 
and,  probably  in  the  hope  of  recovering  his  see,  retracted  his 
orthodox  confession ;  upon  which  he  was  excommunicated  in  a  most 
solemn  form  by  a  council  called  by  the  Pope. 

After  some  correspondence  with  the  new  Byzantine  i)atriarch 
Paul,  Theodore  proceeded  to  excommunicate  him,  and  he  retorted 
by  persecuting  the  adherents  of  Pome.  At  this  juncture  Constans 
withdrew  the  Ecthesis  and  put  forth  a  new  edict,  called  the  Tyjyp, 
or  Model  of  Faith,  drawn  up  by  Paul,  which  abstained  fiom  the 
doctrinal  statements  that  had  given  oflencc  in  the  Ecthesis,  and  re- 
peated the  prohibition  of  discussion  under  new  penalties  (648).  The 
injunction  was  little  likely  to  be  heeded  when  the  Churches  of 
Africa,  Italy,  and  Greece  were  urging  Rome  to  defend  the  Catholic 
faith  ;  and  in  649  Martin  I.''  convened  a  council,^  which  affirmed  the 
doctrine  of  two  natural  wills  and  operations,  tlie  Divine  and  human, 
in  "  the  same  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  willing  and  working  our  salva- 
tion both  as  God  and  man  ;"  and  anathematized  Theodore  of  Pharan, 
Cyrus  of  Alexandria,  and  the  patriarchs  Sergius,  Pyrrhus,  and  Paul, 

'  He  was  eleven  years  old,  and  reigned  twenty-seven  j'ears,  041-668. 
2  Pope  from  64'2-647. 

*  Ravenna,  which  Honorius  made  the  residence  of  his  court,  as  a  refuge 
from  the  Gothic  inv.asions  (404),  remained  the  capital  of  the  Gothic  kings, 
and,  after  the  recovery  of  Italy  to  the  Empire,  that  of  the  Exarchs.  See 
Chap.  XVIl.  §§  8,  9. 

*  Pope  from  649  to  6.i5. 

*  This  is  called  the  First  I.ateran  Council,  from  its  being  held  in  the 
Basilica  of  Constantine,  or  the  Lateran  Basilica,  adjoining  the  Lateran, 
which  was  the  palace  of  the  Popes  from  the  time  of  Constantine  to  the 
return  of  the  Holy  See  from  Avignon  in  1377.  It  takes  its  name  from  the 
old  Roman  family  of  the  Laterani,  whose  house  stood  upon  the  site.  The 
minor  Lateran  Councils  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  five  famous  General 
Councils  held  in  the  Basilica  in  1123,  1139,  1179,  1215,  and  1512. 


A.D.  680-1.  SIXTH  GEiNERAL  COUNCIL.  377 

together  with  the  "  most  impious  "  Ecthesis  and  Type,  which  were 
ascribed  to  Ser>;ius  and  Paul,  rather  than  to  tlie  Emperors  who 
issued  them.  Martin  announced  the  decrees  of  the  Council,  in 
equall}^  strong  language,  to  the  Empcr<,)r  and  the  bishops  both  of 
the  East  and  West.  In  (j53  the  Exarcli  came  to  Konie,  seized  the 
Pope,  and  sent  him  a  prisoner  to  Constantinople,  on  a  charge  of 
various  treasons.  After  suffering  groat  cruelties  and  indignities,  lu; 
was  banishal  to  Cheison,  and  lingered  there  in  want  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  till  he  was  released  by  deatli  (()55).  Maximus  was 
carried  to  Constantinople  at  the  same  tinu',  with  two  of  his  disciples, 
and,  after  rejK'ated  attempts  both  to  convict  them  of  political  crimes 
and  to  make  them  abjure  their  faith,  they  were  mutilated  of  their 
tongues  and  right  hands,  and  banished  to  Lazica  in  Pontus,  where 
Maximus  died  in  662.  The  fate  of  Martin  awed  his  successors, 
Eugeuius  and  Vitalian  ; '  and  the  latter  paid  court  to  the  tj'rant 
Constans  when  he  came  to  Rome,  and  plundered  the  Pantheon^  and 
other  churches. 

His  successor,  Adeodatus,^  revived  the  controversy  and  broke 
off  communion  with  Constantinople  ;  but,  in  response  to  the  invita- 
tion of  Constantino  IV.,  that  delegates  might  bo  sent  to  Constanti- 
nople to  confer  on  the  questions  in  dispute,  Pojjc  Agatho  assembled 
a  synod  of  125  Western  bishops,  four  of  whom  represented  churches 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Empire.^  Monotholism  was  condemned, 
and  representatives  both  of  the  Council  and  the  Pope  were  sent  to 
Kome,  with  a  letter  from  Agatho,  intended  to  have  a  like  effect  with 
the  famous  Epistle  of  Pope  Leo  to  Flavian. 

§  15.  Constantino  now  determined,  instead  of  the  intended  con- 
ference, to  convene  an  QCcumenical  Council  of  the  Empire  ;'  the  last 
recognized  as  such  by  all  the  leading  Churches  of  Christendom.'^ 
This    Sixth    General    Coitucil — the    Third    of    Constantinople'' — 

'  Eiigenius  I.  was  Pope,  65r>-6o7  ;  Vitalian,  607-672. 

-  The  I'antheou,  which  had  btieu  a  church  since  the  time  of  Phocas, 
was  strippeel  by  Constans  of  its  bronze  roof.  For  the  other  crimes  and 
fate  of  this  tyrant,  who  was  murdered  at  Syracuse  in  668,  see  Gibbon. 
His  son,  Constantine  IV.,  Pogouatus  (the  IJearded),  reigned  seventeen 
years,  668-685. 

'  Pojie  672-676.  His  successor,  I)onus,  the  successor  of  Vitalian,  died 
before  the  arrival  of  the  letter  which  was  addressed  to  him  (678).  Agatho 
was  Pope  from  678  to  H82. 

*  These  were  Jlansuetus  of  Milan,  primate  of  the  Lombard  Churcn. 
Wilfrid  of  York,  and  two  bishops  of  the  Franks. 

*  No  representatives  were  summoned  fronj  nations  not  subject  to  the 
Empire. 

*  See  note  on  the  (Fxumenical  Councils,  at  end  of  Chap.  \'ll. 

'  It  is  also  called  the  First  Indian,  from  the  vaulted  room  {tntllus)  of 
the  palace  in  which  it  met. 


378  THii  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI. 

assembl  '  in  November  680,  and  held  eighteen  sessions,  to  September 
681.  It  was  presided  over  by  tlie  Emperor  in  person,  the  chair  being 
left  vacant  when  he  was  absent ;  and  its  order  contrasted  lavour- 
ably  with  most  preceding  councils.  .  The  writings  of  the  Monotlie- 
lites  were  exaniined,  and  compared  both  with  orthodox  standards 
and  with  statements  of  doctrine  wliich  had  been  condemned  by 
former  councils,  George,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  followed 
by  all  his  bishops,  accepted  the  decrees  of  the  Tope  and  the  Eoman 
Synod.  The  chief  opponent  w'as  Macarius,  who  attended  as  Patriarch 
of  Antioch,  though  his  see  was  overthrown  by  the  Mohammedan 
conquerors  ;  and  he  was  excommunicated  by  the  Council.  A  monk 
named  Polychromius  offered  a  creed,  the  truth  of  which  he  staked 
on  his  power  to  raise  a  dead  man  to  life;  and  his  failure  was 
punished  with  anathema  and  deposition. 

The  Council  not  only  condemned  the  Monothelite  heresy  and 
its  leaders,^  but  defined  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  Christ's  person 
in  the  following  terms : — "  We,  in  like  manner,^  agreeably  to 
the  teaching  of  the  holy  Fathers,  declare  that  in  Him  there  are 
two  natural  tuills  and  tiuo  natural  oj)erations,  without  division, 
change,  separation,  or  confusion.  And  these  two  natural  wills 
are  not  contrary,  as  impious  heretics  pretend ;  but  the  human 
follows  the  Divine  and  Almighty  will,  not  resisting  or  opjwsing 
it,  but  rather  being  subject  to  it.*  ....  As  his  flesh,  though 
deified,  was  not  destroyed  by  his  Godhead,  so  too  his  human 
will,  although  deified,  was  not  destroyed."*  Tiie  usual  imperial 
confirmation,  with  penalties  against  all  dissentients,  followed  the 
decisions  of  the  Council.  The  new  Pope,  Leo  II.,*  earnestly  recom- 
mended their  acceptance  throughout  the  West,  and  expressly  con- 
curred in  the  condemnation  of  Pope  Honorius. 

'  Among  those  anathematized  by  name  was  Pope  Honorins  I.  (625-640), 
who  had  made  a  distinctly  Jlonothelito  profession  of  faith  in  reply  to  an 
appeal  of  the  Patriarch  Sergius.  "  Wc  cuufess"  (are  the  words  of  Hono- 
rius) "  one  icill  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  This  condemnation  of  a  Pope 
by  a  General  Council  has  proved  a  standing  puzzle  for  Roman  Catholic 
writers.  What  must  it  be  since  the  proclamation  of  Papal  infallibility  in 
all  declarations  of  doctrine  ? 

^  After  reciting  the  earlier  decisions  of  the  Church  as  to  the  Incarnation 
of  our  Lord. 

*  Here,  in  fact,  the  controversy  turns  essentially  on  the  same  point  as 
the  Pelagian,  the  mystery  of  the  free  action  of  the  human  will,  but  in 
harmony  with  and  subjection  to  the  Divine ;  these  being  in  two  persons  in 
the  case  of  mere  man  in  his  rehUion  to  God,  but  in  one  person  in  Christ, 
whose  human  nature  was  "in  all  points  like  unto  his  brethren,"  sin  being 
excepted. 

■*  Hard.  vol.  iii.  p.  1400 ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  5.3. 

*  Agatho  died  (682)  before  the  return  of  his  legates  from  Constanti- 
nople.    Leo  II.  was  Pope,  682-684. 


A.D.  5+1,  f.  MONOPHYSITE  CHURCHES.  379 

§  IG.  The  existing  churches,  referred  to  above  (§  12)  as  remnants 
of  tlie  Monoph) sites,  form  four  branches:  in  Asia,  the  Sjnian 
Jacobites,  the  Armenians,  and  the  less  ancient  Maroiiites  ;  and  in 
Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  the  Cupts  and  Ahyssinians. 

(1)  The  t/aco6iYfSot  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  Babylonia  are  so  called 
from  their  oecumenical '  metropolitan,  Jacob,  surnamed  Baradai  or 
Zanzalus'^  (541-578),  who  laboured  with  devoted  zeal  and  activity, 
in  long  journeys  and  in  the  garb  of  a  beggar,  to  strengthen  the 
persecuted  sect,  and  revived  the  patriarchate  of  Antioch,  which  still 
gives  the  head  of  the  Jacobite  Church  his  title,  though  he  commonly 
resides  at  Diarbekir,  in  Armenia.  He  traces  his  succession  from 
the  Monophysite  patriarch  Severus,''  but  he  is  always  named 
Ignatius,  alter  the  great  apostolic  bisht)p  of  Antioch.  'J'he  Jacobite 
monks  are  rigorous  ascetics  and  grossly  su2>erstitious.  Some  of  the 
Jacobites  have  united  with  the  Church  of  Home. 

(2)  The  Armenians  are  the  most  numerous  of  the  Monophysite 
communities,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  remnants  of  the 
ancient  Christianity  outside  of  the  Roman  Empire.  About  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  King  Tiridates  III.  and  the  mass 
of  the  nation  were  converted  by  Gregory  the  Enlightener,''  the  first 
patriarch  and  chief  saint  of  the  Armenian  Church.  In  the  first  half 
of  the  fifth  century,  the  Scriptures  were  translated  from  the  Peshito 
S5'riac  Version  and  the  Greek''  by  Mesrob  (or  ]\Ijesrob),  Avho  in- 

I vented  the  Armenian  alphabet,  and  thus  made  the  beginning  of  a 
native  literature.  His  pupil,  Moses  of  Chorene,  wrote  a  history  of 
Armenia,  which  is  our  chief  source  of  information  about  its  early 
records  and  traditions,  as  well  as  for  the  events  of  his  time.^  After 
resisting  the  attempts  of  their  Persian  masters ''  to  force  the  ]\Iagian 
religion  upon  them,  the  Armenians  found  tliat  toleration  would  be 
more  easily  given  to  a  form  of  Christianity  condemned  by  the  church 
and  prince  of  the  rival  empire  ;  though  this  may  not  have  been  their 
sole  motive  for  adopting  the  Monophysite  faith.     They  date  from 

'  That  is,  not  restricted  to  a  single  province. 

*  •'  From  his  beggarly  clothing.  Baradai  signifies  in  Arabic  and  Syriac 
a  horse-blanket  of  coarse  cloth,  and  T^av^aKov  is  vile  ali'juid  et  trituni." 
(Sch.iff,  vol.  iii.  p.  775.) 

^  See  above,  §  6.  ■*  'O  (pwriarvs,  Illuminator. 

'  First  from  the  Syriac,  and  afterwards  revised  or  re-translated  from 
the  LXX.  and  N.  T.  by  Armenian  scholars  who  were  sent  to  Ale.xandria  to 
study  Greek. 

"  We  have  several  valuable  translations  of  Greek  works  in  Armenian, 
such  as  the  Chronicle  of  Eusebius,  already  mentioned. 

'  Armenia  was  made  a  Roman  province  by  Ti-ajan,  and,  after  being 
long  disputed  between  the  Romans  and  the  Parthians  and  Persians,  it 
became  iinally  subject  to  Persia  in  3G0.  The  country  is  now  divided 
between  Turkey,  Persia,  and  Ptussia. 


380  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI. 

552,  as  the  era  of  their  severance  from  the  orthodox  Greek  Church  ; 
and  at  the  Synod  of  Thwin  *  (595)  they  condemned  the  decrees  of 
Chalcedon,  and  declared  for  the  aphthartodocetic  doctrine  of  the 
incorruptible  body  of  Christ.  For  a  long  time  they  had  only  one 
patriarch,  or  Cutliolicus,  who  resided  at  iSebaste,  and  alterwards  in 
the  monastery  of  Ejmiadsin,  their  holy  city  at  the  foot  of  Ararat, 
near  Erivan ;  but  as  they  spread  abroad  through  their  great  com- 
mercial activity,  they  established  patriarchal  sees  at  Jerusalem 
(1311),  at  Sis  in  Cilicia  (1440),  and,  after  the  fall  of  the  Byzantine 
Empire,  at  Constantinople  (1461).  As  in  the  case  of  the  Jacobites, 
a  portion  of  the  Armenians  have  joined  the  Church  of  Kome,  under 
the  name  of  United  Armenians.^  The  order  called  Mechitarids, 
from  their  founder  the  Abbot  Mcchitar  (ob.  1749),  have  become 
famous  for  their  labours  in  Armenian  literature  and  education,  having 
their  headquarters  at  a  monastery  on  the  island  of  San  Lazzaro,  near 
Venice. 

(3)  Of  equal  antiquity  is  the  Coptic  Church  of  Egypt,  with  its  sister 
Church  of  Abyssinia.'  The  name  Copts  designates  the  native  race 
of  Egypt  (the  words  themselves  perhaps  being  of  identical  origin),* 
whose  nationality  (though  of  course  mingled  with  Greeli  and  Arab 
blood)  has  remained  conspicuous  during  the  twenty-two  centuries  of 
Greek,  Koman,  Arab,  and  Turkish  domination,  and  whose  language, 
still  preserved  in  the  cliurch  rituals,  was  a  living  tongue  witiiin  recent 
memory.  The  fervid  temper  and  irrepressible  spirit  of  this  native 
raceaH'ects  the  whole  history  of  the  Egyptian  Church,  and  apjx^ars 
concentrated  in  the  monks,  who  were  the  violent  supporters  of  the 
Athanasian  theology  against  the  Arian,  and  of  the  Alexandrian 
against  the  Antiochian.  Jn  Egypt  the  chief  standard  of  the  Mono- 
physites  was  the  aphthartodocetic  or  "  incorruptibilist "  doctrine  of 
Christ's  body.  After  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  Alexandria  con- 
tinued, as  we   have   seen,  the   head-quarters  of  the   Monophj'site 

'  This  city,  also  called  Twin,  Tevin,  Tovin,  or  Dobin,  was  at  that  time 
the  capital  of  Armenia. 

"  Their  union  with  Rome  dates  from  the  Council  of  Florence,  in  1439. 

'  Respecting  the  conversion  of  the  Ethiopians  by  the  Alexamlrian  mis- 
sionaries, P'rumentius  and  /Edesius,  in  the  fourth  century,  see  Chap.  XH. 

§1- 

■*  Accordinc;  to  what  seems  the  most  probable  etymology  of  the  Greek  name 
PiX-yvirr-os,  "  the  land  of  Co])t."  On  the  other  derivations  of  the  name, 
ami  the  survival  of  the  Coptic  language,  see  the  Studnt's  Aiiricnt  ffiston/ 
of  the  £ ist,  chap.  i.  §  17,  p.  27.  For  the  present  state  of  the  Copts,  see 
Lane's  Modern  F.qyiitiins.  Dean  Stanley  says:  "The  Copts  are  still, 
even  iu  their  degraded  state,  the  mo>^t  civilized  of  the  natives:  the  intelli- 
gence of  Egvpt  still  lineers  in  the  Coptic  tril^es,  who  ,ire  on  this  account 
used  as  clerks  in  the  oifices  of  their  conquerors,  or  as  registrars  of  the 
water-marks  of  the  Nile." — Lectures  on  the  Eastern  Church,  p.  95. 


A.D.  537,  f.;  COPTS  AND  ABYSSINIANS.  381 

party,  who  were  much  more  numerous  than  the  Catholics ;  and  tha 
imperial  sup^wrt  given  to  orthodox  patriarchs  was  resisted  in  san- 
guinary riots.*  In  537  they  cliose  a  patriarch  of  their  own  in 
opposition  to  the  orthodox  patriarch  who  was  imposed  on  the 
Church  by  Justinian.  Since  that  time  the  Coptic  Church,  as  it 
is  called  in  opposition  to  the  orthodox  Greek  Church,  has  always 
had  its  own  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  who  claims  to  be  the  true 
successor  of  St.  Mark,  St.  Athanasius,  and  St.  Cyril.  He  is  always 
elected  against  his  will  from  among  the  monks,  and  leads  a  life  of 
ascetic  devotion.  His  usual  residence  is  at  Cairo,  and  his  jurisdic- 
tion extends  over  twelve  bishops  in  Egypt,  Nubia,  and  Abyssinia, 
including  the  Aberna  (J,.e.  "  our  Father  ")  or  Patriarch  of  Abys- 
sinia,, whom  he  chooses  and  anoints.  He  alone  ordains  tlie  clergy, 
not  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  but  by  breathing  on"  and  anointing 
them.  The  latter  is  one  of  several  Jewish  practices  retained  by  the 
Coptic  Church,  including  circumcision  and  the  Jewish  law  of  meats. 

The  tierce  hostility  between  the  orthodox  and  Monophysite  parties, 
often  breaking  out  into  sanguinary  riots,*  helped  to  make  Egypt  an 
easy  prey  to  tiie  Arabs  (a.u.  641),  whom  the  Copts  at  first  welcomed 
as  deliverers,  but  by  whom  they  were  afterwards  cruelly  ])ersecuted. 
Their  numbers  have  dwindled  from  about  2,000,000  to  150,000  or 
200,000,  of  wliom  some  live  in  Cairo,^  and  the  rest  in  Uj^iter  Egypt. 
They  are  sunk  in  jxjverty  and  ignorance,  even  the  j^riests  reading 
nothing  but  the  service  in  Coptic,  which  they  no  longer  understand. 
The  monks,  however,  have  unconsciously  ixjrformed  an  inestimable 
service  by  preserving  treasures  of  literature  in  the  Coptic,  Syriac,  and 
Arabic  languages,  most  of  which  manuscripts  have  been  lately  secured 
for  the  British  Museum.  There  are  extant  two  Coptic  versions  of 
the  Scriptures,  both  imperfect :  the  Lower  Egyptian  or  Memi)hitic, 
and  the  Up^jer  Egyptian  or  Thebaic,  called  also  the  Sahidic,  from 
the  Arabic  name  of  the  province. 

The  sister  or  rather  daughter  Church  of  Abyssinia  is  more  inter- 
esting, as  it  presents  the  case  of  a  semi-barbarous  nation,  in  the 

'  The  antagonism  to  the  civil  power,  and  the  national  character  of 
the  schism,  are  seen  in  the  name  of  Mclchites,  i.e.  "  imperialists,"  by 
which  the  Monophysites  called  the  Cathohcs.  "Gibbon  says  that  this 
name  was  unicnown  till  the  tenth  century ;  Pagi,  that  it  is  as  old  as  the 
reign  of  Marcian."     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  54G.) 

«  See  John  xx.  22. 

'  At  the  installation  of  the  Patriarch  Apollonius  (5.')1),  it  is  said  that 
200,000  persons  were  slain  in  one  day ;  '■  a  statement  which,  though 
doubtless  exaggerated,  must  have  had  some  frightful  truth  for  its  founda- 
tion."    (Gibiion,  vol.  iv.  p.  388  ;  liobertson,  /.  c.) 

*  The  number  of  Copts  in  Cairo  is  given  by  some  as  low  as  10,000 :  by 
others,  as  high  as  from  30,000  to  60,000. 
18* 


382  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVI. 

highlands  of  the  Upper  iS'ile,  retaining  the  Christianity  which  is 
traced  back  by  history  to  the  fourth  century,  and  by  tradition  to  the 
Apostolic  age.  But  its  Christianity  is  darkened  by  gross  ignorance 
and  superstition,  and  is  still  more  mingled  with  Jewish  elements 
than  in  the  Coptic  Church.  The  Al)yssinians  practise  circum- 
cision and  abstain  from  eating  imclean  meats ;  they  observe 
the  Jewish  Sabbath  as  well  as  the  Christian  Lord's  Day,  and  a 
yearly  festival  of  lustration  (like  the  day  of  atonement),  when  the 
whole  nation  is  rebaptized ;  they  have  a  model  of  a  sacred  ark, 
called  the  Ark  of  Zion,  which  is  honoured  with  offerings,  and  forms 
the  central  point  of>  their  public  worship.  They  pay  reverence  to 
saints;  to  pictures,  but  not  images;  to  the  cross,  but  not  the 
crucifix.  The  zeal  for  the  Monophysite  doctrine,  which  has  died 
out  in  the  sister  churches,  lives  among  them  in  full  force  ;  and  the 
Council  of  Chalcedou  is  accounted  an  assembly  of  fools  and  heretics. 
Their  Ethiopic  Bible,  which  some  believe  to  date  from  the  time  of 
the  first  Alexandrian  missionaries,  contains  the  Book  of  Enoch.^ 

(4)  The  youngest  oi  the  sects  which  survive  as  memorials  of  this 
great  dispute  is  that  of  the  Maronites,  who  sprang  from  its  later 
development,  the  MonotheJite  controversy.  There  stood  in  the 
valley  of  the  Orontes,  between  Apamea  and  Emesa,  as  early  as  the 
sixth  century,  a  great  monastery  dedicated  to  St.  Maron,^  and 
governed  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  by  another  John  Maron 
(oh.  701).  15y  his  zeal  theMonothelite  opinions  were  spread  through 
the  whole  Christian  population  of  Mount  Lebanon,  which  consisted 
chiefly  of  refugees  from  the  Saracen  conquest  of  Syria.  After  the 
rejection  of  the  Monothelite  doctrine  by  the  Sixth  General  Council 
(681),  they  remained  almost  its  sole  adherents,  and  formed  a  separate 
community,  with  Maron  as  their  first  patriarch.  His  successors, 
who  still  claim  to  be  patriarchs  of  Antioch,  reside  commonly  in  the 
monastery  of  Kanobin,  in  the  glen  of  Kadisl)a  on  Mount  Lebanon, 
a  few  miles  below  the  famous  cedars.  Tlic  patriarch  is  elected  by 
the  bishops,  but  receives  his  robe  of  investiture  from  Borne;  for,  as 
a  result  of  the  Crusades,  the  Maronites  became  reconciled  to  Rome 
from  1180  and  onwards.^     In  the  sixteenth  century,  Gregory  XIH. 

'  "  The  Chronicles  of  Axuma  (the  former  capital  of  the  country),  dating 
from  the  fourth  century,  receive  almost  the  same  honour  as  the  Bible." 
(Schafi;  vol.  iii.  j).  77.S.) 

-  Probably  the  Maron  who  lived  about  the  end  of  the  fourth  century, 
to  whom  Chrysostom  wrote  during  his  exile,  and  whose  Life  was  written 
by  Theodoret.  The  name  o{  Maronites:.  which  originally  denoted  the  monks 
ol'  the  convent,  is  first  applied  to  the  sect,  as  heretics,  by  John  of  Damascus, 
in  the  eighth  century. 

'  There  is,  however,  a  remnant  of  the  Maronites  who  hold  the  Roman 
Church  in  abhorrence. 


A.D.  701,  f. 


THE  MARONITES. 


383 


founded  a  college  at  I^ome  for  the  education  of  a  select  number  of 
their  youth,  to  go  back  and  labour  at  home.  This  school  produced 
those  great  Oriental  scholars,  the  two  Assemanni  (in  the  ei-hteenth 
century),  and  its  influence  may  be  traced  in  the  thorou-h  devotion 
of  the  Maronites  to  the  Church  of  Konie.  They  still,  however  retain 
their  own  Syriac  ritual  and  their  own  fast-days,  conmumion  in  both 
lunds,  and  a  married  priesthood.  They  are  si.read  over  the  whole 
]-ange  of  Lebanon,  being  estimated  at  about  a  quarter  of  a  million 
and  they  form  also  small  communities  in  all  the  large  town<;  from' 
Aleppo  to  Nazareth.  The  Maronite  monasteries  are  more  numerous 
proportionately  than  those  of  any  other  Christian  community ;  there 
bemg  82  cloisters  of  monks  and  nuns  in  Lebanon.  But  the  peoi-le 
entirely  subject  to  the  clergy,  are  ignorant  and  sui^erstitious,  tliou<rl,' 
brave  and  industrious,  their  cultivated  lands  being  the  <^lrden  "of 
Syria.  They  sufler  much  from  their  liereditary  foes  tire  fanatic 
Mohammedan  Druses,  who  perpetrated  a  great  massacre  of  'the 
Maronites  in  18G0. 


CiU-rium  uf  St.  ApoUlnare  in  Classe,  at  Ravenna 


Lonibardic  Chapel  at  Friuli. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  CHURCHES  OF  THE  NEW  TEUTONIC  KINGDOMS. 
PKOGRESS  0^  THE  PAPACY. 

CENTURIES   V.    AND   VI. 

§  1.  Invasions  of  the  Barbarians — Their  Arian  religion — Character  of  their 
Christianity.  §  2.  The  Visigoths— Sack  of  Rome  by  Alaric— Athaulf 
made  General  of  Rome — The  Burgundians,  Sueves,  and  Vandals  in 
Gaul  and  Spain — Kingdom  of  the  Visigoths.  §  3.  The  Vandals  in 
Africa — Persecution  by  Genseric — His  Sack  of  Rome.  §  4.  Per.secution 
by  Hunneric  —  Eugenius,  Bishop  of  Carthage  —  Mock  Disputation  at 
Carthage — Increase  of  the  Persecution — The  African  Confessors — Hun- 
neric's  Successors — Reconquest  of  Africa  by  Belisarius — Extinction  of 
Arianism  in  the  Province.  §  5.  Kingdom  of  the  Franks  in  Gaul — Bap- 
tism of -Clovis — Bishop  Remigius — Conquests  and  Crimes  of  Clovis — His 
relations  to  the  Gallic  Church — His  Death  and  Burial.  §  G.  Spread  of 
Christinnitv  by  the    Franks— Corrujit    Character    of  their    Religion — 


Cent.  V.-VI.  BARBARIAN  INVASIONS.  385 

Crimes  and  Vices  of  the  Jlerovingians — End  of  Arianism  in  Burgundy 
and  Spain.  §  7.  Kingdom  of  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy — Theodoric  the 
Great — His  religious  Toleration  and  Favour  to  the  Catholics — Tyranny 
of  his  later  years — His  death.  §  8.  Decline  of  the  Gothic  kingdom, 
and  reconquest  of  Italy  by  Belisarius  and  Narses — The  Lombard 
kingdom  in  Italy.  §  9.  The  Exarchate  of  Ravenna — Low  State  of  Rome 
— Her  Life  preserved  by  the  Church.  §  10.  Growth  of  the  Papal  power 
— Innocent  I. — Zosimus  I. — Boniface  I. — Protest  of  the  African 
Church — Celestine  I.  §  11.  Advance  of  the  Papacy  under  Leo  I. 
the  Great — In  Spain,  Sicily,  Africa,  and  Gaul — Case  of  Hilary  of 
Aries,  and  law  of  Valentinian  III.  §  12.  Leo  and  the  Eastern  Church 
— The  Patriarch  Anatolius.  §  13.  Hilary  I. — Simplicius — Fall  of  the 
Western  Empire,  and  increased  importance  of  the  Pope — Election  of 
Felix  III. — Authority  claimed  by  Odoacer — Election  of  Svmmachus 
decided  by  Theodoric  against  the  anti-pope  Laurentius — Synod  of  the 
Palm — The  Pope  exempt  from  human  judgment — Nomination  of  Felix  IV. 
by  Theodoric.  §  14.  The  Bishops  of  Rome  under  Justinian — New  Regu- 
lations for  Elections — The  Lombard  Conquest :  increased  importance  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rome.  §  15.  Growth  of  Papal  jurisdiction — Authority 
of  Decretal  Epistles — Dionysius  Exiguus.  §  IG.  Rome  and  the  Eastern 
Patriarchs — Title  of  G'Icumenical  Patriai-ch  given  to  the  Bishops  both  of 
Constantinople  and  Rome. 

§  1.  While  those  subtile  disputes  were  dividing  the  Eastei'n 
Church  and  hastening  its  fill!,  the  mighty  revolution  which  befel 
tlio  West  laid  tlie  foundation  of  the  Christian  states  of  medieval 
and  modern  Europe.  It  belongs  to  civil  history  to  relate  those 
successive  irruptions  and  settlements  of  the  Barbarians,  during  the 
fifth  century,  a  slight  notice  of  which  will  suffice  to  introduce  the 
history  of  their  several  churches.  The  Teutonic  nations,  to  whose 
race  most  of  the  barbarian  conquerors  belonged,  had  in  many  cases 
received  some  knowledge  of  Christianity  by  intercourse  with  the 
Empire  and  service  in  her  armies,  and  by  the  labours  of  missionaries 
from  the  Visigoths,  whose  settlement  within  the  Danube  and 
conversion  to  the  Ariau  form  of  Christianity  have  already  been 
related ;  *  and,  as  their  successive  hordes  overran  province  after 
province  of  the  Empire,  they  readily  adopted  the  faith  of  the 
people  whom  they  conquered.^  The  influence  of  the  Goths  (who 
were  the  first  barbarian  settlers),  and  perhaps  the  greater  mystery 
of  the  orthodox  doctrine,  will  account  lor  the  fact  that  most  of  the 
conquerors  adopted  Arianism  at  first,  or  came   round   to  it  after 

>  See  Chap.  XII.  §  1. 

-  It  must  be  remembered  that  these  were  not  conquests  of  extermina- 
tion, like  those  of  the  Angles  and  Saxons  in  Britain,  where  Christianity 
was  subverted  in  the  conquered  parts  of  the  island,  or  was  only  preserved 
(to  make  the  statement  safer)  among  the  small  remnant  who  may  have 
survived  as  slaves. 


386  THE  WESTERN  CHURCHES.  Chap.  XVH. 

being  converted  by  orthodox  teachers,  as  was  the  case  with  the 
Burgundians  on  the  Rhine  and  the  Vandals  in  Africa.  The  pre- 
vailing character  of  their  new  faith  is  well  described  by  a  recent 
historfan  of  the  Church  r^  "The  conversion  of  barbarian  tribes, 
unlike  that  of  the  Romans,  usually  began  with  the  prince;  and 
after  his  example  the  multitude  pressed  to  the  font.  Among  those 
who  had  been  converted  by  such  a  process,  it  will  be  readily  con- 
ceived that  there  was  very  little  understanding  of  their  new 
profession  ;  that  their  Christianity  was  of  a  rude  kind,  and  long 
retained  a  mixture  of  ideas  derived  from  their  old  superstitions. 
Yet,  with  all  its  ^defects,  both  in  doctine  and  in  moraUty,  and 
although  it  held  but  a  very  imperfect  control  over  the  conduct  of 
those  who  professed  it,  the  Christianity  of  those  nations  did  much 
to  soften  their  ferocity,  and  greatly  mitigated  the  sufferings  of  the 
more  civilized  races  which  they  subdued."  These  conquests  had 
also,  in  a  great  measure,  the  effect  of  extirpating  the  last  remnants 
of  paganism,  as  a  destroying  fire  burns  out  the  lurking  pestilence. 

§  2.  The  Goths,  who  led  the  van  of  the  conquering  Barbarians, 
were  for  some  time  hardly  kept  at  bay  by  the  great  Theodosius, 
whose  death  marks  the  turning-point  in  the  defence  of  the  Empire. 
Having  overrun  Thrace,  Dacia,  and  Macedonia,  Alaric  passed 
Thermopyla3  and  devastated  Greece  (395),  and  was  invested  by 
Arcadius  with  the  title  of  Duke  of  lUyricum.  In  402  he  crossed 
the  Alps,  Honorius  flying  before  him  from  Milan  to  Ravenna  ;  and 
in  410  he  sacked  Rome.  On  his  death  just  afterwards,  Hononus 
confessed  his  conquest  by  appointing  Alaric's  brother-in-law, 
Athaulf,  a  general  of  Rome. 

Meanwhile  (405)  a  mingled  host  of  Vandals,  Suevi,  and  Burgun- 
dians, with  the  Scythian  Alans,  repulsed  by  Stilicho  from  Northern 
Italy,  fell  upon  Gaul ;  where  the  Burouxdiaks,  settling  in  the 
eastern  highlands,  from  about  Geneva  to  the  Rhine,  became  nominal 
subjects  of  the  Empire,  and  were  converted  to  Christianity ;  while 
the  Vandals,  Sueves,  and  Alans  overran  the  southern  parts  and 
passed  the  Pj'renees  into  Spain.  Athaulf,  as  general  of  Rome,  led 
his  Goths  to  the  deliverance  of  the  invaded  provinces ;  and,  after 
his  assassination  in  415,  his  successor  Wallia,  having  driven  back 
the  Vandals  behind  the  Sierra  !Morena,  where  their  name  survives 
in  that  of  Andalucia  (from  Vandahtsia),  received  the  province 
of  Aquitania  as  his  reward,  and  founded  the  great  kingdom  of  the 
Visigoths,  on  both  sides  of  the  Pyrenees,  in  which  he  was  imme- 
diately succeeded  by  Theodoric  I.  (418).-  This  was  the  first  of  the 

•  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  503. 

'  Thsodoric  was  killed  in  the  sfreat  battle  on  the  plain  of  Champagne 
(the  Ca:np',  C^talmtnici),    near    Chdlons-sur-Mame,   where   his   Visigoths, 


A.D.  4J9.  THK  VANDALS  L\  AFRICA.  387 

great  Teutonic  kingdoms  that  rose  on  the  ruins  of  the  Empire.  Its 
Christianity  was  Arian.  The  heathen  Sueves,  who  obtained  for 
their  portion  of  the  conquest  the  western  provinces  of  Galicia  and 
Lusitania,  were  converted  by  the  Latin  bishops  to  orthodox  Chris- 
tianity; but  they  were  soon  forced  to  renounce  it  for  the  Arianism  of 
their  more  powerful  neighbours.  The  Gothic  kingdom  was  extended 
over  the  South  of  Spain,  when  the  Vandals  were  invited  into 
Africa  by  the  Eoman  Count  Boniface,  to  support  him  against  his 
rival  Aetius.^ 

§  3,  Led  by  their  fierce  and  cruel  king,  Gensekic,  who  ranks 
with  Alaiic  and  Attila  among  the  great  scourges  of  the  falling 
Empire,  50,000  Vandals  crossed  the  Straits,  and,  having  been  joined 
by  large  bodies  of  Moors,  overran  all  Africa ;  the  strong  cities  of 
Carthage,  Cirta,  and  Hippo  Eegius  alone  holding  out  (429).  We 
have  seen  that  Augustine  died  during  the  siege  of  Hippo,  which 
was  taken  and  destroyed,  after  Boniface  and  the  inhabitants  had 
escaped  by  sea  (-431).  The  conqucsFt  was  completed  by  the  capture 
of  Carthage  in  439 ;  and  the  Arian  Genscric  began  a  fierce  perse- 
cution of  the  Catholics:-  but  his  attention  was  diverted  by  his 
constant  plunderinj;  expeditions  on  the  coasts  of  Sardinia  and 
Corsica,  Sicily  and  Italy.  It  is  said  that,  when  embarking  on  an 
expedition,  and  asked  by  his  pilot  against  whom  he  meant  to  sail, 
he  was  wont  to  reply,  "  Against  those  with  whom  God  is  angry." 

In  455  Genseric  was  invited  to  Rome  hj  the  Empress  Eudoxia,  to 
obtain  revenge  for  the  murder  of  her  husband,  Valcntinian  III.  Pope 
Leo  I.  again  went  forth  with  his  clergy  to  intercede  with  a  barbarian 
conqueror — this  time  a  Christian,  though  of  a  strange  type — and 
obtained  a  promise  that  the  city  should  be  spared  from  fire,  and  the 
inhabitants  from  death,  and  from  torture  to  make  them  disclose  their 
treasures.      The   plunder   of    Eome   lasted   a    fortnight,^  and  the 

in  league  with  the  Romans  under  Aetius,  defeated  the  hosts  and  stopped 
the  conquests  of  Attila,  whose  overthrow  is  a  turning-point  in  the  history 
of  Europe  and  of  Christendom.  Attila  retreated  into  Italy,  and  was 
ravaging  the  country  north  of  the  Po,  when  Pope  Leo  L  sought  an  inter- 
view with  him  at  Mantua,  and  persuaded  him  to  retire  on  receiving  a 
large  sum  of  money  (452).  Attila  died. in  the  following  year,  and  the 
hasty  fabric  of  his  empire  at  once  dissolved. 

'  For  their  rivalry,  and  the  civil  history  of  this  period,  see  the  Student's 
Gibbon,  chap.  xvii. 

-  "  The  Vandal  persecution  is  related  by  Victor,  bishop  of  Vite,  himself 
a  Catholic  confessor,  whose  work  is  edited  by  Paiinart  (^Historia  Persccti- 
tioiiis  Vandalicce,  Paris,  l^i'l'),  and  is  reprinted  in  voL  Iviii.  of  Jdigne's 
I'atroloijia."     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  512.) 

*  "Geuseric's  expedition  against  Rome  was.  in  one  respect,  favourable  to 
Christianity,  inasmuch  as,  by  carrying  otV  a  number  of  statues,  and  bv 
stripping  the  Capitol  of  its  thicklygilt  bronze  roof,  he  removed  from  the 


388  THE  WESTERN  CHURCHES.  Chap.  XVII, 

Vandals  carried  back  a  host  of  captives,  amongst  whom  were  Eudoxia 
and  her  two  daughters.  The  sufferings  of  the  captives  were 
relieved  by  the  devoted  labours  of  Deogratias,  bishop  of  Carthage, 
who  sold  the  church  plate  to  ransom  some  of  them  and  to  supply  the 
wants  of  others.  After  the  death  of  Deogratias  in  4r)7,  no  bishop 
was  allowed  to  be  consecrated  in  the  province  of  Africa,  and  thirty 
years  later  only  three  ©f  its  1G4  sees  were  occupied. 

§  4.  The  sufferings  of  the  Catholics  under  Genseric  proved  but  a 
foretaste  of  their  cruel  i)ersecution  by  Hunneric,  who  succeeded  his 
father  in  477.  Hunneric  had  married  the  captive  princess  Eudocia, 
the  daughter  of  Valentinian  III.  and  Eudoxia;  and  the  intercession 
of  her  sister,  Placidia,  supported  by  the  Emperor  Zcno,  obtained  for 
the  Catholics  of  Carthage  permission  to  choose  a  bishop,  but  only 
on  the  condition  that  all  tlie  privileges  granted  to  them  should  be 
allowed  to  the  Arians  in  the  East.  The  new  bishop,  Eugenius,  soon 
made  such  an  impression  on  the  Vandals  themselves,  that  the 
Arian  clergy  were  alarmed,  and  the  fury  of  Hunneric  was  directed 
first  against  proselytes  and  those  who  were  suspected  of  becoming 
such.^  On  the  mere  charge  of  intimacy  with  the  Catholics,  the 
Arian  patriarch  and  many  of  his  clergy  were  burnt  alive,  and  many 
of  Hunneric's  own  relations  were  jiut  to  death.  The  profession  of 
Arianism  Avas  imposed  as  a  condition  of  public  employment ;  and 
all  who  refused  to  make  it  were  banished.  Nearly  5000  of  the 
Catholic  bishops  and  clergy  were  exiled  to  Mauritania,  with  most 
cruel  treatment ;  and  the  virgins  of  the  church  were  tortured,  to 
make  them  confess  guilty  intercourse  with  the  clergy. 

These  cruelties  were  followed  up  by  the  mockery  of  summoning 
both  parties  to  a  public  debate  at  Carthage  (Feb.  1,  484).  The 
Arian  patriarch  Cyrila,  who  was  seated  as  president  on  a  lofty 
throne,  cut  short  the  debate  on  the  plea  that  he  could  not  speak 
Latin.  As  if  the  Catholics  had  been  worsted,  Hunneric  ordered  all 
their  churches  to  be  closed  in  one  day,  and  the  church  property  to 
be  transferred  to  the  Arians.  By  an  edict,  which  recited  the  penal- 
ties imposed  on  Arians  by  the  imperial  laws,  he  not  only  subjected 
the  Catholics  to  the  same,  but  forbad  any  one  to  give  them  food  or 
lodging,  on  pain  of  being  burnt,  with  his  house  and  family.  He  next 
required  all  the  bishops  to  swear  fealty  to  his  son  Hildcric  as  his 
successor.  Forty-six  who  refused  were  sent  to  cut  wood  in  Corsica ; 
while  their  plea,  that  Christians  ought  not  to  swear,  was  made  a 
pretext  for  banishing  the  great  majority  (302  in  number)  who  had 

.<!i,eht  of  the  Romans  objects  which  recalled  to  mind  the  religion  of  their 
forefathers."     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  501,  who  cites  Procop.  Bell.  Vand.  i.  T).) 
'  Officers  were  stationed   at  the  doors  of  the  Catholic  churches,  witli. 
orders  to  scalj)  all  Vandals  who  should  attempt  to  enter. 


A.D.  534.  AFRICA  RECOVERED  BY  BELISARIUS.  389 

taken  the  oath.  Xo  less  than  88  bishops  yielded  to  persecution  or 
cajolement,  and  abandoned  the  Catholic  faith. 

Amidst  the  barbarities  of  this  i)€rsecution,  one  incident  demands 
special  notice.  Some  Catholics  of  Typasa,  who  refused  to  acknow- 
ledfje  the  Arian  bishop  and  persisted  in  celebrating  their  own 
worship,  were  punished  by  the  amputation  of  their  right  hands  and 
the  cutting  out  of  their  tongues  by  the  root ;  yet  they  continued  to 
speak  as  "before !  The  fact  rests  on  conclusive  evidence ;  but  the 
assumption  of  a  miracle  is  not  needed  to  explain  it.* 

In  the  heat  of  the  persecution,  llunneric  died  by  the  same 
loathsome  disease  as  Herod  (484).  Under  his  four  successors,  the 
Catholics  still  suffered  in  various  degrees,  though  with  some 
intervals  of  toleration,  till  the  dominion  of  the  Vandals  was  over- 
thrown by  Belisarius  (5o4).  But  the  province,  long  famed  for  its 
exuberant  fertility  and  teeming  population,  had  been  utterly  ruined 
by  the  barbarian  devastations  and  b\'  famine  and  jiestilence,  having 
lost  (as  is  computed)  five  millions  of  inhabitants.  The  number  of 
bislioprics  was  reduced  to  one-half  or  one-third;  and  Arianism  was 
extirpated  in  the  destruction  of  the  Arians  themselves. 

§  5.  1-leturning  to  the  Teutonic  conquerors  of  Euroix',  we  find  the 
second  of  the  great  Christian  kingdoms  founded  by  the  Franks. 
It  belongs  to  civil  liistor}'  to  trace  the  appearance  of  this  great 
confederacy  on  the  Lower  Khine,  and  tlieir  incursions  upon  Northern 
Gaul,  where  the  Bali.\n  Franks  established  a  kingdom  early  in  the 
fifth  century.  After  varying  vicissitudes  of  hostility  and  alliance 
with  the  liomans,  the  independent  kingdom  of  the  Franks  was 
founded  by  Clovjs,*  whose  marriage  with  Clotilda,  a  Burgundian 
princess  brought  up  in  the  Catholic  fiiith,  gained  him  the  support  of 
the  Gallo-Koman  clerg5\^  Clotilda  used  every  effort  to  convert  her 
husband :  but  though  he  allowed  his  two  sons  to  be  baptized, 
the  barbarian  warrior  doubted  the  power  of  the  God  who  had 
suffered  the  empire  of  his  Boman  worshippers  to  fall,  till  that 
power  should  be  shown  on  liis  own  behalf.  Finding  himself  hard 
pressed  in  his  decisive  battle*  with  the  great  rival  confederacy  of 
the  Alemanni,  on  the  Middle  Bhine,  and  believing  that  bis  own 

•  See  the  note  in  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  516  ;  and  '  The  Tongue  not  essential 
to  Speech  ;  with  Illustrations  ot'  the  Power  of  Speech  in  the  African  Con- 
fessors,' by  the  Hon.  E.  T.  B.  Twisleton. 

^  His  proper  name,  Chido'iii/,  or  Iflodwiij  (in  later  German,  Ludwig), 
was  Latinized  both  into  Clon's  and  Ltulovicu.-',  whence  the  French  Louis. 

^  It  must  be  reniombered  that  the  Franks  were  a  body  of  warriors 
small  in  comparison  with  the  Romanizeil  Gauls  whom  they  subdued,  and 
whose  religion,  language,  and  civilization  absorbed  those  of  the  conquerors. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  more  precisely  the  relations  between  the 
races.  *  At  Tolbiac,  i.e.  Zulpich,  near  Bonn. 


390  THE  WESTERN  CHURCHES.  Chap.  XVH. 

gods  had  failed  liini,  Clovis  invoked  the  lielp  of  Christ,  vowing  to 
become  a  Christian  if  he  won  the  victory.  So  it  fell  out ;  aud  at 
Christmas  (496)  Clovis  was  baptized,  with  3000  of  his  warriors,  by 
Bishop  Eemigius  at  llheims. 

As  he  entered  the  cathedral,  brilliant  with  many  candles  filled 
with  incense,  and  resounding  with  sweet  hymns,  Clovis,  seized 
with  awe  and  rapture,  asked  the  bishop  whether  this  were  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  that  he  had  spoken  of.  "No!"  answered 
Keniigius;  "but  it  is  the  beginning  of  the  way  thither."  As  he 
stood  at  the  font  to  receive  the  sacrament,  the  bishop  said  to 
him,  "  Meekly  bo\V  thy  neck,  Sicamhrian  ;  worship  that  which 
thou  hast  burnt,  burn  that  which  thou  hast  worshipped."  * 

No  event  is  more  important  in  the  history  of  Western  Europe 
than  this,  Avhich  united  the  Frank  conquerors  and  their  Gallo- 
Koman  subjects  by  the  bonds  of  religion,  while  it  secured  to  Clovis 
the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  people,  who 
regarded  the  Arian  (joths  as  persecuting  tyrants.^ 

By  the  submission  of  the  Armoric  states  Clovis  extended  his 
kingdom  to  the  Loire  (497).  A  great  victory  made  the  Burgundians 
tributary  to  him  (500).  Declaring  a  religious  Avar  against  the  Arian 
Visigoths  (507),  he  crossed  the  Loire,  and  subdued  Aquitania  as 
far  as  the  Garonne;  but  his  further  advance  was  checked  by  the 
Ostrogoths,  Aviiom  Theodoric  led  from  Italy  to  the  rescue  of  their 
Western  brethren.'  On  his  return  to  Tours,  Clovis  received  an 
embassy  of  congratulation  from  the  Emperor  Anastasius,  who  con- 
ferred on  liim  the  titles  and  insignia  of  Consul  and  Patrician ;  so 
that  the  great  kingdom  of  the  West  was  recognized  as  a  part  of  the 
imi)erial  system  by  him  who  claimed  to  be  the  supreme  civil  and 
religious  authority.'* 

This  first  Catholic  king  resembled  the  first  Christian  emperor 
in  his  moral  inconsistencies.  His  exclamation,  when  he  heard 
riemigius  read  the  story  of  our  Lord's  ]iassion,  "  Had  I  been  there 
with  my  Franks,  I  would  have  avenged  his  wrongs ! "  is  a  natural 


'  "  Mitis  dopone  colla,  Sicamber  ;  ailora  quod  incendisti,  incende  quod 
adorasti."     (Gregor.  Touron.  ii.  31.) 

*  At  the  time  of  his  baptism,  Clovis  was  the  only  ortliodox  sove- 
reign in  Christendom.  Theodoric  of  Italy,  as  well  as  the  kings  of  the 
]?urgundians,  Visii,'oths.  and  Vandals,  were  Avians,  and  the  Emperor 
Anastasius  favoured  the  Jlonophvsitc  doctrine.  Hence  liis  successors  in 
what  afterwards  became  the  French  kingdom  (a  name  quite  improper  to 
be  used  yet)  obtained  the  title  of  "  the  Eldest  Son  of  the  Church." 

'  This  war  is  embellished  with  many  miracles  in  the  history  of 
Gregorv  of  Tours. 

*  Here  is  another  example  of  the  acknowledged  principle,  that  the 
Roman  Empire  still  existed  in  the  West  as  well  as  the  East. 


A.D.  490.  CHURCH  OF  THE  FRANKS.  391 

outburst  of  martial  enthusiasm  ;  luit  Clovis  was  equally  ready  to 
gaiu  his  own  ends  by  bloodshed  and  treachery.^  Not  that  he  was  a 
hyiiocritc;  but  the  religion  which  transforms  the  savage  nature  must 
have  the  deeper  root  of  that  genuine  conversion  of  the  heart  which 
usually  followed,  instead  of  i)recediug,  the  profession  of  Christianity 
by  the  barbarian  kings  with  hundreds  and  thousands  of  their 
l)eople.  The  belief  had  already  sprung  up,  that  crimes  of  passion 
and  jiolicy  could  be  atoned  for  by  that  liberality  to  churches  and 
monasteries  which  secured  for  Clovis  the  favour  of  the  clergy. 

By  the  murder  of  other  chieftains,  most  of  whom  were  his  near 
relatives,  Clovis  changed  his  elective  command  of  all  the  Frank  tribes 
into  an  hereditary  kingdom  (510).^  In  the  following  year  he  con- 
vened the  first  Council  of  the  Church  of  the  Franks  at  Orleans,  and 
he  died  at  Paris,  at  the  age  of  forty-five,  on  Nov.  27,  511.  He  was 
buried  in  the  church  founded  by  himself  and  Clotilda,  in  honour  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  which  became  famous  as  the  abbey  church 
of  Ste.  Genevieve.  His  religious  director,  Pemigius  (St.  Pemi), 
survived  till  533,  having  been  made  Bishop  of  Pheims  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two,  and  held  the  see  for  seventy-two  years. 

§  6.  The  conipiests  of  the  Franks  spread  Christianity  among  the 
German  tribes,  and  revived  it  where  it  had  taken  feeble  root  or  been 
partially  extinguished,  as  along  the  course  of  the  Phine.  But  this 
Christianity  was  corrupted,  on  the  one  hand  by  barbarism  and 
heathen  superstition,  on  the  other,  by  the  vices  of  the  worn-out 
civilization  of  the  old  Empire.  The  history  of  the  successive 
Merovingian  kings  displays  an  ever-deepening  depravity.  Blood- 
shed and  licentiousness  were  thought  to  be  atoned  for  by  gifts  for 
charity  and  religion;  and  the  churches  were  made  sanctuaries  for 
murderers.^  Much  vice,  and  even"  crime,  is  found  among  tlie  clergy 
themselves,  and  those  who  rebuked  the  sins  of  the  powerful  ofien 
put  their  own  lives  in  peril ;  as  when  Pra?textatus,  bishop  of  Pouen, 
was  stabbed  while  performing  high  mass  in  his  cathedral,  at  Easter, 
58(),  for  an  offence  given  to  the  infamous  Queen  Fredegund.  Ihe 
religion  of  the  age  degenerated  more  and  more  into  a  reliance  oil 
rites  and  pompous  forms  of  worship,  while  its  credulity  was 
fostered  by  innumerable  miracles.  "  Yet  good  men,  such  as  Cajsarius 
of  Aries,  were  never  wanting  to  assert  the  necessity  of  a  really 

'  The  excellent  and  pious  Gregory,  bishop  of  Tours,  the  historian  of  the 
Franks,  relates  the  crimes  of  Clovis  without  a  word  of  abhorrence. 

*  Clovis  was  at  first  king  only  of  the  Salian  Franks.  The  I'oj-al  line 
which  he  founded  was  called  3fcrovinffiitn,  ov  the  ^feerl^in<JS,  i.e.  sons  of 
Mcerwifi,  in  Latin  Jforoveus,  the  grar;  ifather  of  Clovis.  The  dynasty 
lasted  till  752. 

'  The  right  of  sanctuary  had  its  good  side,  as  preventing  the  hastv 
vengeance  of  an  enemy  on  a  person  who  might  be  innocent,  or  whose  act 
of  homicide  might  be  justifiable. 


392  THE  WESTERN  CHURCHES,  Cuap.  XVH. 

living  faith  and  a  thoroughly  religious  practice;  and  throughout 
all  the  evils  of  the  time  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  Gospel  are  to 
be  t''aced  in  humane  and  civilizing  legislation."  ' 

The  growth  of  the  Frank  power  was  the  means  of  extirpating 
Arianism  in  the  neighbouring  lands,  as  by  their  victories  over 
Burgundy,  and  in  Provence,  which  was  ceded  to  them  by  the  Goths 
(534).  It  would  be  tedious  to  relate  the  vicissitudes  of  civil  and 
religious  war  in  Spain,  till  Catholicism  was  finally  established  in  the 
united  Gothic  and  Suevic  kingdoms,  under  Kecared,  by  the  Council 
of  Toledo  (589). 

§  7.  The  ecclesiastical  state  of  Italy,  after  the  fall  of  the  Empire 
at  Rome,  has  already  been  incidentally  referred  to.  In  the  year 
489,  the  Ostrogoths,  who  had  endangered  the  throne  of  Zeno,  were 
induced  by  that  emperor,  under  his  commission  to  their  king 
Theodoric,  to  march  into  Italy,  where  Odoacer  Avas  defeated  and 
besieged  in  Ravenna,  and,  alter  making  peace  with  Theodoric,  was 
treacherously  murdered  (493).  Tlie  kingdom  of  the  Ostrogoths  in 
Italy  lasted  sixty  years ;  but  its  greatness  was  confined  to  the  half 
of  that  period  Avhich  formed  the  reign  of  Theodoric  (493-526). 
On  the  North  his  dominions  reached  the  Danube,  while  in  the 
West  he  checked  the  conquests  of  Clovis.  His  religious  policy  is 
strongly  contrasted  with  that  of  the  other  Arian  conquerors  by  that 
toleration,  the  great  principle  of  w'hich  he  announced  in  words 
already  quoted.^  His  toleration  extended  to  the  Jews,  whom  he 
also  protected  from  the  outrages  of  their  Christian  neighbours. 
Against  the  lurking  remains  of  heathenism,  however,  he  was  so 
zealous,  that  he  forbad  the  practice  of  i^agan  rites  on  pain  of  death ; 
but  there  is  no  record  of  this  law  having  been  put  in  force.  To  the 
Catholics  he  showed  far  more  than  mere  toleration,  recognizing  their 
clergy,  bestowing  liberal  gifts  on  their  churches,  and  employing 
their  bishops  on  embassies  as  well  their  laymen  as  his  ministers. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  relate  Theodoric's  collision  with 
the  Emperor  and  Eastern  Church,  which  led  him  to  acts  violating 
his  principles  of  toleration  from  political  motives.-  It  is  even  said 
that,  in  anger  at  the  failure  of  Pope  John's  mission  to  Constanti- 
nople, he  made  an  edict  for  the  suppression  of  Catholic  worship  in 
Italy;  but,  at  all  events,  this  was  not  carried  into  effect.  Thus 
much  is  certain,  that  the  tyranny  engendered  by  suspicion  grew 
upon  Theodoric  in  his  later  ye^rs,  and  left  a  dark  cloud  upon  his 
memory.  Stories  are  told  of  his  being  haunted  by  the  murdered 
Symmachus  ; '  and  a  hermit  of  the  volcsinic  isle  of  Lipari  related 
how  he  had  seen  the  Arian  persecutor  cast  by  Symmachus  and  Pope 
John  into  the  crater  as  the  mouth  of  hell.* 

'  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  553.  "^  See  Chap.  XVI.  §  7. 

"  Procop.  Bell.  Goth.  i.  1.  ■*  Gregory  the  Great,  Dial  iv.  30. 


A.D.  568.  THE  LOMBARD  KINGDOM.  393 

§  8.  The  factions  and  crimes  of  Theodoric's  successors,  and  their 
dissensions  with  the  Vandals,  prepared  the  way  for  the  generals  of 
Justinian  to  recover  Africa,  Sicily,  and  Italy,^  for  the  Empire.  The 
conquest  of  Italy  was  begun  by  Belisarius  (535)  and  completed 
by  the  eunuch  Narses,  who  was  established  as  the  imperial 
vicegerent,  or  Exarch,  at  Eavenna,  iu  554.  The  avarice  wliich 
stained  his  able  government  caused  the  Italians,  already  fearfully 
exhausted  by  the  late  wars,  to  appeal  to  the  Emperor  Justin  II., 
and  Narses  was  recalled  with  insult.  It  was  believed  that,  in  his 
resentment,  he  invited  the  Lombards,^  who  were  already  meditating 
the  invasion  of  Italy,  and  that  remorse  for  his  treachery  caused  liis 
death  (568).  In  spite  of  his  great  age,^  he  was  the  only  man  who 
could  have  defended  Italy,  on  which  the  Lombards  now  came  down 
unresisted.  They  occupied  the  northern  plain,  which  has  ever  since 
borne  the  name  of  Lombardy,  and  extended  their  conquests  further 
over  the  inland  regions.  Tlicir  leader,  Alboin,  set  up  at  Ticinum, 
or  Pavia,*  a  kingdom  which  lasted  for  two  centuries  (568-774), 
dividing  Italy  with  the  Exarchate  at  Ravenna.  The  Lombards 
re-established  in  their  dominions  the  Ariauism  which  had  just  been 
extirpated  by  the  overthrow  of  the  Goths  ;  and  theirs  was  the  last 
of  tlie  new  kingdoms  in  which  it  held  its  ground. 

§  9.  The  Exarchs  of  Pvavcnna  exercised  civil,  military,  and  even 
ecclesiastical  power  over  the  rest  of  Italy.  "  Their  immediate  juris- 
diction, which  was  afterwards  consecrated  as  the  '  Patrimony  of 
St.  Peter,'  extended  over  the  modern  Romagna,  the  marshes  or 
valleys  of  Fenara  and  Commachio,  five  maritime  cities  from  Rimini 
to  Ancona,  and  a  second  inland  Pentapolis  between  the  Adriatic 
coast  and  the  hills  of  the  Apennines.  Three  subordinate  provinces, 
of  Rome,  of  Venice,  and  of  Naples,  which  were  divided  by  hostile 
lands  from  the  palace  of  Ravenna,  acknowledged,  both  in  peace  and 
war,  the  supremacy  of  the  Exarch.  The  three  islands  of  Sardinia, 
Corsica,  and  Sicily,  still  adhered  to  the  Empire.  Rome  was  op- 
pressed by  the  iron  sceptre  of  the  Exarchs,  and  a  Greek,  perhaps  an 
eunuch,  insulted  with  impunity  the  ruins  of  the  Cajiitol  .... 
Rome  had  reached,  about  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  the  lowest 
period  of  her  depression.     By  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  empire  and 

'  See  the  history  of  these  events  in  the  Student's  Gibbon,  chaps,  xxi.-xxii. 
-   For    the    origin    and   previous   conquests   of   the    Lombards,   see    the 
Student's  Gibbon,  oh.  xxiv.  §§  3-5. 

*  His  age  is,  perhaps,  exaggerated  by  the  common  account,  which  makes 
him  ninety-five  at  his  death,  and  consequently  eighty  when  he  performed 
his  greatest  exploits. 

*  Milan,  which  had  been  the  Imperial  capital  before  Honorius  retired  to 
Ravenna,  had  lately  been  destroyed  by  the  Goths.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it 
became  again  the  capital  of  Lombardy. 


394  PROGRESS  OF  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  XVII. 

the  successive  loss  of  the  provinces,  tlie  sources  of  public  and  private 
opulence  were  exhausted  ....  Like  Thebes,  or  Babylon,  or  Car- 
thage, the  name  of  Eome  might  have  been  erased  from  the  earth, 
if  the  city  had  not  been  animated  by  a  vital  principle,  Avhich  again 
restored  her  to  honour  and  dominion."'  It  was  on  the  ruins  of 
Rome's  political  empire  that  the  Poi)es  built  the  foundations  of  the 
new  spiritual  empire  of  which  still  Rome  remained  the  centre. 

§  10.  The  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  is  the  epoch  from  which 
the  advance  in  the  pretensions  and  power  of  the  Roman  see  becomes 
conspicuous.  The  weak  successors  of  Theodosius  the  Great  retained 
little  power  over  the  bishop,  whom  their  withdrawal  to  Ravenna 
left,  in  his  splendid  Lateran  palace,  the  chief  citizen  of  the  city 
which  was  still  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  world  (caput  orhis 
ferrarum).  It  happened,  however,  that  at  this  very  time,  a  contest 
for  the  Papacy  called  for  an  interference  of  the  civil  power,  which 
set  a  precedent  to  later  ages.  On  the  death  of  Zosimus,  in  418,  two 
rival  bishops,  Boniface  and  Eulalius,  were  consecrated  by  their  re- 
spective partisans.  The  Emperor  Honorius  decided  for  Boniface, 
and  enacted  a  law  that,  when  two  persons  should  be  chosen  for  the 
see  of  Rome,  a  new  election  should  be  held.  "  And  this  was  the 
origin  of  the  important  influence  which  temporal  princes  afterwards* 
exercised  in  the  election  of  Roman  bishops."  ^ 

We  have  seen  how  the  controversies  of  the  Eastern  Church 
tended  to  raise  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  the  position  of  the  arbitrator 
of  Christendom,  while  his  claims  to  be  the  head  of  the  Western 
Church  advanced  steadily.  The  Bishop  of  Rome  stood  alone  in 
the  West  as  the  holder  of  the  only  patriarchal  see ;  and  it  seems 
to  be  in  this  sense  that  Augustine  calls  Innocent  I.  the  "  ruler  of 
the  Western  Church."  Innocent  I.  (402-417)  carried  these  preten- 
sions beyond  all  his  predecessors,  not  only  assuming  jurisdiction 
over  the  great  province  of  Eastern  lllyricum,  but  asserting  that  the 
whole  Western  Church  was  bound  to  conform  to  the  usages  of  Rome, 
Under  Innocent  and  his  successor  Zosimus  (417-418),  the  Pelagian 
controversy  tended  to  increase  the  Pope's  authority  in  that  very 
Church  (the  African)  where  it  was  most  strenuously  resisted;  and 
the  circular  letter  of  Zosimus  is  ilie  earliest  instance  of  a  standard 
of  orthodoxy  proposed  by  Rome.^  'J'he  claim  of  the  same  bishop  to 
entertain  appeals  from  Africa,  in  virtue  of  a  Nicene  canon,  was  met 
by  a  proof  that  the  canon  was  one  only  of  the  Sardican  Council ;  * 

"  Student's  Gibbon,  381-3.  '  «  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  498. 

»  See  Chap.  XIV.  §  12. 

■*  "  Leo  repeated,  in  more  than  one  instance,  the  attempt  to  pass  off  a 
Sardican  for  a  Nicene  canon,  notwithstanding  the  exposure  of  the  im- 
posture in  the  case  of  Zosimus."     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  494.) 


A.D.  440.  POPE  LEO  I.  THE  GREAT.  396 

and  the  African  bishops  boldly  ex[iresscd  to  Boniface  I.  (418-423) 
the  hope  that  they  mi<j;ht  no  longer  have  to  complain  of  the  secular 
pride  and  arrogance  of  Rome.^  In  the  Nestorian  controversy  Celes- 
TINE  I.  (423-432)  made  the  unprecedented  claim  to  depose  a  Patri- 
arch of  Constantinople ;  but  without  success,  for  Nestorius  was 
deposed  by  the  General  Council  of  Ephesus.^ 

§  11.  Q'he  most  resolute,  able,  and  successful  assertor  of  the  pre- 
rogatives of  Rome  was  Leo  I.  the  Great  (440-461).  He  set  the 
example  to  his  successors  of  claiming  unbroken  apostolic  tradition  for 
the  iiretcnsions  and  practices  of  Rome,  however  recent  they  might 
be,  and  of  endeavouring  to  force  them  on  the  whole  Church.  The 
authority  of  Leo  was  admitted  in  Spain,  where  the  Catholic  bishops 
looked  for  his  support  against  the  Ariau  Goths,  as  well  as  in  Sicily ; 
and  the  independent  spirit  of  the  African  Church  was  bowed  by  its 
disasters  to  seek  support  from  Rome  at  the  price  of  allowing  inter- 
ference. In  Gaul  he  took  advantage  of  an  appeal  from  a  deposed 
bishop  to  claim  authority  over  Hilary,  bishop  of  the  metropolitan 
see  of  Aries,  a  man  second  to  none  of  that  age  in  zeal,  piety,  and 
learning ;  and  Leo  procured  from  Yalentinian  lU.  a  law  declaring  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  to  be  the  rightful  ruler  of  the  whole  Church,  and 
ordering  his  appointments  to  be  obeyed  as  laws,  and  his  citations  of 
bishops  to  be  enforced  by  the  provincial  governors  (a.d.  445). 

§  12.  At  the  Council  of  Chalccdon,  as  we  have  seen,  the  legates 
of  Rome  for  the  first  time  obtained  an  equal  share  in  the  presidency 
with  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople ;  and  Leo  availed  himself  of 
this  to  speak  as  if  they  had  guided  the  decisions  of  the  Council. 
This  was  an  artifice  to  magnify  that  authority  which  received  a  real 
and  great  accession  by  the  adoption  of  his  Letter  to  Flavian.  Leo's 
interference  with  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Byzantine  Church 
threatened  a  quarrel,  which  was  only  averted  by  the  death  of  the 
Patriarch  Anatolius  (458),  three  years  before  that  of  Leo  himself,  in 
whom  (says  Canon  Robertson)  ^  "  we  for  the  first  time  meet  with 
something  approaching  to  the  Papacy  of  later  times ;  the  conception 
is,  in  the  main,  already  formed,  though  as  j'et  but  imperfectly 
realized."  * 

§  13.  There  is  little  to  distinguish  the  Bishops  of  Rome  in  the 
130  years  between  Leo  ihe  Great  and  Gregory  the  Great.  The 
mo8t  important  points  in  their  history  have  been  related  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Eastern  Church.     Leo's  archdeacon  and  successor, 

•  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  493.  *  See  Chap.  XV.  §  4. 
»  Vol.  i.  p.  498. 

*  The  works  of  Leo  are  ninetv-si.x  short  Sermons  (the  earliest  extant  by 
a  Roman  bishop)  and  173  Epistles,  includine;  those  written  to  him.  There 
are  some  doubtful  works,  the  chief  of  whicli  is  '  On  the  Calling  of  the 
Nations  '  (De  Vocatione  omnium  Gentiuin). 


396  PROGRESS  OF  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  XVII. 

Hilary  I.  (461-468),  who  Lad  been  his  legate  at  Ephesus,  main- 
tained the  same  piinciples  of  orthodoxy  in  the  East  and  authority 
over  the  West,  especially  over  the  Gallic  Church.  His  successor, 
SiMPLicius  (468-483),  witnessed  the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire, 
without  seeming  to  be  aware  of  its  importance  even  to  the  interests 
of  his  see.*  Though,  as  we  have  seen,  the  theory  of  the  Empire 
was  preserved,  the  fact  that  Eome  was  in  the  hands  of  a  barbarian 
ruler  made  its  bishop  the  present  and  living  head  of  Roman  and 
Latin  society ;  and  the  more  so  as  he  was  the  centre  of  the  Catholic 
faith  amidst  the  Arian  conquerors.  His  dignity  seems  to  have  been 
felt  by  those  conquerors  themselves,  who  left  ecclesiastical  affairs  in 
his  hands ;  but  they  asserted  their  authority  to  regulate  his  election 
and  the  temporal  afltaira  of  the  see. 

On  the  election  of  Felix  III.  (483-492)  as  successor  to  Simpli- 
cius,  an  officer  of  Odoacer  expressed  his  surprise  that  the  king's 
licence  had  not  been  asked,  and  he  prohibited  the  alienation  of 
Church  ]iroperty  by  bishops.  A  Roman  Council,  twenty  years  later, 
enacted  the  same  prohibition,  while  protesting  against  its  imposition 
by  the  civil  power. 

Theodoric  abstained  from  interference  with  the  Church  of  Rome, 
even  when  a  contest  between  Symmachus  and  Laurentius  for  the 
succession  to  Anastasius  II.  had  given  rise  to  bloodshed,  till  he 
was  appealed  to  as  arbiter;  and  he  then  gave  his  decision  for 
Symmachus  (498-514),  as  having  been  chosen  by  the  majority  of 
votes  and  having  been  consecrated  before  his  rival.  Tlie  party  of 
Laurentius  then  brought  serious  moral  chai'ges  against  Symmachus, 
and  the  riots  were  renewed.  Theodoric  appointed  the  Bishop  of 
Altino  "visitor"  of  the  Roman  Church,  and,  with  the  consent  of 
Symmachus,  called  a  council  of  bishops  from  all  parts  of  Italy, — a 
singular  thing  according  to  later  Roman  ideas,  a  council  convened 
by  an  heretical  prince  to  sit  in  judgment  ujjon  a  Pope!^  And  a 
remarkable  judgment  was  pronounced  by  this  famous  Synod  of  the 
Palm.  It  acquitted  Symmachus  without  investigation,  on  the 
ground  that  there  were  difficulties  in  the  case,  Avhich  must  therefore 
be  left  to  the  Divine  judgment.  The  easy  transition  to  the  prin- 
ciple that  a  successor  of  St.  Peter  was  above  all  human  judgment, 

'  How  little  this  event  was  viewed  as  the  real  end  of  the  Romau  Empire 
is  seen  from  the  fact  that  Simplicius  does  not  mention  it  in  his  letters. 

*  It  should  be  remembered  (as  already  stated)  that  this  is  the  time 
(about  A.n.  500)  when  the  title  of  Pope  (Papa)  is  first  found  ap])lied  by 
any  writer  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  namely,  by  Ennodius  of  Pavia  {ob.  521  : 
Patrol.  Ixiii.  69).  The  Synod  of  the  Palm  (Si/nodus  Palmaris)  was  so 
called  from  the  place  of  meeting,  "  a  ^orticu  beati  Petri  Apostoli,  qua 
appellatur  ad  Palmaria  "  (Anastasius,  ap.  Schaff,  vol.  ii.  p.  325).  Its  date 
is  variously  placed  at  501  or  503. 


A.D.  500.  fOPE  AND  EMPEROR.  397 

and  responsible  to  God  alone,  was  made  by  the  deacon  Ennodius, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Pavia,  in  his  Defence  of  the  Council,^  and  was 
adopted  by  the  Si.x.th  lloman  Council  held  by  Symmachus;  and 
acts  of  earlier  Bishops  of  Bomc  were  forged  to  countenance  the 
assumption. 

Theodoric  abstained  from  interference  with  the  action  of  the 
Roman  bishops  in  the  quarrel  with  Constantinople  about  tlie  Mono- 
physito  controvers}' ;  but  their  reconciliation  roused  his  political 
jealousy  and  led  to  his  persecution  of  Pope  John  I.,  which  has 
already  been  related.  Just  a  month  before  his  death  Le  ended  a 
protracted  struggle  for  the  succession  to  John  by  nominating  Felix 
IV.  (52G-530) ;  and  he  made  an  ordinance  that  hereafter,  as  here- 
tofore, the  Pope  should  be  elected  by  tlie  clergy  and  people,  but 
should  be  confirmed  by  the  temporal  prince  before  assuming  his 
office.  During  the  confusion  that  followed  the  death  of  Theodoric, 
the  elections  of  Boniface  II.  (530-532)  and  Johx  II.  (532-535) 
were  again  disgraced  by  violent  contentions  and  bribery. 

§  14.  On  the  recovery  of  Italy  bj^  Belisarius,  Justinian  adopted 
towards  the  Church  of  Rome  the  same  policy  by  which  he  had 
reduced  that  of  Constantinople  to  subservience.  He  deprived  the 
peojile  at  large  of  their  share  in  the  election  of  bishops,  who  were  to 
be  chosen  by  the  clergy  and  principal  inhabitants  of  each  citj-. 
"  He  made  new  and  stringent  regulations  as  to  the  confirmation  of 
tlie  Pope  by  the  civil  power.  According  to  the  Liber  Diurnus,  a 
collection  of  forms  which  represents  the  state  of  things  in  those  days 
or  shortly  after,  the  death  of  a  Roman  bishop  was  to  be  notified 
to  the  Exarch  of  Ravenna ;  the  successor  was  to  be  chosen  by  the 
clergy,  the  nobles  of  Rome,  the  soldiery  and  the  citizens ;  and  the 
ratification  of  the  election  was  to  be  requested  in  very  submissive 
terms,  both  of  the  Emperor  and  of  his  deputy  the  Exarch."^ 

The  chief  points  in  the  history  of  the  Popes  tinder  Just4nian  have 
been  related  in  connection  with  the  Monophysite  controversy. 
Their  loss  of  power  and  dignity  was  increased  by  the  s-chism  of 
Aquileia  and  other  parts  of  the  West;'  but  the  invasion  of  the 
Lombards  loosened  their  dependence  on  the  Emperor,  and  increased 
their  political  importance  as  leaders  in  the  defence  of  Italy,  and  as 
the  possessors  of  immense  wealth.  The  Emperors  requited  their 
services  with  new  civil  privileges. 

§  15.  Meanwhile  they  extended  their  claims  of  jurisdiction,  which 
were  strengthened  by  frequent  apjieals  from  bishops  and  applica- 
tions from  churches  for  advico  on  difficult  questions.  In  the 
Decretal  Epistles  sent  in  answer,  "  the  applicants  were  glad  to  be 

'  LQjcUus  Apologeticus  pro  Synodo  IV.  EomaiuL,  in  Mansi,  viii.  274.  • 
*  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  564.  '  See  Chap.  XVJ.  §  H. 

19 


398  PROGRESS  OF  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  XVII. 

assured  that  the  substance  of  such  replies  was  of  apostolical  tradi- 
tion, and  of  universal  authority ;  and  the  Pope  came  to  be  regarded 
as  a  general  dictator  in  matters  of  this  kind.  About  the  middle  of 
the  sixth  century,  Dionysius  Exiguus,  a  I'loman  monk  of  Scythian 
birth,  collected  the  canons  of  the  general  and  of  the  chief  provincial 
councils,  translating  those  which  were  in  Greek,  and  including 
with  them  the  Decretal  Epistles  of  the  Koman  bishops,  from  Siri- 
cius  downwards.  The  work  became  a  standard  of  ecclesiastical  law 
in  the  West ;  and  it  contributed  largely  to  heighten  the  authority 
of  the  see  whose  decisions  and  advices  were  thus  apparently  placed 
on  a  level  with  those  of  the  most  venerated  councils."  ^ 

§  16.  These  advances  towards  Papal  ascendancy  were  still  kept  in 
check  by  the  supremacy  of  the  emperors  and  the  conflicting  claims 
of  the  Eastern  patriarchs.  Titles  which  appeared  to  concede 
authority  over  the  universal  church  were  used  as  terms  of  flattery, 
as  when,  at  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  the  Alexandrians  called  Leo 
"  GEcumenical  Bishop  and  Patriarch  of  Great  Rome."  ^  The  style 
of  (Ecumenical  Patriarch '  was  assumed  by  the  bishops  of  Constan- 
tinople, without  implying  a  claim  to  supremacy  over  the  Western 
Church ;  and  it  was  equally  applied  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  by  a 
Byzantine  Council  held  by  the  Patriarch  Mejmas.  In  like  manner, 
Justinian,  who,  with  all  the  formality  of  law,  calls  the  Church  of 
Constantinople  "  the  head  of  all  the  churches,"  applied  the  very 
same  title  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  A  new  epoch  in  the  advance  of 
the  Roman  See  and  in  the  History  of  the  Church  bcgius  with  the 
pontificate  of  Gkegory  the  Great,  which  "  marks  the  transition 
of  the  patriarchal  system  into  the  strict  Papacy  of  the  Middle 
Ages."" 

•  Robertson,  vol,  i.  p.  561.  Dionysius  Exiguus  was  the  inventor  of  the 
new  Paschal  cycle,  which  was  adopted  at  Rome  in  525,  and  of  the  system 
of  dating  from  the  Christian  era,  which  he  places  four  years  too  low  (ac- 
cording to  the  now  received  chronology),  so  that  the  birth  of  Christ  falls 
at  the  division  between  the  years  B.C.  5  and  4  of  Dionysius.  See  this  fully 
explained  in  the  Student's  N.  T.  Hist.,  chap.  vi.  Note  B,  p.  163. 

*  "  It  was  afterwards  pretended  that  the  title  was  given  by  the  whole 
Council  (Greg.  Mag.  Epist.  v.  18,  20,  44);  but  Gregory's  editors  show 
that  this  was  not  the  case."     (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  560.) 

*  The  title  is  explained  by  Anastasius  the  Librarian,  in  the  Preface  to 
the  Acts  of  the  Second  Nicene  Council,  as  not  consistent  with  the  Latin 
universalis,  but,  in  the  more  literal  Greek  sense,  as  ai)plying  to  any  j)arti- 
cular  part  inhabited  by  C^hristiaus  (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  9).  When  as- 
sumed, however,  by  the  Patriarch  .lohn  the  Faster,  in  583,  it  was  under- 
stood in  the  West  in  the  wider  sense,  and  called  forth  the  protests  of 
Pelagius  II.  and  Gregory  the  Great,  which  we  have  to  notice  presently. 
Chap.  XIX.  §  5. 

♦  Schaft;  vol.  ii.  pu  329. 


■/         ■ 


Sanctuary  of  S.  Apollinare  in  Classe,  Ravenna. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
INTERNAL  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

CESTtnilES   IV.-VI. 

§  1.  Constitution  of  the  Church — Clergy  and  Laity — The  Tonsure.  §  2. 
Ordination  and  Appointment  of  Clergy.  §  3.  Clerical  Celibacy — Laws 
of  Justinian.  §  4.  Jlonasticism — Its  Progress  and  Corruption  in  the 
West.  §  5.  St.  Benedict  of  Ncrsia,  its  great  Reformer — His  early 
life  and  retreat  at  Subiaco — Foundation  of  the  Monastery  of  Monte 
Cctssino,  the  type  of  the  Benedictine  Order — Death  of  Benedict.  §  6. 
The  Rule  of  St.  Benedict — Benedictine  Literature.  §  7.  Wide  Prevalence 
of  the  Order  and  Rule — Present  state  of  M.  Cassino.  §  8.  Corruption 
and  worldliness  in  the  Church — Greater  splendour  of  Worship — Com- 
promises with  Heathenism.     §  9.   Christian  Churches — Use  of  Heathen 


400  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

Temples  and  Basilica; — Churches  of  the  BasUican  Tape.  §  10.  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Bjsilica,  civil  and  ecclesiastical — The  Walls,  Court,  and  Porch 
— Nave,  Aisles,  and  Transepts — St.  Paul's  and  St.  Peter's  at  Rome — Clioir 
and  Pulpit — Sanctuary,  Altar,  and  Ciborium — Ornaments — Seats  of 
Clergy  and  Bishop's  Throne — Places  of  Laity  and  Women — Galleries — 
Buildings  attached  to  churches.  §  11.  Round  Churches  of  the  Sepulchral 
or  Jicmoridl  tyi>e — Sta.  Costanza  and  St.  Stefauo  Rotundo  at  Rome — 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sejmlchre — Church  of  St.  George  at  Thessalonica — 
Cathedral  at  Bosrah.  §  12.  The  third,  or  Byzantine  type — St.  Sophia, 
and  SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus,  at  Constantinople — St.  Vitale  and  St.  Apol- 
linare  in  Classe,  at  Ravenna — Churches  after  the  time  of  Justinian. 
§  13.  Consecration  of  Churches — Relics  essential — Consequences  of  their 
indelible  sanctity — Right  of  asylum  and  its  abuses — Desecration  and  Re- 
consecration  or  Reconciliation.  §  14.  The  Cross  in  Churches — Early  Use 
of  the  Symbol — Adoration  of  the  Cross.  §  15.  Introduction  of  the 
Crucifx  and  Crucifixion-Pictures — Symbolical  Representation:  the  Agnus 
Dei — The  Crucifix  in  Churches:  decree  of  TruUan  Council  in  691 — 
Early  private  use  of  the  Crucifix — Crucirix ion-Pictures — The  MS.  of 
Rabula — The  diptych  of  Ramboua.  §  16.  /"/dwrcs  (called  "  Images  ") 
in  Churches — Their  original  purpose  and  subjects — Worship  of  Images, 
especially  in  the  East — Judgment  of  Gregory  the  Great — Bede  :  earliest 
pictures  in  English  Churches.  §  17.  Worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary — 
Heathen  element  in  3Iariolatry — Worship  of  Angels  rare  as  yet — 
Ambrose.  §  18.  Reverence  for  <Sat«^5 — Their  Relics,  Lives,  and  Miracles 
— Use  of  the  Name — The  Diptychs  and  Calendars — Canonization  and 
Beatiricatiou.  §  10.  Holy  Places  and  Pilgriniayes — Legend  of  the  finding 
of  the  Cross  of  Christ  by  St.  Helena — Festival  of  the  "Invention" — 
Practice  of  Pilgrimage — Protests  of  eminent  Fathers.  §  20.  Origin  and 
Growth  o{  Liturgies — Meaning  of  the  word — Liturgical  Jlodels  in  Scrip- 
tm-e — No  Primitive  Liturgies  extant.  §  21.  Earliest  existing  Liturgies 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries — Internal  Evidences  of  date — Marks  of 
an  earlier  and  common  Liturgical  Tradition.  §  22.  Disuse  of  the  Dis- 
cipliiia  Arcani — The  Church  Service  public — Its  responsive  character — 
— Action  as  well  as  utterance.  §  23.  Numerous  ancient  Liturgies : 
classified.  1.  The  Oriental  Litukgies  :  (1)  of  St.  Clement ;  (2)  of 
iS*^.  James,  or  the  Jerusalem  family — Syriac  Jlonophysite  Liturgies;  (3) 
of  St.  Mark,  or  the  Alexandrian — Coptic  and  Ethiopic  Liturgies  ;  (4)  of 
St.  T/iaddeus,  or  of  Eilcssa  :  the  source  of  many  Nestorian  Liturgies  ;  (5) 
The  Constaniinopolitin,  and  Liturgies  of  St.  Basil  and  St.  Chrysostom; 
the  living  Liturgy  of  the  Greek  and  Russian  Church.  §  24.  II.  The 
Occidental  Liturgies  :  (1)  The  Ephesian,  ascribed  to  St.  John,  including 
the  Old  Gallic'in  (with  the  British),  and  the  Old  Spanish  or  Mozarabic — 
(2)  The  Liturgij  of  St.  Ambrose  (still  used  at  Milan),  and  that  of  Aquilcia 

rX)  The  1,'oman  Liturgy — Sacramentaries  ascribed  to  Leo  I.,  Gelasius, 

and  Gregory  the  Great — The  Ordo  et  Canon  31issw — Its  all  but  universal 
prevalence  in  the  Latin  Church.  §  25.  Creeds  or  Symbols.  Tiieir  use 
as  baptismal  formularies  and  rules  of  faith — Their  numerous  forms — 


Cent.  IV-\I.  CLERICAL  ORDERS.  401 

Development  of  the  '^Apostles'  Creed" — The  baptismal  formula  of  the 
Westeru  Church.  §  2»J.  The  *^  A'iccne  Creed" — When  iutroJuced  into 
the  Liturgy — Its  adoption  in  the  West.  §  27.  Tlie  spurious  "  C  ecd  of 
S.  At/uDMsius  " — Its  character  and  purpose — Its  Western  origin — its 
date.  §  28.  Puritan  Opposition  to  tiie  tendencies  of  the  age  ;  monasti- 
cism,  asceticism,  and  Mariolatry  : — AiJrius.  §29.  Helvidius;  Bonosus 
Jovinian.     §  30.  Vigilautius. 

§  1.  TuK  completion  of  the  Sixth  Century  marks  anotlier  epoch, 
from  wiiich  it  is  well  to  survey  the  state  of  the  Church  during 
tlie  three  hundred  years  of  its  connection  with  the  State,  which 
had  followed  the  like  period  of  persecuted  independence. 

With  regard  to  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  her  hierarchal  government,  there  is  little  or  nothing  of 
importance  to  add  to  what  has  been  said  in  reviewing  the  Fourth 
Century*  and  in  the  subsequent  course  of  our  narrative.  The 
continuance  of  outward  prosperity,  the  increase  of  ecclesiastical 
wealth,  the  influence  of  churchmen  in  state  affairs,  and  the  authority 
which  they  wielded  in  provincial  and  general  councils,  were  con- 
tinually tending  to  increase  the  exaltation  of  the  clergy  above  the 
laity,  and  to  widen  the  distinction  between  the  ranks  of  the  clergy 
themselves. 

The  primitive  idea  of  the  consecration  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry  was  stiftoneJ  into  the  formal  law  of  the  indelibility  of 
holy  orders,  of  which  the  Umsure  became  the  sign.  This  motle  of 
shaving  the  head,  at  tirst  the  badge  of  penitents,  and  from  them 
adopted  by  the  monks,  as  a  token  of  constant  humiliation,  became 
the  regular  mark  of  the  clerical  profession.- 

§  2.  A  special  training  fur  the  ministry  of  the  Church  was  pro- 
vided by  schools  of  divinity,  such  as  those  at  Alexandria  and 
Antioch,  Edessa  and  Misibis;  and  it  was  esteemed  a  bishop's  duty 
to  care  for  the  education  of  his  clergy  ;  while  the  gnat  munasieries 
became  the  chief  seats  of  theological  learning.     The  age  qualifying 

'  Chap.  XII. 

-  The  tonsure  first  bec;une  common  among  the  clergy  in  the  si.\th  century, 
and  an  essential  mark  of  ordination  alter  that  epoch.  Jt  was  of  various 
forms:  the  Greeks  shaved  or  rather  clii)ped  close  the  hair  of  tlie  whole 
head;  the  Romans  shaved  the  crown  of  the  head,  leaving  a  ring  of  hair,  in 
imitation  of  the  crown  of  thorns,  while  a  third  practice  prevailed  in  the 
Scoto-Irish  Church,  of  shaving  the  front  of  the  head,  as  far  Lack  as  the  ears, 
so  that  the  hair  formed  a  crescent.  The  Greeks  jdeaded  the  authoritv  of 
Paul,  the  Romans  that  of  Peter,  and  they  ascribed  to  his  antagonist,  Simon 
Magus  (whom  they  had  somehow  discovered  to  have  been  bald  !  ;  the  Scoto- 
Irish  tonsure,  which  was  long  a  bone  of  contention  among  the  Churches  of 
Britain,  e<iually  with  the  time  of  keeping  Easter  (see  Chap.  XIX.). 


402  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVJII. 

for  holy  orders  was  fixed  at  thirty,  after  the  example  of  Christ's 
entrance  on  His  public  ministry.  The  enhanced  sanctity  of  holy 
orders  increased  the  power  of  the  bishops,  who  alone  could  confer 
ordination ;  and  the  appointment  of  the  clergj^  fell  very  early  into 
their  hands,  though  still  with  the  assent  (real  or  supposed)  of 
the  congregation.  The  Council  of  Orange  (441)  first  extended 
episcopal  patronage  beyond  a  bishop's  own  diocese,  in  the  case  of 
churches  that  he  might  have  built  in  another  ;  and,  a  century  later, 
Justinian  granted  the  same  privilege  to  laymen.  His  law  of  541 
enacted  that  "  any  one  who  should  found  a  church,  and  should 
endow  it  with  a  maintenance  fur  a  clerk,  might  nominate  a  person 
who  should  be  ordained  to  it.  The  bishops,  however,  were  at 
liberty  in  such  cases  to  refuse  ordination,  if  the  individual  presented 
were  unfit."  ^  Such  was  the  origin  of  Lay  Patrona<je  in  the  Church. 
The  clerical  profession,  with  its  rank,  wealth,  and  power,  its 
privileges  and  exemptions,  became  an  increasing  object  of  worldly 
ambition  ;  while  the  conflict  of  parties,  churches  and  congregations 
called  for  leaders  with  other  qualifications  than  those  which  were 
spiritual.  Promotion  to  the  highest  ecclesiastical  offices,  passing 
over  the  intermediate  grades,  became  a  common  practice.  The 
spontaneous  impulse,  which  had  called  forth  an  Ambrose  or  Augus- 
tine against  his  will,  degenerated  into  the  strange  system  of  forcible 
ordination,  which  could  only  be  evaded  by  the  person  so  chosen 
taking  an  oath  that  he  Avould  not  submit  to  be  ordained,  for  then 
he  was  not  compelled  to  forswear  himself.  While  some,  by  alfccted 
reluctance,  procured  their  forced  ordination  iir  order  to  enhance 
their  own  importance,  it  was  imposed  on  others  as  a  political  dis- 
qualification." Both  these  practices,  of  conferring  on  neophytes  the 
higher  clerical  grades,  and  of  forcible  ordination,  were  condemned 
by  councils  and  imperial  edicts;  and  the  presbyters  and  lower 
clergy  were  allowed  to  renounce  orders  imposed  against  their  will. 
But  in  the  case  of  bishops,  those  only  were  esteemed  fit  for  the 
office  who  had  been  unwilling  to  assume  it.^     The  severance  of 

'  Novell,  cxxiii.  18  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  5G8. 

*  The  Roman  emperors  Avitus  (4oG)  and  Glycerins  (475)  were  deposed 
in  this  manner  ;  and  the  practice  was  not  uncommon  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

'Hence  the  alVectation  still  perpetuated  in  the  formula  ''nolo  cpisfo- 
pari " ;  the  whole  principle  hc\u<y  ciiriouslv  at  variance  with  that  other 
"saying  ''  which  Paul  says,  is  "  to  be  believed — whoever  seeks  the  episco- 
pate desires  a  good  work."  (1  Tim.  iii.  1  :  rinrrbs  6  \6yos.  Elf  tis  rris 
fiTKTKOirrjs  opeyfrai,  Ka\ov  ipyov  tiriOvtt.e'i.',  It  is  worthy  of  special 
notice,  that  these  words  are  immeiliately  followed  by  others  no  less  clearly 
opposed  to  clerical  celibacy  (v.  2-h),  and  to  the  ordination  of  neophytes 
(v.  6).  Such  were  the  advances  already  made  upon  Apostolic  precepts  by 
ecclesiastical  custom  and  law. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.       CLERICAL  CELIBACY,  403 

a  bishop  from  his  flock  was  deemed  a  sort  of  spiritual  adultery,  on 
the  principle — now  comnjou  in  the  Church — of  applying  to  the 
clerizy  the  language  and  imagery  which  Scripture  appropriates  to 
their  Divine  Master. 

§  3.  This  fanciful  exaggeration  of  the  bond  between  the  bishops 
and  their  charge  suggests,  by  transition  of  thought,  the  increasing 
opposition  to  those  natural  ties  which  Scripture  expressly  sanctions, 
adding  special  reasons  for  their  observance  by  the  ministers  of  the 
Church;^  while  experience  proves  that  the  attempt  to  set  up  a 
higher  standard  of  purity  tends  to  defeat  itself.  Much  indeed  may 
be  said  for  voluntary  celibacy,  deliberately  chosen  and  sustained  by 
higher  principle  ;  but  a  law  imposed  upon  a  whole  class  is  quite 
another  thing  ;  and  long  before  the  law  was  made,  the  dangers  even 
of  the  voluntary  custom  liad  become  conspicuous.  'i'he  Kicene 
Council,  which  (as  we  have  seen)  refused  to  imix»se  celibacy  on 
the  clergy,  found  it  already  needful  to  enact  a  rule  against  the 
reception  into  the  houses  of  the  clergy  of  female  companions  or 
attendants,^  except  such  as  near  relationship  or  advanced  age 
placed  above  suspicion.  This  canon  was  made  an  imjx^rial  law  by 
Honorius,  in  420.* 

It  is  a  most  imiwrtant  fact  that  no  General  Council  imposed 
celibacy  on  the  clergy,  though  that  of  Chalcedon  assumes  the 
existence  of  certain  prohibitions.  Even  as  early  as  that  of  !Nica>a, 
the  arguments  on  the  question  seem  to  assume  the  existence  of  a  law 
forbidding  marriage  after  ordination  to  the  higher  clerical  grades  of 
deacon,  presbyter,  or  bishop.*  The  practice  of  the  Eastern  Church 
was  for  a  long  time  more  liberal  than  that  of  the  Western,  where 
the  Popes  early  declared  for  celibacy,  as  we  have  already  seen  in 
the  decretal  of  Siricius  (385).''  Local  synods  were  constantly  at 
work  to  enforce  rules  which  the  General  Councils  had  not  imposed  on 
the  whole  Church,  1"he  successive  steps  of  this  partial  legislation  are 
traced  by  Canon  I\olx?rtson,*  who  adds  the  imiwrtant  remark,  that 

'  See  the  passage  eitod  in  the  preceding  note. 
'■^  "  Subiutroductani  mulierem.'' — Can.  A'ic.  3. 
'  Cod.  Theodos.  XVI.  ii.  44. 

*  One  result  of  this  rule  was  a  factitious  barrier  lo  the  promotion  of 
clergymen,  however  tit ;  as  when  Lupus  of  Troves  (in  the  tifth  century) 
tells  us  that  he  and  other  bishops  tried  to  meet  the  difliculty  of  enfor';ing 
the  rule  by  avoiding  the  elevation  of  married  clergymen  from  the  lower 
orders  to  the  higher.     (^Lupus,  Epist.  2  ;  Patrolog.  Iviii.) 

5  Chap.  XII.  §  12. 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  56."> :  "The  general  aim  of  the  canons  was  to  prevent 
marriage  altogether,  if  possible ;  to  extend  the  prohibition  to  the  inferior 
grades  of  the  ministry;  to  debar  the  married  from  higher  promotion;  to 
prevent  such  clerks  as  were  allowed  to  marry  once  from  entering  into  a 


404  ^  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHl. 

"  the  frequency  of  such  canons  is  itself  a  proof  how  imperfectly  they 
were  able  to  make  way  ;  and  very  many  cases  are  recorded  which 
show  that  the  enforcement  of  them  was  found  impracticable,  and 
that  a  variety  of  usages  in  different  places  was  largely  tolerated." 
It  is  a  significant  fact  that  one  of  the  first  im]^x;rial  enactments  on 
the  subject^  dealt  chiefly  with  the  abuses  naturally  resulting  from 
the  attempt  to  enforce  celibacy,  while  it  allowed  clergymen  married 
before  ordination  to  keep  their  wives  on  the  very  logical  grouud 
that  these  are  not  unfitly  joined  (o  clerks,  who  have,  by  their  con- 
versation, made  their  husbands  worthy  of  the  jiriesthood." 

The  progress  made  in  the  course  of  another  century,  by  the  civil 
law  as  well  as  the  canons  of  the  Church,  is  seen  in  several  enact- 
ments of  Justinian,  confirming  the  ecclesiastical  prohibitions  of 
clerical  marriage,  and  declaring  the  issue  of  such  marriages  illegiti- 
mate, and  incapable  of  inheriting  property.  He  also  assigns  the 
danger  of  nepotism  as  a  reason  for  forbidding  the  promotion  to 
bishoprics  of  those  who  h-ad  children  or  grandchildren.'^ 

§  4.  The  progress  of  celibacy  was  doubtless,  in  a  great  measure, 
the  result  of  a  spirit  of  emulation  with  the  monastic  purity  of  life. 
But  monasticism  itself  had  already  begun  to  decline  from  its  first 
simplicity  and  enthusiasm,  as  was  natural  from  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  system  iu  popular  favour,  and  the  power  which  the  monks 
wielded  in  the  controversies  of  the  age.  The  monastic  profession 
was  encouraged  by  imperial  edicts ;  esjiecially  when  Justinian  gave 
public  sanction  to  the  abuse  of  it  wliich  sets  the  social  laws  of 
nature  at  defiance,  ])crmitting  it  to  be  made  by  married  persons, 
children,  and  slaves,  against  the  will  of  their  consorts,  their  parents, 
and  their  masters.  The  monks  acquired  more  and  more  of  the 
clerical  character,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical authorities  ;3  and  they  were  held  in  higher  popular  reputa- 
tion than  the  clergy  for  holiness.  They  aimed  at  practical  in- 
dependence, as  much  as  possible,  of  the  episcopal  control  to  which 

secojid  union ;  to  limit  their  choice  to  women  who  had  never  been 
married  ;  to  separate  the  married  (•k>r!:;y  from  their  wives,  or,  if  they 
lived  together,  to  restrain  them  from  cDnjngal  intercourse."  One  result 
of  these  laws  is  seen  in  "  the  fact  that,  in  proportion  as  celibacy  was 
enforced  on  the  clergy,  it  became  the  more  necessary  to  enact  canons 
prohibiting  them  to  entertain  concubines  or  other  'extraneous'  female 
companions"  (c.vtraneas  ftetninis  id  ancillas). — Ibid.  p.  566. 

'  The  law  of  Honorius  (a.d.  4'20)  already  cited. 

^  iSee  the  laws  cited  by  Uobertson,  vol.  i.  p.  566. 

■'  Leo  the  Great  forbids  monks  to  jireach,  or  to  intermeddle  with 
other  clerical  functions  (^Hfiist.  cxviii.  2;  c.\ix.  6)." — Robertson,  vol.  i. 
p.  -.72. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  WESTERN  MOXASTICISiM.  406 

they  were  subjected  by  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  and  the  laws  of 
Justinian.' 

In  the  West,  where  monasticism  had  been  first  planted  more 
slowl)'  than  among  the  cniliusiasts  of  Egypt  and  Asia,  it  struck 
root  deeper  into  society,  and  grew  into  better  organized  forms 
wliich  bore  more  practical  fruit.  There  is  much  truth  in  the 
eloquent  words  of  Montalembert :- — "  'J  he  monastic  stream,  which 
had  been  born  in  the  desert  of  Ejiypt,  divided  itself  into  two  great 
arms.  The  one  spread  in  the  East,  at  first  inundated  everything, 
then  concentrated  and  lost  itself  there.  The  other  escaped  into  the 
West,  and  sjiread  itself  by  a  thousand  channels  over  an  entire  world, 
which  had  to  be  covered  and  fertilised." 

The  monasteries  of  the  West  acquired  new  importance  from  the 
revolution  which  overthrew  the  Empire.  "  Monks,  botli  by  their 
numbers  and  by  their  profession  of  especial  sanctity,  impressed  the 
barbarian  conquerors.  Their  abodes,  therefore,  became  a  secure 
retreat  from  tlie  troubles  of  the  time;  they  were  honoured  and 
respected,  and  wealth  was  largely  bestowed  on  them.  But  where 
the  monastic  profession  was  sought  by  many  for  reasons  different 
from  thoSe  which  its  founders  had  contemplated — for  the  sake  of 
a  safe  and  tranquil  life  rather  than  for  penitence  and  religious 
profession — a  strong  tendency  to  degeneracy  was  nat>iially  soon 
manifested.  And  thus  in  the  earlier  part  of  .the  sixth  century 
there  was  room  for  the  labours  of  a  reformer."  ^ 

§  5.  Early  in  the  sixth  century  the  man  arose  who,  in  simply 
setting  an  example  of  the  much  needed  reform,  gave  to  AVestern 
monasticism  the  permanent  organization  which  placed  it  on  a 
surer  foundation  than  the  Eastern  type,  and  made  it  the  source  of 
immense  practical  results,  both  for  good  and  evil.  To  Saikt 
Bexedict  of  Nuksia,^  founder  of  the  fiimous  Benedictine  Order, 
is  justly  awarded  "  the  dignity  of  patriarch  of  the  Western  monks. 
He  has  furnished  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  incalculable  influence 

'  The  first  country  in  which  this  jn-inciple  was  violated  was  Africa, 
where,  about  the  year  .")Jo,  many  monastic  societies,  passing  over  the 
local  bishops,  placei  tiiemselves  under  the  primate  of  Carthage,  or  other 
distant  prelates  {Cone.  Ctrtkag.  a.d.  525)." — Ibid.  p.  573. 

-  '  The  Monks  of  the  West.' 

^  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  573. 

*  The  epithet  is  derived  from  the  Umbrian  town  near  wliich  he  was 
born,  now  Xorcia,  in  the  old  duchy  of  Spoleto,  in  Central  Italv.  The  chief 
authority  for  his  life  is  the  biogra()liy  written  by  Tope  Gre;;ory  the  Great 
(iJidloi.,  Lit).  II.),  from  the  communications  of  four  of  Benedict's  chief 
disciples,  and  full  of  legends  of  his  miracles.  Among  modern  writers, 
Butler  {Lives  of  the  Saints,  die  Mart.  21)  and  Montalembert  {JIon/;s  of  the 
Wist,  vol.  ii.  book  iv.)  are  especiallv  interesting. 
19* 


406  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIH. 

■which  a  simple  but  judicious  moral  rule  of  life  may  exercise  on 
many  centuries." ' 

Born  about  a.d.  480,  of  a  noble  f^mily,^  Benedict  was  only  four- 
teen when  he  gave  proof  of  his  sensitive  piety,  and  his  desire  for  the 
monastic  life,  by  fleeing  from  his  dissolute  fellow-students  at  Rome 
to  a  dark  cave  in  the  barren  rocks  about  the  lakes  winch  gave  name 
to  Sublaqueum  (^Subiaco),^  in  the  valley  of  the  Auio  (Teverone), 
above  forty  miles  east  of  Borne.  This  retreat  was  known  to  none 
but  Romanus,  a  neighbouring  monk,  who  had  seen  Benedict  in  his 
flight,  and  who  fed  liira  with  a  part  of  his  own  moderate  conventual 
allowance  of  bread.'  On  certain  days  the  small  loaf  was  let  down 
to  Benedict's  grotto  at  the  end  of  a  cord,  his  friend  calling  his 
attention  by  a  bell.  Here  tlic  youtbfid  hermit  passed  through 
conflicts  like  those  of  St.  Anthony ;  and  the  plantations  of  roses 
which  still  adorn  a  neighbouring  garden  are  ascribed  to  a  miraculous 
transformation  by  St.  Francis  (in  1223)  of  the  beds  of  thorns  on 
which  Benedict  used  to  roll  naked,  to  subdue  his  sensual  passion. 

In  the  course  of  years,  his  retreat  was  discovered  by  the  shep- 
herds, who  at  first  took  the  recluse  in  his  garment  of  skins  for  a  wild 
beast.  Their  report  of  his  pious  instructions  and  miraculous  powers 
caused  Benedict  to  be  sought  out  for  the  abbacy  of  a  neighbour- 
ing cloister,  which  he  only  accepted  after  warning  the  monks 
against  electing  an  abbot  of  manners  so  unlike  their  own  (510). 
And  so  it  fell  out ;  for  his  monks  repaid  his  zeal  for  their  reforma- 
tion by  mixing  poison  with  his  drink;  but  he  no  sooner  made 
over  it  the  sign  of  the  cross,  than  the  cu])  flew  to  pieces ;  where- 
upon Benedict  gently  reminded  them  of  his  caution,  and  retired 
to  his  solitude.  The  main  facts  underlying  the  legend  give  a 
striking  example  of  the  early  corruption  of  monasticism  and  the 
selfish  passions  which  are  an  inevitable  fruit  of  the  system. 

After  this,  the  hermit  of  Subiaco  could  no  longer  lie  hidden. 
The  concourse  of  admiring  disciples,  and  the  youths  sent  to  him  by 
the  Roman  nobility  for  instruction,  caused  Benedict  to  found  among 
those  wild  hills  the  apostolic  number  of  twelve  monasteries,  each 
with  an  abbot  and  twelve  monks.  But,  being  again  assailed  by  the 
persistent  envy  of  a  priest  named  Florentius,  who  maligned  his 
character  and  renewed  the  attempt  to  poison  him,  Benedict  departed, 

'  Schaflf,  vol.  ii.  p.  217.  *  "  Liberiori  gencre"  (Greg.  c.  1). 

*  The  site  of  a  villa  of  Nero,  who  appears  to  have  made  the  three 
artificial  lakes,  which  have  now  disappeared.  The  place  was  probably 
quite  deserted  at  the  time  of  Benedict's  retreat.  The  modern  town  of 
Subiaco  has  grown  up  round  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  Sta.  Scoias- 
tica,  named  after  Benedict's  sister,  who  founded  tliere  a  convent  for  nuu>. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  ST.  BENEDICT  OF  NURSIA.  407 

with  a  few  companions,  in  search  of  a  new  home  (528).  Travelling 
along  the  chain  of  hilLs,  amongst  which  Fabius  had  plaj'ed  his 
waiting  game  of  war  with  Hannibal,  they  came  to  a  lofty  height 
above  Casinum^  and  the  valley  of  the  Liris,  crowned  by  a  grove  and 
temple,  where  Apollo  was  still  wonshipped  by  the  rustics.  After 
arduous  labours  for  their  conversion,  and  overcoming  diabolical 
prodigies  by  miracles,  Benedict  cut  down  the  grove,  destroyed  the 
temi^le  and  idol,  and  on  the  site  of  the  overturned  altar  he  built 
an  oratory  to  St.  John  the  Evangelist  and  tSt.  Martin  of  Tours. 

Around  the  spot  thus  consecrated  he  proceeded  to  erect  the 
renowned  monastery  of  Monte  Casshw,^  which  became  the  head- 
quarters of  the  whole  Benedictine  order  ;  "  the  most  powerful  and 
famous  monastery  in  the  Catholic  universe,  celebrated  especially 
because  there  Benedict  wrote  his  rule  and  formed  the  type  which 
was  to  serve  as  a  model  to  innumerable  communities  submitted  to 
that  sovereign  code "  (o29).^  Here,  without  relaxing  his  ascetic 
self-discipline,  Benedict  exchanged  his  hermit  life  for  that  of  a 
ruler,  instructor,  and  missionary,  though  he  was  never  ordained  to 
the  priesthood.  He  himself  founded  a  second  cloister  near  Terra- 
cina;  antl  two  of  his  favourite  disciples,  Placidus  and  Maurus,* 
carried  the  "holy  rule"  into  Sicily  and  Gaul,  whence  it  spread  to 
Spain.  Thus  during  the  fourteen  years  of  his  lile  at  Monte  Cassino, 
Benedict  saw  the  establishment  of  his  system  in  all  the  western 
provinces  of  Europe.  He  died  while  praying  in  a  standing  posture, 
at  the  foot  of  the  altar  from  which  he  had  just  received  the  Eucharist, 
on  the  day  now  sacred  to  him  in  the  Calendar,  the  21st  of  March,  543. 

§6.  The  Jiiile  of  St.  Benedict^  is  embodied  in  seventy-three 
Chapters  of  Ordinances — moral,  social,  liturgical,  and  penal — with 

*  This  important  town  on  the  Via  Latina,  the  last  on  the  borders  of 
Latium  towards  Campania,  is  now  called  San  Gennano,  while  the  ancient 
name  is  preserved  by  the  eminence  made  famous  by  St.  Benedict.  The 
continuance  of  heathen  worship  on  the  frontiers  of  Latium,  as  late  as  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  is  a  striking  exanij)le  of  the  survival  of 
'■'■paganism"  in  tiie  heart  of  Italy.  '•*  Monasterium  Cassinense. 

'  Montalenibert,  ii.  19,  who  quotes  Dante's  description  of  Monte 
Cassino  in  the  J'aracliso.  Benedict  wrote  his  rule  in  the  same  year  in 
which  the  Schools  of  Athens  were  closed  by  Justinian,  and  in  which  the 
Semi-Pelagian  doctrine  was  condemned  by  the  Council  of  Orange. 

*  Maurus  was  the  founder  of  the  abbacy  of  Glanfeuil  (.>Y.  3faur  stir 
Loire),  and  the  patron  saint  of  the  branch  of  the  Benedictines  in  France, 
who  adopted  the  name  of  Maurians  (lol8),  and  whose  splendid  works  have 
gained  for  the  order  its  chief  literary  fame. 

'  "  Regula  Sancti  Benedicti." — The  chief  editions  are  those  of  Dom 
Calmet,  Par.  1734,  and  Dom  Charles  Brandcs,  Kinsiedlen  and  New  York, 
1857.  The  best  summaries  of  its  contents  are  those  of  Gieseler,  Kirchen- 
geschichtc.  vol.  i.  pt.  ii.  §  119,  and  'Montalembert,  chap.  ii. 


408  STATt  OK  THE  CHUKCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

a  Preface,  or  Prologue,  setting  forth  its  motives  and  fust  principles. 
In  order  to  pass  this  life  in  holiness  and  usefulness,  so  as  to  reap  an 
eternal  reward — says  the  famous  author — "  we  must  form  a  school 
of  divine  servitude,  in  ■which,  we  trust,  nothing  too  heavy  or 
rii^orous  will  be  established."  The  extreme  severity  of  Oriental 
monasticism,  impracticable  in  less  favoured  climates,  and  therefore 
affording  a  pretext  for  the  relaxed  discipline,  was  adapted  to 
European  modes  of  life,  and  made  variable  within  limits  suited  to 
diUerent  countries  and  races.  Hence  the  system  had  an  unlimited 
power  of  expansion.  Nor  was  it  less  skilfully  adapted  to  human 
nature  by  its  combination  of  social  equality  with  the  most  absolute 
obedience  to  its  laws,  submission  to  its  appointed  authorities,  and 
subjection  to  episcopal  supervision,  which  united  it  firmly  to  the 
whole  system  of  the  Cliurch.  Its  leading  objects  were  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  tdith,  the  extirpation  of  heathenism,  the  instniction  of 
the  young,  the  nurture  of  divine  life  in  the  soul,  the  purification 
of  the  whole  nature,  and  the  exercise  of  the  body  by  useful  work, 
especially  the  cultivation  of  the  land.  For  mental  exercise  Benedict 
himself  prescribed  only  what  would  be  spiritually  profitable,  the 
study  of  Holy  Scripture  and  edifying  books,  especially  the  Lives  of 
the  Saints  and  the  '  Conferences '  of  John  Cassian.'  But  the 
primary  place  given  to  the  education  of  the  young  furnished  a 
constant  motive  for  that  intellectual  progress,  the  want  of  which 
was  felt  by  every  active  mind,  and  for  which  the  strict  regulation  of 
every  hour  gave  daily  opportunities.  The  example  already  set  by 
Jerome,  and  commended  to  the  monks  of  Benedict's  own  age  by 
Cassiodorus,2  the  great  founder  of  literary  culture  in  connection 

'  See  Chap.  XII.  §  18. 

-  Jlagnus  Aurelius  Cassiodorus,  son  of  a  Roman  nobleman  who  had  been 
secretary  to  Valentinian  III.,  was  born  at  Scylaceum  (^Sqiuliace)  in  Calabria, 
about  468,  and  held  otHce  under  Odoacer,  Theodoric,  and  his  Gothic 
successors,  till  the  conquest  of  Italy  by  Belisarius.  At  the  age  of  about 
seventy  he  retired  to  his  native  proiyiuce  (538),  and  founded  the  monastery 
which  took  its  name  from  the  fish-ponds  on  the  estate  {Ccenobimn  Viva- 
rieiise,  now  ]'ivic'is),  of  which  he  has  left  an  interesting  description  (in  his 
De  Institut.  Daiii.  Litt.  29,  soj.').  The  high  literary  culture  and  sjjlendid 
library  of  Cassiodorus  gave  this  foundation  a  character  distinct  from  other 
monasteries  ;  he  employed  his  monks  in  copying  MSS.,  and  himself  in  the 
composition  of  new  works  for  their  instruction,  and  in  scientific  recrea- 
tions, as  the  making  of  sun-dials,  water-clocks,  and  self-suj)plying  lamps. 
One  of  his  books  was  written  at  the  age  of  ninety-three,  and  he  attained 
almost,  if  not  quite,  his  hundredth  year.  His  works  comprise  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  history  ami  chronology,  theology  and  the  exposition  of 
ijcripttire,  and  an  educational  compendium  of  the  seven  liberal  arts,  much 
used  durin'T  the  Middle  Ages,  entitled  Dc  Artihus  nc  J'isciplinis  Liberalimn 
I.iterarum.     He  is  wrongly  claimed  as  a  Benedictine. 


CiiNT.  JV.-VI.  THE  BKNKUICTINK  RULE.  409 

with  \Vestern  monasticism,  was  so  well  followed  by  the  Benedictines, 
that  literary  work  became  a  great  tradition  of  the  order  and  forms 
its  lasting  glory  down  to  the  must  recent  times.  Amidst  the  wars  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  monks  in  their  quiet  cloisters  transcribed  and 
preserved  from  destruction  the  great  works  of  classical  and  Christian 
antiquity,  of  which  their  successors  put  forth  some  of  the  noblest 
copies  from  the  press ;  w'itness  the  Benedictine  editions  of  the 
Christian  Fathers.  Nor  must  we  forget  the  vast  service  rendered 
to  the  history  of  our  own  country  by  the  Chronicles  comjjiled  in 
the  monasteries,  of  which  St.  Albans  has  the  chief  glory. 

It  lies  beyond  our  scoi")e  to  give  more  than  the  merest  outline  of 
the  details  of  the  Benedictine  rule.  Each  convent  wms  a  society 
of  members  equal  in  every  thing  but  the  official  rank  needful  for 
government,  and  the  marks  of  deep  respect  due  to  age,  according 
to  which  they  addressed  one  another  as  "father"  (uoniius)  or 
"brother"  (f rater)  i^  never  by  their  individual  names,  for  person- 
ality was  as  far  as  possiVile  merged  in  the  community.  The  monks 
chose  their  Abbot  (whom  they  addressed  as  Domnus,  "  lord  "),  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  ;  and  Benedict  is  cquallv 
careful  to  impress  on  the  Abbot  a  sense  of  his  responsibility  and 
moderation  in  using  his  autliority,  and  on  the  monks  the  duty  of 
entire  and  cheerful  obedience  to  their  Abbot,  as  standing  to  them 
in  the  place  of  Christ.  The  Prior  or  Provost  (prcepositus),  who 
ranked  next  to  the  Abbot,  was  to  be  chosen  by  him,  in  order  to 
secure  his  complete  submission  ;^  indeed,  Benedict  was  so  jealous 
of  any  rivalry  to  tiie  Abbot's  authority  that  he  preferred  that  the 
Abbot  should  be   assisted  by  elders  or  Deems  (decani)?      In  all 

'  From  the  contraction  of  this  word  in  the  Romance  languages  came  fra 
and /re/-e,  and  in  English, //rre  and/nVir. 

*  In  many  monasteries  the  prccpositus  was  chosen  by  the  bishop,  and 
was  apt  to  assume  an  air  of  independence  towards  the  abbot. 

^  The  word  ilccdniis  (from  decern)  signified  originally  "'one  set  over  ten 
persons"  (as  in  the  army);  and  so  in  Greek  wc  have  htKavia  (from  Sckos) 
''a  decury,"  but  hfKav6s  is  only  ecclesiastical  Greek.  (The  Student  should 
observe  the  complete  etymohigical  difference  of  dean  and  deacon.)  In  the 
Church  it  was  used  for  various  oHices ;  and  first  of  an  inferior  order,  such 
as  a  member  of  the  guild  of  the  copiatv  (see  Chap.  XII.  §  7).  The  dec  mus 
motiasticns  wna  the  assistant  of  the  abbot  in  suj)erintending  the  vounjer 
brethren,  providing  for  the  wants  o^'the  community,  and  looking  after  the 
daily  rnovements  and  service  of  the  convent.  It  is  not  till  the  ninth  centiu'v 
that  we  find  the  title  of  Dean  used  in  the  two  higher  senses: — (1)  For  a 
j)resbyter  appointed  as  the  bishop's  deputy  over  a  part  of  the  dioccie 
(</<vrt/(i'ii),  who  was  formerly  called  nrc'dprcshi/iei;  and  hail  s\ioceeded  to 
some  of  the  functions  of  the  cho'ei^iscopi — (2)  For  the  chief  olhcer  of  a 
cathedral  (decan-is  ecclcsiw  cathcdralis).  For  further  details,  see  the  Did. 
of  Christim  Anti'j'j.,  Art.  Df.cancs. 


410  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHI. 

ordinary  matters  his  councils  were  to  be  shared  with  the  elder 
monks ;  but  lie  was  bound  to  bring  subjects  of  greater*  importance 
before  the  whole  brotherhood. 

The  continuous  life  of  each  society,  and  the  vigour  of  the  whole 
system,  Avere  greatly  promoted  by  the  rule  which  allowed  parents 
to  dedicate  their  children  to  the  monastic  life  ;^  and  such  dedication 
appears,  in  earlier  times,  to  have  been  held  as  binding  equally  with 
the  voluntary  choice  of  mature  age.  But  in  the  latter  case,  no 
monastic  devotee  was  permitted  to  become  a  full  member  of  the 
community  till  after  a  year's  probation,^  during  which  the  novice 
had  the  rule  thrige  read  over  to  him,  and  was  questioned  as  to  his 
resolution  to  keep  it.  If  he  repented  his  choice,  he  was  free  to  leave 
the  cloister ;  if  he  resolved  to  become  a  professed  monk,  at  the  end 
of  his  novitiate,  after  an  examination  by  the  abbot  and  the  brethren, 
he  made  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  saints,  whose  relics  were  preserved 
in  the  cloister,  to  witness  his  vows,  a  cojiy  of  which,  subscribed  by 
his  hand,  he  laid  irpon  the  altar,  thus  cutting  himself  off  from  the 
world  for  ever.^ 

'  Such  children,  who  were  generally  of  noble  families,  were  called  oblati 
(^Eeijitl.  Benedict,  cap.  59).  Their  position  is  admirably  described  in 
Bede's  brief  account  of  his  own  life,  from  the  age  of  7  to  59,  in  the  twin 
monastery  of  Peter  and  Paul,  at  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow  (ffist,  Eccl.  V. 
24): — "Qui  natus  in  territorio  ejusdem  monasterii,  cum  essem  annorum 
septem,  c^ira  propinquorum  datas  sum  cdncandus  reverentissirao  abbati 
Benedicto  [Benedict  Biscop],  ac  deinde  Ceolfrido ;  cunctunique  ex  eo  iempus 
vita  in  ejusdem  monasterii  habitat ''one  peragens,  omnem  meditandis  Scripturis 
operam  dedi :  atque  inter  observuniiain  discipUnce  regnl  tris  ct  quotidianam 
cantandi  in  ecclesia  curam,  semper  aut  discerc,  aut  doccre,  aut  scribere 
dulce  habui."  It  is  noteworthy  that  he  makes  no  mention  of  any  act  of 
profession,  though  he  goes  on  to  state  the  ages  at  which  he  was  ordained 
deacon  and  presbyter  (in  his  19th  and  30th  years);  nor  is  7nanual  labour 
specified  among  his  occupations,  unless  it  be  included  in  his  "  observance  of 
the  discipline  of  the  rule  "  (of  St.  Benedict).  On  the  validity  of  the 
parental  dedication  of  children  there  seems  to  have  been  a  considerable 
difference  of  opinion.  We  are  not  aware  of  any  decree  binding  the  Piomau 
Catholic  Church ,  but  the  Council  of  Toledo  (a.d.  527)  laid  down  the  rule 
"  Monaclium  aut  professio,  aut  paterna  dciotio  facit,"  and  the  Council  of 
Worms  (a.d.  868)  expressly  declares  it  unlawful  for  such  oblati  to  return 
to  the  world.  These  decisions,  however,  are  overruled  by  a  decree  of  Pope 
Celestine  III.  (1191-1198),  that  the  profession  of  children  is  not  to  be  held 
valid  unless  ratified  when  they  come  to  years  of  discretion  ;  and  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  maintains  the  same  rule  with  his  unrivalled  power  of  argument 
(i'»moia  Tlieohiiw,  11".  11.°'  Quasst.  189,  art.  5). 

*  The  novitiate  was  afterwards  extended  to  three  years. 

^  "  Monks  were,  however,  sometimes  allowed  to  forsake  their  profession; 
for  it  is  ordered  that  their  secular  clothes  should  be  kept,  in  order  that  if 
any  one,  '  suadente  diabolo,'  should  wish  to  withdraw  ('  quod  absit '),  he  may 
be  stripped  of  the  monastic  dress,  and  turned  out  in  his  own  (c.  58).     His 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  THE  MONASTIC  VOWS.  411 

By  the  first  article  of  that  threefold  pledge,  the  vow  of  steadfast- 
ness (stabilitas),  Benedict  added  to  the  monastic  system  the  irrevoc- 
able bond  of  perpetual  adherence  to  the  order.  The  second  vow, 
of  complete  reformation  of  life  (conversio  moriim),  in  the  sense  of 
asceticism,  involved  especially  the  obligation  of  voluntary  poverty 
and  chastity.  The  Benedictine  rule  abolished  all  exceptions  to  the 
rule  of  monastic  celibacy.  The  novice,  on  making  his  profession, 
"^ave  up  all  his  property  to  the  monastery,  in  which  the  community 
of  goods  was  the  strict  law.  Frequent  search  was  made  for  any 
projierty  secreted  by  individuals :  presents  mii^ht  not  be  received, 
even  from  the  nearest  relations,  without  the  abbot's  permission,  and 
he  -was  free  to  enforce  the  lesson  of  self-denial  by  transferring  a 
present  meant  for  one  monk  to  another.  The  jiroduce  of  their 
labour,  beyond  what  was  required  for  the  use  of  the  convent,  was 
to  be  sold  below  its  value  (to  prove  the  absence  of  covetousness  for 
gain),  and  the  proceeds  carried  into  the  common  treasury.  The 
third  vow  oi  obedience  to  the  abbot,  as  representing  God  and  Christ 
(ohedientia  coram  Deo  et  Sanctis  ejus),  was  designed  to  make  the 
whole  community  one  in  will  and  action,  as  it  was  one  in  posses- 
sions and  social  life.  This  obedience  was  the  cardinal  virtue  of  a 
monk  ;  and  the  abbot  was  bound  to  set  the  first  example  of  it  by 
his  complete  conformity  to  the  rules  of  the  order. 

The  Benedictine  mode  of  life  was  of  thoroughly  ascetic  simplicity, 
but  without  the  extreme  severity  of  the  Oriental  anchorets,  Not  to 
punish  and  destroy  the  body,  as  in  itself  an  evil  part  of  our  nature, 
but  to  keep  it  in  subjection,  supporting  it  only  with  things  absolutely 
necessary  to  maintain  it  as  the  instrument  of  labour  and  devotion ; 
such  were  the  founder's  principles,  carried  out  in  details  on  which  it 
is  needless  to  dwell  The  diet  consisted  of  bread  and  cooked  pid- 
mentaria,^  a  term  usually  including  grain  and  vegetables,  but  ex- 
tended by  some  authorities  to  eggs,  fish,  and  even  fowl ;  but  the 
flesh  of  beasts  was  only  allowed  to  the  weak  and  sick,  whose  careful 
treatment  is  sijecially  enjoined.  The  daily  allowance  included  half 
a  flagon  (Jieiaina)  of  wine  ;  from  Avhich,  however,  Benedict  advised 
abstinence,  if  it  could  be  practised  without  injury  to  health.  On 
the  two  fast  days  in  every  week,  and  during  the  whole  winter  half- 
year,  one  daily  meal  was  to  suffice.  The  rules  for  the  monastic 
occupations  show  the   Benedictine   system   in   its   most  healthful 

petition  or  vow  was  to  be  preserved  as  a  witness  against  him,  in  order, 
according  to  the  Comment  (Patrolog.  Ixvi.  838),  that  the  abbot  might  still 
have  the  power  of  reclaiming  him." — Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  576. 

'  Tliis  word  signifies,  like  the  Greek  d^tiiviov,  anything  eaten  as  a  relish 
with  bread  or  without  it 


412  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHI. 

character.  Of  course  religious  exercises  had  the  highest  place,  but 
Benedict  set  his  face  against  idleness  indulged  on  tlie  plea  of 
devotion.  *'  Idleness  is  the  enemy  of  the  soul  ;  and  therelbre  the 
"bretliren  ought  to  employ  tliemselves  at  certain  times  in  tlie  work  of 
the  hands,  and  again  at  certain  hours  in  divine  reading." '  Accord- 
ingly equal  portions  of  each  week-d.iy  (seven  liours  respectively)  are 
allotted  to  prayer,  singing  of  psalms  and  meditation,  and  to  manual 
labour  indoors  or  in  the  fields,  or  else  to  the  teaching  of  tlie  children 
placed  by  their  parents  in  the  cloister.  This  educational  work  became, 
with  those  specially  qualified  for  it,  more  and  more  a  substitute  for 
manual  labour,  and  led  on  to  the  literary  importance  of  the  Bene- 
dictine societies.  The  abbot  was  to  appoint  each  brother  his  s[)ecial 
work ;  but  as  a  check  on  vanity  and  self-glorying,  if  any  one 
showed  a  disposition  to  pride  himself  on  his  skill  in  any  art,  that 
was  the  very  work  which  he  must  be  forbidden  to  practise.  Labours 
of  love  are  csi)ecially  commended. 

The  monks  performed  the  domestic  work  of  the  convent,  which 
was,  if  possible,  to  be  so  constructed  to  contain  all  needful  appliances, 
as  water,  mill,  garden,  bakehouse,  so  that  it  might  be  unnecessary 
foriihe  monks  to  wander  out  of  doors,  "  because  this  is  not  at  all 
profitable  to  their  souls."  ^  None  were  to  go  out  of  the  convent 
without  leave,  nor  must  those  sent  out  on  business  relate  their 
adventures,  lest  they  should  distract  the  brethren.  Conversation 
was  to  be  sparingly  indulged  in  at  any  time  ;  and  silence  was 
enjoined  at  meals,  during  which  some  edifying  bi.ok  was  read  aloud, 
and  also  in  the  dormitories,  each  of  which  was  under  the  care  of  a  dean. 
The  deans  exercised  a  close  supervision  over  the  observanre  of  the 
monastic  rules,  which  were  enforced  by  strict  discipline,  admonition, 
penance,  and  punishments  of  graduated  severity,  including  corporal 
chastisement,  which  had  already  been  directed  by  the  rules  of 
St.  J?achomius  and  Cassian.  'i'he  last  penalty  was  expulsion  from 
the  monastery;  but  a  penitent  might  be  received  back,  even  to  the 
thiid  time. 

'  Cap.  48.     "  The  horce   canoiucm   are  the  KocturncB  vigilia;,  Matutina;, 

Prima,    Tcrtii,  Sciti,  No'ia,    Vcuper  i,  and   Complct<ri  nn,  and  are  taken 

(cap.  IG)  from  a  literal  interpretation  of  Psalm  cxix.  1G4-.     i^'cen  times  a 

d\ii{  do  I praiii;  t/iic  ;  and  ver.  62,  At  milnii/ht  I  will  rise  to  (jicrt/tunks  "nto 

i^iiiia  J)^^  E'^?<r  T  ^^'''^''  '''"^  liturgy  and  hymn-book  of  the  convent,  and  was 

''"The  novitiate '\»  *■'"'  services  of  the  day,  tliat  the  whole  of  it   should   be 

'^'"'' "*'onks  wer'-^*^"'^-' — S<-"li=^'f.  vol.  ii.  p.  223.     In  addition  to  the.se  fixed 

.1,  !>till         (g,.g,jer,  some  hours  were  devoted,  especially  on  Sundays    to  the 

,.;  "study  of  the  Siiiptures  and  books  ot  divinity,  among  which 

as  a  ve\is^  >ecially  recommends  the  Colloquies  of  Cassian. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  TREVALENTE  OF  THE  OUDER.  413 

While  themselves  secluded  from  the  ■world  ■without,  the 
monks  are  enjoined  to  the  hospitable  entertainment  of  strangers, 
especially  the  poor,  "because  in  them  Christ  is  more  especially 
received." 

§  7.  Such  are  the  outlines  of  that  famous  Rule  Avhich,  devised  by 
one  earnest  mind  ■vvith  the  simple  object  of  refomning,  within  its  own 
sphere  of  action,  the  abuses  that  had  overgrown  the  conventual  life, 
established  it  on  new  and  lasting  foundations,  in  a  form  which 
si)eedily  absorbed  the  whole  monasticism  of  the  West,  For  while  it 
was  the  sole  model  of  new  foundations,  it  was  so  generally  adopt<ed 
in  the  West  that,  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Great,  it  was  a 
question  if  there  were  any  monks  who  were  not  Benedictines.  But 
it  does  not  appear  that  Benedict  himself  foresaw  "the  vast  historical 
importance  which  this  Bule,  dcsigne;!  simply  for  the  cloister  of 
Monte  Cassino,  was  destined  to  attain.  He  probably  never  aspired 
beyond  the  regeneration  and  salvation  of  his  own  soul,  and  that  of 
his  brother  monks;  and  all  the  talk  of  later  Catholic  historians 
about  iiis  far-reaching  ])lans  of  a  political  and  social  regeneration  of 
Europe,  and  the  jireservation  and  promotion  of  literature  and  art, 
find  no  support  whatever  in  his  life  or  in  his  rule.  But  he  humbly 
planted  a  seed,  which  Providence  blessed  a  hundredfold.  By  his 
rule  lie  tecanie,  without  his  own  will  or  knowledge,  the  founder  of 
an  order  which,  until  in  the  thirteenth  century  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans  pressed  it  partially  into  the  background,  s|)read  with 
great  rapidity  over  iho  wliule  of  Europe,  maintained  a  clear  supre- 
macy, formed  the  model  for  all  other  monastic  orders,  and  gave 
the  Catholic  Church  an  imposing  array  of  missionaries,  authors, 
artists,  bishops,  archbishops,  cardinals,  and  jwj^es,  as  Gregory  the 
Great  and  Gregory  VII.  In  less  than  a  century  after  tlie  death  of 
Benedict,  the  conquests  of  the  barbarians  in  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain, 
were  reconquered  for  civilization,  and  the  vast  territories  of  Britain, 
Germany,  and  Scandinavia  incorporated  intoCiiristendom,or  ojiened 
for  missionary  labour ;  and  in  this  i^rogress  the  monastic  institution, 
regulated  and  organized  by  Benedict's  rule,  bears  an  honourable 
share."''  Tiiis  capacity  for  universal  action  was  in  fact  promoted 
by  the  limited  scope  of  the  original  institution,  l)etter  thjA  if  it 
had  aimeil  at  the  organized  luiity  of  later  monastic  orders.  "Its 
ramiticatit)ns  were  multiplied  under  a  variety  of  names  ;  and, 
although  precluded  by  their  vow  of  obedience  from  altering  their 
rule,  the  later  Benedictines  were  able,  by  means  of  a  distinction 
between  the  essential  and  accidental  jiarts  of  it,  to  find  pretexts 

»  Schaff,  vol.  i.  p.  22-i. 


414  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVllI. 

for  departure  in  many   respects  from  the  rigour  of  the   original 
constitution."' 

It  was  certainly  no  part  of  Benedict's  plan  to  establish  a  great 
united  order  governed  from  a  common  centre  ;  and  Monte  Cassiuo, 
while  the  source  of  the  order,  was  in  no  such  sense  as  this  its  head. 
Each  monastery  was  originally  completely  independent,  and  the 
formation  of  congregations  of  monasteries  was  a  comparatively 
modern  idea.  It  is  only  about  200  years  since  the  union  of  the 
Cassinese  congregation  was  designed  and  eflected  by  the  sufjerior  of 
Justina's  monastery  at  Padua.  We  are  informed  that  at  one  time 
there  were  more  than  150  independent  congregations  in  the  Bene- 
dictine Order,  without  counting  the  monasteries  that  remained 
singly  independent ;  each,  however,  being  subject  to  the  visitation 
of  its  own  bishop,  and  all  to  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See.  At  the 
present  time  the  order  consists  of  a  number  of  independent  and 
autonomous  congregations,  difierent  from  each  other  in  almost  every 
^thing,  except,  of  course,  the  essential  vows  and  the  common  name 
of  Benedictines.  Those,  for  instance,  in  Protestant  and  other  states 
not  Roman  Catholic,  and  in  heathen  lauds,  are  chiefly  missionary 
bodies,  a  thing  quite  distinct  from  the  contemplative  societies  of 
which  IMonte  Cassiuo  became  the  type. 

A  few  words  remain  due  to  the  changing  fortunes  of  the  original 
establishment  at  Monte  Cassino.  Tlie  monastery  had  stood  but  half 
a  century,  when  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Lombards  (583),  as 
Benedict  is  said  to  have  foretold.  It  was  rebuilt  in  731,  destroyed 
again  by  the  Saracens  in  857,  and  restored  about  950.  After 
recovering  from  many  further  calamities,  and  being  enriched  by 
the  gifts  of  princes,  nobles,  and  devotees,  it  was  completely  re-edified 
in  1649,  and  was  consecrated  for  the  third  time  by  Poi^e  Bene- 
dict XIII.  in  1727.  At  the  height  of  its  }X)wer,  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  convent  liad  several  hundreds  of 
monks  and  an  income  of  half  a  million  ducats;  its  abbot  was  the 
first  baron  of  the  Neajxilitan  Kingdom,  and  lord  of  400  towns  and 
villages.  It  had  suffered  reix'ated  spoliations  of  its  wealth,  and  its 
inmates  had  dwindled  to  a  very  few,  wlien  the  great  revolution  of 
1860  k;d  to  the  general  extinction  of  the  Italian  monasteries.  But 
the  venerable  foundation  of  St.  Benedict  was  specially  exempted 
from  the  degree  of  suppression,  out  of  resi)ect  for  its  historic  dignity  ; 
and  the  edifice  was  jireserved  to  the  order,  on  account,  both  of  its 
magnificence  and  the  impossibility  of  convertins;  it  to  any  other 
use — reasons   which   may   be   ditferently  regarded  as   ajsthetic,  or 

*  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  579. 


Cent.  IV.-Vl.         CORRUPTION  IN  THE  CHURCH.  415 

practical,  or  paradoxical.  The  number  of  monks  was  limited  (we 
believe)  to  six,  ami,  with  a  few  who  have  found  an  unmolested 
retreat  in  the  wild  region  where  it  stands,  there  are  now  probably 
not  above  a  dozen,  supported  by  a  very  scanty  revenue.* 

§  8.  Time  was  required  to  develop  afresh  those  evils  inherent  in 
the  unnatural  system  of  monastic  devotedness,  which  are  inde- 
pendent of  any  special  doctrines,  and  which  no  reformed  rule  could 
expel  or  shut  out.  But  in  one  respect  the  system  had  a  most 
unhappy  effect  on  the  Church  and  world  without  the  cloister.  Just 
in  proportion  to  the  higher  profession  and  greater  strictness  of 
monastic  sanctity  and  self-denial,  secular  Christians  became  content 
with  a  lower  standard  of  piety  and  even  of  morality.  This  tendency 
is  frequently  exposed  and  resisted  by  Chrysostom,  who,  in  the  very 
act  of  defending  the  monastic  life,  urges  "  that  all  men  ought  to  rise 
to  the  same  height,  and  that  which  ruins  the  whole  world  is  that 
we  imagine  a  greater  strictness  to  be  necessary  for  the  monk  alone, 
but  tliat  others  maj'  lead  careless  lives."^  Other  causes  concurred  to 
bring  down  the  standard  of  practical  Cliristianity  ; — the  transition 
from  the  personal  choice  of  a  persecuted  faith  to  the  following  of  a 
religion  which  had  become  ])revalent  and  favoured ; — its  outward 
adoption  by  numbers  wlio  hatl  but  little  understood  it,  and  whose 
minds  and  morals  had  been  formed  by  lieathenism ; — and  even 
the  doctrinal  controversies  of  the  age,  which,  while  occupying  the 
thoughts  with  special  and  minute  questions,  obscured  the  general 
harmony  of  Christian  truth,  and  placed  orthodox  profession  above 
Christian  practice.  The  daily  religion  of  many  subsided  into  a 
moderate  performance  of  outward  duties,  in  no  way  different  from 
the  life  of  decorous  heathens;  while  the  sense  of  sin  had  already 
begun  to  seek  satisfaction  in  acts  of  bounty  to  the  Church.  Such 
was  the  growing  spirit  of  worklliness  that,  as  Augustine  says,  "an 
ordinary  Christian  who  professed  any  seriousness  in  spiritual  things 
liad  as  much  to  endure  from  the  mockery  of  his  brethren  as  a 
convert  to  Christianity  endured  from  the  mockery  of  the  heathen.''^ 

This  growth  of  worldliness  was   one  of  several   causes   which 

'  We  are  indebted  for  information  as  to  the  present  state  of  Jlonte  Cas- 
sino  to  a  friend,  an  English  Benedictine,  who  has  lived  in  the  monastery. 
He  is  not  certain  whether  the  monks  are  supported  by  a  remnrint  of  its 
ancient  revenues  (though  it  is  more  probable  that  these  have  all  been 
alienated)  or  by  a  grant  from  the  Italian  government,  like  the  allowance 
of  bd.  a  dav  to  the  monks  who  have  been  expelled  from  their  cloisters 
The  recent  chan<res  are,  of  course,  not  included  in  the  full  'History  of  the 
Monastery,'  by  Dom  Luigi  Tosti.     3  vols.     Naples,  1842. 

-  Adv.' oppugnatores  Vit.  Monast.  3;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  344. 

»  Aug.  Eniiar.  in  Ps.  xlviii.  and  xc. ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  356. 


416  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chai'.  XVHI. 

affected  the  foiras  of  Christian  Worship.  The  jxisition  of  worldly 
dignity,  to  which  the  Church  and  her  ministers  were  raised  by  con- 
nection with  the  State,  combined  with  the  new  possession  of  wealth 
to  furnish  both  the  temptation  and  means  for  the  gratification  of  taste 
and  luxury;  while  the  growing  exaltation  of  the  clerical  office  and  of 
the  mysterious  efficacy  of  Christian  ordinances  called  for  glorification 
in  the  emblems  and  ceremonies  that  expressed  their  sanctity.  The 
aesthetic  passion  deeply  seated  in  human  nature  asked  more  or  less 
modestly  for  satisfiiction.  Tlie  splendour  of  civil  life  in  the  later 
times  of  imperial  l?ome,  and  under  the  new  Oriental  Empire,  set  an 
example,  lor  following  which  the  plea  was  ready,  that  the  house  of 
God  should  not  be  more  sordidly  furnished  and  served  than  the 
palaces  of  princes,  or  even  the  dwellings  of  common  men.  The  costly 
fabric  and  spendid  ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  temple  were  made 
precedents  for  the  Christian  Church.  "  St.  Jerome  complains  of  the 
magnificence  which  was  lavished  on  churches — their  marble  walls 
and  pillars,  their  gilded  ceilings,  their  jewelled  altars,  which  he 
contrasts  with  the  neglect  of  all  care  in  the  choice  of  fit  persons  for 
the  ministry ;  and  he  scornfully  reprobates  the  arguments  which 
would  defend  their  richness  of  furniture  and  decorations  in  Christian 
churches  b}'  analogies  derived  from  tlie  Jewish  system."  * 

Ceremonial  usages  that  had  grown  up  insensibly,  and  some  of 
which  were  only  defensible  as  being  freely  chosen  and  subject  to 
equally  free  amendment,  were  imposed  on  the  clergy  and  their 
congregations  by  fixed  rules ;  and  Augustine  complains  "  that  they 
were  grown  to  such  a  number,  that  the  estate  of  Christian  people 
was  in  worse  case  concerning  that  matter  than  were  the  Jews,'"* 
forasmuch  as  the  Jewish  ceremonies  were  imposed  by  a  Divine  law, 
but  these  by  human  authority. 

Moreover  the  rulers  of  the  Church  had  begun  the  policy  of  re- 
commending her  service  to  imjjerfect  converts  by  the  emulation  and 
even  imitation  of  heathen  ceremonies,  such  as  lustrations,  incense, 
and  the  lamps  lighted  in  full  day,  with  the  use  of  which  Lactantius 
had  lately  taunted  the  heathen,  "as  if  their  God  lived  in  darkness.'' ^ 
The  like  taunts  were  now  retorted  upon  the  Catholic  Christians  by 
the  Manichcan  Faustus : — "The  sacrifices  of  the  heathen  you  have 
turned  into  love  feasts;  their  idols  into  martyrs,  whom  you  worship 
with  similar  devotion;  you  proi)iti:ite  the  shades  of  the  dead  with 
wine  and  dainties;  the  solemn  days  of  the  Gentiles  you  keep  with 

*  Hieron.  Epist.  Hi.  10;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  .S55. 

*  Kpist.  Iv.  19,  quoted  in  the  Preface  to  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

*  LacLint.  Die.  hist.  vi.  2.  "Acccudunt  lumiua  [Deo]  quasi  in  tenebris 
agent!." 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES. 


417 


them,  as  tlie  Kalends  and  the  Solstices ;  and  certain  it  is  that  you 
have  changed  nothing  from  their  manner  of  life."*  As  an  indiscii- 
minating  cliarge,  this  was  grossly  unfair,  but  it  was  too  true  a 
description  of  much  that  now  abused  the  name  of  Christ. 

§  9.  The  full  toleration  of  Christianity,  followed  directly  bv  its 
adoption  as  the  religion  of  the  State,  placed  its  public  worship  on  a 
new  footing.  Some  heathen  temples  were  turned  into  churches  ; 
but  their  dark  and  comparatively  small  "cells"' — the  mere  central 
shrine  of  the  Deity  amidst  the  courts  where  the  people  assembled 
for  His  ceremonial  worshij)— were  ill-adapted  to  a  service  of  prayer, 
praise,  and  preaching,  in  full  hearing  and  sight  of  a  congregation! 
A  better  type  was  found  in  the  Roman  edifices  used  for  the  law- 
courts  and  as  places  of  public  resort  for  business,  and  called  Basil icce, 
the  forni  of  which  had  already  been  imitated  in  churches  built 
before  the  State  establishment  of  Christianity.*  Many  of  ihe 
Basilicas  were  granted  by  Constantine  for  use  of  Christian  churches; 
and  the  same  model  was  generally  adopted,  at  least  for  the  larger 
and  more  splendid  of  the  new  churches,  together  with  the  name 
Basilica,  as  happily  suited  to  the  earthly  court  of  the  King  of  Kings.^ 

*  Ap.  Augustln.  c.  Faust,  xx.  4;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  355.  The  graphic 
exposure  of  such  features  in  the  Church  of  Rome  bv  Convers  Middleton 
(^Letter from  Home)  is  coflfinned  by  tlie  more  orthodox  testimony  of  Pro- 
fessor Blunt  (icsti'jcs  of  Ancient  j)Jaitncrs  and  Customs  in  Italu  and  Sicilu, 
London,  182o).  ^' 

^  This  appears  from  the  notices  of  churches  nnd  their  arrangements  by 
Tertullian,  Cyprian,  and  other  writers  of  the 
third  century.  The  only  existing  basilican 
church  for  which  such  antiquity  is  claimed  is 
one  in  Africa,  that  of  St.  Rejiaratus,  near  Or- 
leansville  (the  ancient  Castellum  Tingitanum) 
in  Algeria:  but  the  inscribed  date  of  252,  be- 
longing to  its  oldest  part,  probably  refers  to  a 
local  aera,  and  signifies  a.d.  325,  and  the  second 
apse  was  added  about  403,  to  receive  the  body 
of  the  saint. 

^  The  Greeks  called  the  basilican  form  of 
church  dromical.  The  name  Basilica  (sc.  cedes. 
iuijt,porticiis)  was  evidently  borrowed  (doubtless 
with  the  orijinal  type  of  the  building,  though 
the  later  type  was  purely  Roman),  from  the 
Greek  aroa  fia.<n\tK-h,  the  porlico  under  which 
the  Kimj  sat  to  judge  his  people,  but  most 
directly  t'rom  Athens,  where  tiie  second  Archon, 
who  was  chief  justice  of  the  republic,  retained  t>    ... 

the  title  of   Kiw,  (3a<T.A..^s),  and   his    court  B^s"i«»  of  Reparatus. 

was  called  the  a-roa.  ^aaiKnot.  The  application  of  the  name  to  basilican 
ch'irvhes  seems  to  have  prevailed  but  graduallv,  as  a  topographical 
writer  of  Constantiue's  age  describes  the  emperor's  new  basilica  of  the 


ISil] 


418  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

§  10.  The  Roman  Basilica,  in  its  ultimate  form,  was  a  large 
oblong  hall,  generally  divided  into  a  middle  imve^  and  side  aislesj' 
by  a  row  of  pillars  on  each  side,  which  supported  the  roof.  Some- 
times the  pillars  were  wanting,  and  the  hall  was  without  aisles;' 
while  some  basilicce  had  two  rows  of  columns  on  each  side,  forming 
double  aisles.'*  In  some  (as  that  of  1'rajan),  galleries  were  sup- 
ported on  square  pilasters  or  piers  behind  the  principal  columns. 
A  portion  of  the  nave,  at  its  upper  end,  was  divided  from  the  rest, 
generally  with  its  floor  somewhat  raised,  and  set  apart  for  persons 
in  attendance  on  the  court,®  which  sat  in  a  semicircular  recess 
with  a  vaulted  roof,  added  beyond  the  upper  end  of  the  rectangular 
area,  and  called  the  hemicydium  or  apse,^  the  praetor's  curule  chair 

Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem  as  *'  basilica,  id  est,  dominicum  "  (the  Latin 
equivalent  of  the  usual  Greek  term,  KvpiaKov,  "  church  "). 

Besides  the  happy  coincidence  in  meaning,  founded  on  the  highest  sense 
of  Kvpios  and  fiaaiKevs,  it  is  possible  that  the  courtly  forms  prevailing  under 
Constantine  may  have  recommended  the  retention  of  the  name  in  the  more 
earthly  sense  of  "the  king's  church  "  (like  our  "  chapel-royal  ").  When,  for 
instance,  Eusebius  speaks  of  the  church  built  by  Constantine  at  Jerusalem 
as  6  j3o(n'A,€os  peais,  and  calls  the  name  /SaaiAeios  oJkos,  if  the  latter  phrase 
implies  the  higher  sense,  the  former  suggests  the  lower.  On  the  whole 
subject,  see  the  articles  Basilica  and  Church,  in  the  Diet,  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Antiqq.,  and  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  and  Fergusson's  History 
of  Architecture. 

'  This  "middle  portico  "  (media porticus') sks  it  was  called  originally  when 
the  whole  building  was  a  colonnade  oj)en  at  the  sides  (like  some  of  our 
markets  and  exchanges),  also  called  gremium  (the  "  bosom  "  or  "body  "  of 
the  building),  obtained  the  fanciful  name  of  vavs,  navis,  "  a  ship,"  appa- 
rently from  its  high  and  narrow  proportions  Some  derive  it  from  the 
va6s  (cella),  of  a  Greek  temple,  that  is,  the  central  enclosure  witiiin  the 
portico  or  colonnades.  Probably  both  vads  and  vavs  have  a  root  common 
with  that  of  the  verb  vaitij,  dwell. 

*  Ala;,  "wings,"  called  by  the  Greeks  ^laraai  (rroai,  "double  porticoes." 
It  is  convenient  to  remember  that  the  terms  7iavc  and  aisle  are  often  used 
loosely ;  thus  the  nave  is  called  the  middle  aisle,  and  German  writers 
describe  the  nave  and  aisles  as  a  drcischlffiijc  Kirche,  "a  three-shipped  (triple- 
naved)  chur'ch  ;"  not  to  speak  of  the  degradation  of  "  aisle  "  into  a  passage 
to  boxes  or  pens,  called  "  pews."  *  As  in  the  basilica  at  Treves. 

••  This  construction,  seen  in  the  splendid  basilica  of  Trajan  (p.  410),  was 
followed  in  the  churches  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Home.  (See  the 
Illustration  to  Chapter  XI.  p.  2(35,  and  that  below,  p.  422.) 

*  In  the  older  basilica:,  and  the  smaller  ones  of  later  times,  which  were 
devoted  exclusively  to  judicial  use,  this  portion,  called  bema  {^tifxa)  and 
tribunal,  was  set  apart  for  the  court  itself;  and,  in  like  manner,  in  those 
basilican  churches  which  had  no  apse,  it  formed  both  the  choir  and  the 
sanctuary.  An  intermediate  form  was  that  in  which  an  apse  was 
constructed  within  the  rectangular  area. 

*  Apsis  (Svl/is),  a  Greek  word,  signifying,  first,  a  fastening  or  binding 
together,  specially  the  hoop  or  felloe  of  a  wheel,  and  hence  generally  a  circle, 
arch,  or  vault. 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


BASILICAN  CHURCHES. 


419 


standing  in  the  centre,  behind  the  altar  where  incense  was  burnt 
and  oaths  taken,  and  the  numerous  judices  ^  sitting  on  a  bench  which 
ran  round  the  walls.  At  the  other  end  was  a  vestibule  (jrpovaoi), 
either  railed  off  within  the  hall,  or  forming  a  porch  or  grand  iwrtico 
on  its  outer  front.     In  the  grand  example  of  Trajan's  basilica,  the 


Basilica  of  Trajan. 

entrance  was  in  one  of  the  long-sides,  which  was  faced  with  three 
porticoes,  and  there  was  an  apsidal  tribune  at  each  end. 

This  description  of  the  Roman  basilica  will  show  how  readily- 
such  a  building  could  be  adapted  to  the  xise  of  the  Chtirch,  especially 
now  that  its  ceremonial  was  elaborated  and  its  clergy  exalted  above 
the  laity.  Edifices  still  existing,  from  the  time  of  Constantine 
downwards,^  together  with  the  descriptions  and  allusions  of  ecclesi- 
astical writers,  enable  us  to  construct  in  imagination  such  a  build- 
ing in  a  complete  state,  with  its  fittings  and  decorations.  A 
basilican  church  of  the  first  class  in  Rome,  Constantinople,  or  one 
of  the  larger  cities  of  the  Roman  Empire,  may  be  thus  described. 

A  stately  gateway  gave  admittance  to  a  large  court  (atrittmj 
surrounded  by  covered  colonnades,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  a 
fountain  or  a  vase  (cantharus)  containing  water,  so  that  ablutions 
might  be  performed  before  the  church  was  entered.  On  one  side  of 
this  atrium,  and  entered  from  it,  was  the  baptistery.^     The  basilica 

'  Jtnljjes  whose  olllce  rather  resembled  our  jttrymcn ;  but  either  transla- 
tion would  mislead. 

*  Several  of  those  are  fully  described  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art. 
Church,  to  which  the  following  description  is  largely  indebted. 

'  The  cathedral  of  Parenzoin  Istria,  built  circ.  a.D.  5-l'2,  is  too  interesting 
to  be  passed  over,  particularly  as  it  has  undergone  extremely  little  altera- 
tioUj  and  retains  the  atrium  before  the  front,  and  the  baptistery  opening 


420  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

itself  was  usually,  when  the  circumstances  of  the  site  peiinitted, 
placed  on  the  western  side  of  the  atrium,  so  that  the  rising  sun 
shone  on  its  front.^  This  front  was  pierced  by  three  or  five  door- 
ways according  to  the  number  of  the  aisles,  and  in  that  part  whicli 
rose  above  the  colonnade  of  the  atrium,  windows  of  immense  size 
admitted  light  to  the  interior.  Tlie  wall  between  and  above  these 
windows  was  covered  sometimes,  in  parts,  with  mosaic  of  glass  in 
gold  and  colour,  but  usually  with  plates  of  richly  coloured  marbles 
and  porphyries  arranged  so  as  to  form  patterns  ;  but  painted  stucco 
sometimes  formed  a  cheap  suijstitute.  The  doors  were  of  bronze, 
adorned  with  sculptures  in  relief,  and  frequently  gilt,  or  of  wood, 
often  richly  inlaid  or  carved.  Within  the  doorways  were  hung 
curtains  of  the  richest  stuff,  generally  purple  or  scarlet,  embroidered 
with  gold,  to  exclude  the  heat  of  summer  or  the  cold  of  winter 
while  the  doors  stood  open.  The  space  just  within  the  doors,  often 
enclosed  as  an  inner  vestibule,^  was,  like  the  atrium,  open  to  all 
comers,  and  was  also  the  station  of  penitents. 

from  the  atrium  on  the  side  opposite  to  the  church — the  baptistery,  unfor- 
tunately, in  a  semi-ruinous  state.  Here,  it  will  bo  seen,  the  aisles  have 
apsidal  ends  internally,  but  the  wall  is  fiat  externally.  The  apse  is  of 
peculiar  interest,  retaining  the  cathedra  for  the  bishop  and  the  bench  for 
the  clergy,  in  apparently  an  unaltered  state,  while  the  AvaU  behind,  to 
about  one  half  of  its  heiglit,  is  covered  with  an  extremely  rich  and  tasteful 
decoration  in  "opus  sectile,"  the  patterns  being  composed  of  pieces  of  the 


Cathedral  of  Parenzo. 

richest  marbles,  lapis  lazuli,  and  mother-of-pearl.  Above  the  cathedra  is 
a  cross  standing  on  a  globe,  and  figures  of  dolphins,  tridents,  cornucopias, 
and  burning  candles  are  sparingly  introduced  among  the  patterns  of  archi- 
tectural character.  On  the  west  front,  and  on  the  east  end  above  the  apse, 
are  remains  of  fresco  paintings  of  an  early  date.  In  this  church,  although 
basilican  in  jilan,  the  capitals  are  Byzantine  in  char.-icter. 

'  This  was  the  direct  opposite  to  the  later  system  of  "  Orientation,"  for 
the  "sanctuary  "  was  at  the  xrcst  end  of  the  church.  But  no  rigid  rule 
was  observed  as  to  its  fronting  to  any  point  of  the  compass. 

-  In  the  Byzantine  churches  this  and  the  atrium  were  called  respectively 
eso-narthex,  and  cxso  nartlicx,  the  word  nartlicx  literally  signifying  a  hux, 
especially  for  unguents. 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


BASILICAN  CHURCHES. 


421 


The  congregation  assembled  in  the  nave,  to  which  the  aisles^ 
served  for  additional  room,  as  well  as  for  passages  ;  the  whole  area 
being  open  and  free  from  fixed  seats.  The  whole  floor  was  covered, 
either  with  tesselated  pavements,  or  witli  slabs  of  coloured  marbles 
arranged  in  various  patterns.  The  columns,  of  marble  or  other 
choice  stones,  which  separated  the  nave  from  the  aisles  supported 
either  horizontal  architraves  or  arches.*  Over  each  intercolum- 
niation,  the  topmost  range  of  the  clerestory  wall,  wdiich  was  often 
remarkable   for  its   great  height,  was   pierced   by  windows   with 

'  The  more  retired  parts  of  the  aisles  may  have  been  used  for  private 
devotion,  but  their  division  into  Chapels  belongs  to  a  later  age.  Chapels 
were  however  added  to  some  churches  outside  their  main  walls.  A  chapel 
{atpella,  a  word  of  doubtful  etymolocry),  or  oraton/  (oratorium,  "  i)lace  for 
prayer")  called  in  Greek  irapeKKKr]aia  (a  h'/-c/tiirch),  is  a  chamber  or 
Imilding  for  occasional  wor- 
sliip,  or  for  a  congregation 


sfip-w^     »eA.rJ:!i 


•L!^ 


(■5 


Cliapel  of  St.  Piran. 


formed  by  the  members  ot"  a 
household,  convent,  or  other 
private  society  of  wor- 
shippers. Chapels  may  be 
divided  into  four  classes  : — 
(1)  Apartments  in  palaces 
and  houses;  (2)  Buildings 
connected  with  hermitages, 
convents,  or  the  like ;  (.'5) 
Those  attachcil  to  larger 
churches;  and  (4)  Those 
detached  and  isolated,  espe- 
cially sepulchral  chapels.  The  annexed  plan  is  that  of  the  chapel  of 
Perr'an  Zabuloe  or  St.  Piran  (or  St.  Pyeran).  an  Irish  missionary  to  Corn- 
wall in  the  tifth  century,  which  was  disinterred  from  the  sand  on  the 
Cornish  coast  in  18o5.  The  inner  chamber  forms  a  chancel,  with  the  tomb 
of  the  saint  for  an  altar.  There  are  several  of  tliis  type  in  Ireland. — See 
the  Art.  Chapel  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq. 

*  The  arches  are  seen  in  the  basilica  of  St.  Paul,  without  the  walls  of 
Rome,  built  by  Honorius  (see  Vignette  to  Chaj).  XI.  p.  205)  ,  the  horizontal 
entablature  in  that  earlier  church  of  St.  Peter,  built  by  Constautine  (p.  422)  ; 
the  two  being  nearly  alike  in  other  respects.  We  have  very  perfect  drawings 
of  the  old  St.  Peter's,  wliich  had  fallen  into  ruins  in  1450,  and  was  gradually 
replaced  by  the  j)resent  famous  cathedral ;  a.id  the  old  St.  Paul's  stood 
till  it  was  burnt  down  in  1822.  Both  these  basilican  churches  were  of  the 
largest  dimensions  ;  St.  Peter's  being  ;?80  feet  long  by  212  feet  wide,  and 
covering  as  large  an  area  (80,000  feet)  as  any  medieval  cathedral,  c.Tcept 
Milan  and  Seville.  St.  Paul's,  which  was  about  the  same  size,  was  lighted 
by  120  windows,  each  20  feet  high  by  14^  feet  wide.  As  to  the  eastern 
basilica;,  the  church  of  St.  John  Studios  at  Constantinople,  built  A.D.  463, 
now  a  mosque  known  as  Imrachor-Dschamissi,  shows  that  as  regards  plan 
and  design  there  was  in  the  tifth  century  little  difference  between  a  basilican 
church  in  Rome  and  in  Constantinople.  This  church  is  remarkable  for  the 
great  size  of  its  gallwics.     (See  Diet,  of  Chriitian  Antiqq.,  vol.  i.  p.  371.) 

20 


422 


STATE  OF  THE  CHL'RCH. 


Chap.  XVIII. 


'ItfiWillillMillliiVCi 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


BASILICA N  CHURCHES. 


423 


arched  heads,  formed  by 
perforations  in  various 
l)atterns,  filled  in  with  talc, 
alabaster,  or  other  trans- 
lucent stones,  or  with  plain 
or  coloured  glass.  The 
transverse  beams  and  flat 
ceiling  of  the  wooden  roof 
were  often  richly  carved 
and  gilt ;  and  rich  curtains 
were  hung  in  the   spaces 


Gabbatba :  bowl-shaped  lamp 

between  the  columns  that 
divided  the  nave  and 
aisles.  Where  a  transept 
existed,  it  was  usually  di- 
vided from  the  nave  by 
an  arch,  the  face  of  which, 
towards  the  nave,  was 
often  covered  Avith  mo- 
saics ;  a  frequent  subject 
being  a  colossal  bust  of 
Christ  over  the  crown  of 
the  arch,  with  the  seven 
candlesticks,  the  symbols 
of  the  Evangelists,  and 
the  twenty-four  elders,  on 
cither  side  and  below. 
Lam{'»s  in  the  shape  of 
crosvns  and  bowls,  and 
votive  crowns,  of  silver 
and  gold,  hung  down  from 


Crown  of  Svintila,  King  of  the  Vifiigoths  in  Spain 
(a.i>.  621-631),  preserved  in  the  KojmI  Armoury 
at  Madrid,  bearing  the  inuription  Svixtilasub 


EKX  OFFERT. 


424  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

the  arches,  and  vases,  often  filled  with  flowers,  stood  upon  the 
dwarf  walls,  or  balustrades  that  separated  difllereut  parts  of  the 
edifice.^ 

The  space  cut  off  at  the  upper  end  of  the  nave  in  the  Eoman 
basilica,  generally  with  a  raised  floor  (suggestits),  and  longer  than 
its  breadth,  formed  the  choir  (chorun)  of  tlie  church,  in  which  were 
stationed  the  readers,  singers,  and  other  inferior  clergy.^  Here 
(generally,  it  seems  on  one  side  of  the  enclosure  and  near  the  railings) 
stood  the  pulpit,  desk,  or  raised  platform,^  from  which  the  Scriptures 
were  read,  and  in  general  all  communications  made  to  the  congrega- 
tions by  presbyters"  and  deacons.  The  bishop,  generally,  in  earlier 
times  preached  from  his  own  seat  in  the  apse,  or  from  a  chair  brought 
forward  in  front  of  the  altar  ;  and  Chrysostom's  custom  of  preaching 
from  the  a7nbo,  in  order  to  be  better  heard,  seems  to  have  been  an 
innovation  arising  out  of  the  more  rhetorical  style  of  preaching 
which  had  come  into  use,  as  we  have  already  seen.* 

As  the  suf/f/esfus  of  the  Roman  Basilica  offered  itself  as  the 
choir  of  the  Christian  Church,  so  was  the    apse  or  htma,^  with 

'  See  the  Vignette  to  this  Chapter,  p.  399. 

'  The  name  I'l-eshytrium,  sometimes  a))])Iie(l  to  the  Choir,  .ippears  to 
belong  to  those  churches  only,  in  which  there  was  no  further  division  to 
mark  off  the  presbytery  proper,  or  sanctuary.  The  choir  was  divided  from 
the  nave  by  a  railing  or  dwarf  wall,  which  .iftervvards  became  sometimes  a 
screen,  hiding  the  clergy  more  or  less  comjiletely  from  the  people.  This 
railing  or  grating  (cancellus,  cancelli,  KiiyyeKos,  Ka-yKeAot,  Ka.yKe\a,  Kiy- 
kK75(s,  Spv(paKTot)  gave  to  the  whole  upper  part  of  the  chtirch,  including 
the  choir  and  sanctuary,  the  name  of  chniccl,  which  is  still  used  in  our 
parish  churches,  while  that  of  choir  jirevails  in  cathedrals.  These  divisions 
appear  to  have  been  first  made  in  the  fourth  century,  but  the  exact  time 
is  hard  to  fix  ;  and  in  allusions  to  the  cancelli  it  is  often  difficult  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  railings  of  the  choir  and  the  inner  rails  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. "  It  is  a  characteristic  ditlerence  between  Kasteru  and  Western 
churches  that  in  tlie  former  the  distinction  between  the  bema  (or  sanctuary) 
and  the  choir  is  much  more  strongly  marked  than  that  between  the  choir 
and  the  nave;  in  the  latter  the  distinction  between  the  nave  and  the  choir 
is  much  more  strongly  marked  than  that  between  the  choir  and  the 
sanctuary."  See  the  JJi:t.  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Arts.  Cancelli,  Chancel, 
Choir. 

3  Pulpitum,  sugtjestus,  ainho,  &ijl^u>v,  fr.  dca/SaiVeo,  "  go  up,"  also  called 
iripyos  "  tower,"  and  defined  by  Sozomen  as  "  the  platform  of  the  readers  " 
(Prj/xa  Tuv  avayywffTuv).  Its  ])lace  varied  according  to  the  various  forms 
of  the  churches  ;  that  of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople  stood  nearly  in  the 
middle  of  the  church  (see  p.  4:i:^),  forming  a  platform  large  enough  for 
the  emperor's  coronation,  .ind  surrounded  by  an  enclosed  choir  below  it. 
See  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  Ambo.  An  Ambo  is  represented  in 
the  Vignette  to  Chap.  XV.  p.  :J48. 

*  See  Chap.  XI II.  §  7. 

*  The  name  Bcma  Carina,  from  $aiv<c,  "  go "  or  "  ascend "),  used  at 
A,then8  for  the  platform  from  which  the  orators  addressed  the  assembly 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


SANCTUARY  AND  ALTAR. 


425 


its  altar,  ready  for  use  as  the  special  Sanctuary,  where  the  chief 
"mysteries"  of  divine  service  were  celebrated,  and  where  the 
bishop  and  higher  clergy  had  their  place.  Hence  it  was  also  called 
the  Fnsbyttry.  Its  holy  character  was  marked  by  richer  materials 
and  more  splendid  decoration.  The  semi-dome,  which  formed  its 
room,  was  covered  with  pictures  in  mosaic,  generally  representing 
Clirist  seated  or  standing,  with  the  Ai)ostles  ranged  on  either  hand; 
and  golden  emblems  hung  down  from  the  roof  over  the  altar.  Its 
floor  was  generally  raised  above  the  choir;'  and  at  the  top  of  the 
steps,  in  the  middle  of  the  chord  of  the  apse,  stood  the  Altar,^  as  the 


(iKK\7)ff'ia),  was  aiijilied  in  the  Roman"  basilica  to  the  inhunil  of  the 
Prwtor,  into  whose  place  the  bishop  stepped  as  president  of  the  church, 
while  from  tliis  bcma  he  also  addressed  his  ccclcsia.  A  good  example  of 
an  apse  is  shown  in  the  Vignette  to  Chaj).  VIII.  p.  192. 

•  There  seems  to  have  been  (often  it"  not  always)  an  inner  railing  or 
screen  of  the  sanctuary,  besides  that  which  divided  the  choir  (and  the 
sanctuary  within  it)  from  the  body  of  the  church.  (See  Bid.  of  Christian 
Antiqq.,  Art.  Caxcixi.i.) 

-  We  have  seen  (Cha]).  IX.  §  7)  that  the  doctrine  of  a  sacrifice  in  the 
Eucharist  had  become  established  in  the  third  century.  Hence  the  "  Lord's 
Table,"  (rpaTre^o  Kvpiov,  mensa  Domini)~i\\o\\g\\  this  name  still  continued 
in  use  for  centuries — became  also  dvaiacTTripioi/  (a  place  of  sacrifice),  the 
term  used  in  the  LXX.  for  the  Jewish  altars,  and  alwavs  translated  by 
Jeronie  iiitare,  i.e.  '-high  altar"  (for  this  word,  in  classic  tntin  altaria  (pi.) 
and  altariiiin,  is  a  mere  derivative  from  alius,  "  high,"  not  campotinded 
with  «;•(()•  Allare  is  also  used  by  Cyprian,  and  became  (as  also  altarium) 
the  prevailing  name  in  the 
Church.  The  words  fiui/xos 
and  ara  are  generally  used 
in  SS.  and  by  ecclesiastical  jj 
writers  for  heathen  altars. 

As  to  the  form  and  lyutte- 
rial,  the  use  of  sto7ie  had 
begun  as  early  as  the  fourth 
century,  probably  as  a  result 
of  the  adoption  of  the  solid 
form,  like  a  chest  or  sarco- 
phagus or  ''  altar-tomb." 
Some  have  traced  this  form 
to  the  use  of  the  tombs  in 
the  Catacombs  as  tables 
for    the    celebration   of   the 

Eucharist,  of  which  there  is  no  positive  proof;  but  at  all  events  it  is 
connected  with  the  custom  of  making  the  space  under  the  table  a  receptacle 
for  the  relics  of  a  saint  or  martyr.  The  table-form,  however,  continued  in 
use;  and  there  are  extant  examples  of  it  as  late  as  the  thirteenth  century. 
In  some  of  the  most  important  churches  we  tind  allusions  to  the  space  under 
the  tables  to  the  ])illars  or  legs  which  supported  it,  and  to  its  being  more 
or  less  movable.  The  above  illustration  represents  a  table-altar  with  one 
leg,  probably  of  the  fifth  or  sixth  century.     A  mosaic  in  the   church  of 


Altar,  from  Aurlol  in  Fnince. 


426 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XVlll. 


eucharistic  Table  had  now  become,  in  significance  as  well  as  name, 
though  still  lor  the  most  part  retaining  the  form  of  a  wooden  table. 
The  "high  altar"  was  usually  raised  on  steps,  and  in  the  space 
beneath  it  were  deposited  the  relics  of  the  saint  or  martyr,  in 
whose  honour  the  church  was  dedicated.^  The  possession  of  such 
relics  became  essential  to  the  consecration  of  a  church.  The  altar 
was  often  enclosed  within  railings,  or  a  network  of  wood  or  metal, 
or  a  low  wall  of  marble  slabs  ;^  and  these  enclosures  supiwrted 
columns  and  arches  of  silver,  from  Avhich  veils  or  curtains  of  rich 
stuffs  were  suspended.  Such  veils  are  mentioned  by  Chrysostom^ 
as  being  withdrawn  at  the  consecration  of  the  Eucharist.  I'hese 
accessories  were  developed  into  tlie  vaulted  canopy  supported  by 
columns,  with  veils  Ijung  between  them,  which  is  called  in  Greek 
ciborium*  in  Latin  umbraculnm,  and  in  Italian  baldachino.  The 
exact  date  of  its  introduction  is  unknown,  but  an  elaborate  example 
is  represented  among  the  mosaics  in  the  church  of  St.  George 
at  Thessalonica,  which  are  certainly  not  later  than  a.d.  500,  and 
are  referred  by  some  antiquaries  to  the  age  of  Constantinc.*     1'he 

S.  Apollinare  at  Ravenna  (sixth  centuvv)  shows  a  table-altar  on  four  legs, 
with  an  ornamental   covering  of  white  linen.     See  the  iJict.  of  C/iristiftn 

Anti'ii/.,  Art.  Alt.\R. 

'  "  Beneath  the  steps  it 
became  custoipary,  tVoni 
the  fourth  renturv  at 
least,  at  Rome  and  wher- 
ever the  usages  of  Rome 
were  f'ollcweil,  to  con- 
struct a  small  vault  called 
co))/c'ssiu ;  this  was  ori- 
ginally a  mere  grave  or 
repository  for  a  bodv,  as 
at  S.  Alessandro  near 
Rome  "  (see  the  figure  on 
)i.  luO,  where  the  sipiare 
siiallow  excavation,  lined 
with  niarble.was  jirubablv 
for  the  relics).  ''Imt  gra- 
dually expanded  into  a 
vault,  a  window  or  grating  below  the  altar  allowing  the  sarcophagus  in  whicii 
the  body  of  the  saint  was  ))laced  to  be  vi>ible."     (Comp.  Rev.  vi.  9.) 

"In   the   Eastern   Church   a  piscina  is   usually  found  under  the   altar 
(Xeale,  /•.'astern  Church,  Introd.  189).  called  x'"'^   X"*'*'*'!'.  or  more  com- 
monly 6a\a(T(Ta.  or  Oa.Kaaai'bwv."     (/>irt.  of  C/irisliaii  Autiqq.,  vol.  i.  p.  64.) 
^  We    iiave    fri'queut   allusions    to  this   enclosure  under  the   names  of 
amhit'is  ami  cirruilus  dl/nris.  '  Jfom.  Hi.  in  /'phes. 

*  The  primary   meaning  of  the  Greek  word   Ktfiuptou  is   the   cup-like 
seed-vessel  of  the  Egyptian  water-lily. 

*  As  in  the  work   of  Texier  and  Pallan   on    Byzantine  architecture  (see 
Diet,  of  Christian  AnHqq.,  vol.  i.  p.  G.j). 


Altar,  or  Table,  from  a  mop.iic  of  S.  Apollinare  in 
Closse  at  llavciina. 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


ALTAR  AND  CIBORIUM. 


427 


earliest  existing  ciborium  is  probably  that  of  St.  Apollinare  in 
Classe  at  liavenna,  whicli  is  siiown,  by  the  inscription  engraved 
\ipon  it,  to  have  been  erected  between  the  years  80G  and  810.^  Tho 
richest  materials,  and 
most  elaborate  forms  of 
decoration,  in  gold,  silver," 
jewels,  all  sorts  of  costly 
stones,  and  brilliant  co- 
lours, were  lavished  in  pro- 
fusion, too  often  as  taste- 
less as  it  was  ostentatious, 
on  the  altar  and  its  acces- 
sories, above  the  rest  of 
the  church,  especially  from 
the  time  of  Justinian.  The 
altar  of  St.  Sophia  was  of 
gold,  decorated  with  jire- 
cious  stones,  and  su})- 
portedon  golden  columns. 
This  has  of  course  long 
since  been  destroyed,  but 
there  still  exists  an  altar 
of  almost  equal  splendour, 
though  of  the  other  type, 
viz.,  that  of  the  tomb,  and 
more  recent  by  three  hun- 
dred years.  This  is  the 
high  altar  of  St.  Ambiogio, 
at  Milan,  made  in  A.i).  835, 
measuring  7  feet  3  inches  '- — 
in  length,  and  4  feet  1  f-,),,,, 
inch  in  height,  the  nuiisa 
being  4  feet  4  inches  wide. 

The  front  is  of  gold,  the  back  and  sides  of  silver.  It  is  covered 
with  subjects  in  relief  in  panels  divided  by  bands  of  ornament,  and 
many  small  ornaments  in  cloisonne'  enamel  are  interspersed.  The 
subjects  on  the  back  are  chiefly  incidents  in  the  life  of  St.  Ambrose; 
those  of  the  front  are  Christ  seated  within  an  oval  compartment 
within  a  cross,  in  tlie  branches  of  which  are  the  symbols  of  the 

'  See  the  wooilciit  on  p.  ?>S'\. 

*  In  some  cases  tlie  mention  of  the  (jumliti/  of  the  precious  metal 
proves  that  it  was  either  used  merely  for  decoration  or  in  tliin  plates  over 
the  altar,  as  in  the  .silver  altars  of  Pojie  Hilarius  (461-467)  and  I'ojie 
Leo  IIL  (795-816),  weighing  40  and  67  pounds  (Lib.  Pontijicalis). 


'-!><!•  ■<!fi!.«':#ii|.  *<g! 


^^^1 


>iii  a  iii'i-:iii;  ill  til'-  rlini 
ut  Tlus.-uluiii(.;i. 


428 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XV^II. 


Evangelists,  fijiures  of  the  Apostles  being  placed  above  and  below. 
On  the  right  and  left  are  subjects  from  the  Gospels  or  the  Ads  of 

tlie  Apostles.      On 
S 


the  ends  of  the  al- 
tar are  crosses  in 
comi)artments,  sur- 
rounding which  are 
angels  in  various 
attitudes  of  adora- 
tion. It  is  repre- 
sented in  the  wood- 
cut. 
Round  the  serai-circle  of  the  apse  ran  a  bench  for  the  liigher 
clergy,  in  whose  midst,  directly  fronting  the  altar  and  the  whole 
church,  the  bishop  sat  on  an  elevated  seat,  which  had  now  become 
a  "  tlirone,"^  from  the  base  or  platform  of  which  he  ministered, 
"standing  before  the  altar," ^  and  sometimes  preached;  but  he 
seems  more  usually  to  have  advanced  to  the  steps  in  front  of  the 
altar  in  addressing  the  congregation. 

The  choir  and  sanctuary  were  reserved  for  the  use  of  the  clergy, 
as  specially  holy  ground ;  and  in  the  growth  of  hierarchical  ideas, 
the  sanctuary  (at  least)  was  called  the  Holi/  of  Holies.  When  we 
are  told  that  tlie  rails  (*cay/ceXXa)  mark  out  tlie  space  to  tlie  outside 
of  which  the  people  may  approach,  while  inside  is  the  Holy  of 
Holies,^  accessible  only  to  the  priests,  it  would  seem  that  this  most 
lioly  place  is  the  sanctuary,  and  that  tlie  laity  were  admitted  to 
the  choir  for  the  purpose  of  communicating.  Even  the  Emperor, 
to  wTiom  the  courtly  use  of  Constantinople  assigned  a  seat  within 
the  rails,  was  excluded  (as  Ave  have  seen)  by  Ambrose  at  Milan.* 

'  The  scat  or  chair  {Ka64Spa,  cathcdni) — wliich,  as  the  symbol  of  tlie 
bishop's  dignity,  gave  name  to  the  catncdral  clturck  (cccltsii  cat/,cclr<ilis, 
principalis  c  ithedra)  and  the  sec  (i.e.  seat) — is  called  by  Eusebius  flpoi-os 
v'^n)\os  (as  distinguished  from  the  hevTipoi  Bp6voi  of  the  presbyters),  but 
this  term  is  inveighed  against  by  Gregory  Naziauzen.  It  was  sometimes 
enclosed  by  curtains  (cutltedra  rctata,  Atigustin).  Its  elevation  is  alluded 
to  by  Prudentius  (^I'eristcph.  II.  iv.  2li.")): 

"  Frnntc  sub  adversa  gradlbiis  sublime  tribunal 
Tullllur." 

2  There  can  be  no  question  of  the  original  significance  of  this  phrase  in 
the  early  ages  of  the  Church.  The  bishop  or  priest  stood  (or  knelt,  as  the 
case  might  be)  before  the  altar  just  as  a  person  stands  or  sits  Uiore  a  table 
on  which  he  is  breaking  bread  or  ilnins;  aiivthing  else. 

'  Ta  0710  Twv  ay'twv.  Germanus  ot'  Constantinople,  Hist.  Eccles.  p.  148. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  tiiis  work  belongs  tp  Germanus  of  the  ei^'hth 
century  or  to  his  namesake  of  the  twelfth.  *  See  Chap.  XI.  §  11. 


Cent  IV.-VI. 


GALLERIES  AND  ADJUNCTS. 


42  !i 


Sectlou  of  the  UasiUca  of  St.  Agues,  Rome. 


At  Rome  however,  and  probably  elsewhere,  a  space  on  either  side  of 
the  choir  was  also  railed  in ;  tlie  senatorium,  on  the  right,  being 
appropriated  to  the  senators  and  other  men  of  rank ;  and  the  matro- 
neum,  on  the  left,  to  women  of  the  like  degree.  Where  a  gallery  ex- 
isted (as  was  usual 
in  the  old  basilica),  1HM'"jj"h 

it  was  set  apart  for 
women ;  but  this  ar- 
rangement was  not 
very  common  in  the 
West.  One  of  the 
few  examples  is  the 
basilica  of  St.  Agnes 
at  Rome,  the  sub- 
joined section  of 
which  shows  the 
galleries  clearly, 
and  illustrates  many 

other  points  in  the  foregoing  description  of  a  basilican  church. 
The  galleries  were  integral  jiarts  of  the  edifices,  like  the  triforia  of 
medieval  churches,  not  additions  independent  of  the  structure. 
They  w*ere  approached  by  external  staircases,  and  their  fronts 
towards  the  nave  were  protected  by  a  low  wall  or  balustrade 
{yluteus)} 

The  basilican  churches,  as  well  as  those  of  other  forms^  were  gene- 
rally surrounded  by  a  large  space  enclosed  by  walls ;  and  in  many 
cases  a  number  of  buildings  for  special  services  (as  baptisteries"), 
and  for  the  use  of  the  clergy,  were  attached  to  the  church. 

§  11.  A  few  words  must  suffice  for  the  other  early  form  of  church, 
the  sepulchral  or  memorial,  which  is  closely  allied  to  the  memorial 
chapels  built  over  the   tombs  of  martyrs.*     The   type  of  these 

•  See  Dkt.  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  Galleries. 

"  On  the  Baptisteries  see  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  s.  r. 

*  "  In  the  earlier  period  the  choice  of  form  would  seem  to  have  been 
guided  by  the  intention  most  strongly  present  to  the  founder.  Where 
special  intention  of  doing  honour  to  tlie  memory  of  a  martyr  existed,  the 
circular  form  was  chosen,  but  where  this  was  not  the  leading  thought, 
the  basilican;  the  latter  lending  itself  better  to  the  celebration  of  divine 
services  with  a  large  attendance  of  worshii)i)ers.  In  several  instances  a 
basilican  and  a  memorial  church  were  placed  in  close  proximity,  as  at 
Jerusalem  by  Constantine,  at  Kalat  Sema'an  in  Central  Syria,  at  Nola  by 
Paulinus,  at  Constantinople  in  the  churches  ot'St.  Sergius  and  of  St.  Peter 
and  Paul,  and  several  others,  the  circular  or  polygonal  church  being  in 
almost  all  these  cases  dedicated  in  honour  of  a  martyr.  It  is  a  matter  ot" 
some  difticultv  to  distinguish  between  a  sepulchral  chapel  or  tomb  and  a 

■  20* 


430 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XVlll. 


Sta.  Costanza,  Rome. 


buildings  was  furni.shed  by  the  Roman  circular  tombs,  with  an 
external   peristyle,   massive   walls,   and  small   internal   chambers. 

The  churches  of  this  form  are 
round  or  polygonal,  and  covered 
with  a  dome,  often  supported  by 
an  internal  peristyle  of  columns 
or  massive  piers,  a  feature  added 
to  their  Roman  model.  One  of 
the  earliest  examples  is  the  church 
of  Sta.  Costanza  at  Rome,  which 
is  supposed  to  have  been  built  as 
a  mausoleum  for  the  family  of 
'  Constantine.  It  is  about  100 
feet  in  diameter,  the  dome  being 
about  40.  The  niches  contained 
sarcophagi,  one  of  which  is  in  the  Vatican  Museum.^ 

memorial  church ;  the  one  class  in  fact  runs  into  the  other,  the  distinction 
between  them  depending  upon  the  object  which  tl>e  builder  had  in  view. 
When  he  constructed  a  large  edifice  in  which  services  were  to  be  frequently 
held,  still  more  if  this  building  was  intended  to  be  the  cathedral  church 
of  a  bishop  oi"  the  church  of  a  district,  the  structure  must  be  considered 
as  a  church,  although  it  was  also  constructed  in  order  to  honour  a  martyr 
and  to  protect  his  tomb  ;  when  oa  the  other  hand  it  was  of  small  size,  and 
its  primary  object  was  to  contain  the  tomb  or  tombs  either  of  the  builder 
or  of  some  saint,  it  must  be  considered  as  only  a  sepulchral  chapel  although 
containing  an  altar,  and  although  services  were  occasionally  celebrated 
within  it."     {Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  .S68,  372.) 

'  Something  of  a  cruciform  character  is  given  by  the  arrangement  of 
the  twentv-four  pillars  that  support  the  dome  into  four  groups,  each 
consisting  of  three  pairs  of  coupled  columns,  with  larger  spaces  between 
the  groups  than  between  the  pairs  in  each.  Another  famous  example  of 
the  age  of  Constantine  is  his  Church  of  the  Holy  Sej)ulchre  at  Jerusalem, 
now  the  "  Dome  of  the  Rock,"  according  to  Mr.  FergussQu's  theory,  which 
of  course  cannot  be  discussed  here. 

''It  seems  clear  that  one  of  two  hypotheses  must  be  held;  either  that 
the  existing  remains  are  those  of  a  building  of  the  period  of  Constantine, 
erected  on  the  spot  and  still  retaining  their  original  architectural  arrange- 
ment, or  that  portions  of  such  a  building  have  been  removed  from  another 
site,  and  rc-erected  where  we  now  find  them. 

"  Eusebius  (De  Vita  Constant,  iii.  .')0)  tells  usof  another  octagonal  church 
erected  hv  order  of  Constantine,  of  which  no  trace  now  remains.  This  was 
atAntioch;  Eusebius  descril)ps  it  as  of  wonderful  height,  and  surrounded 
bv  many  chambers  (oiKois)  and  e.xedrae  (t^eSpais),  which  it  would  appear 
were  entered  from  the  galleries  (xuipTjjuaTwv)  which  both  above  and  below 
ground  encircled  the  church. 

"A  church  was  also  built  by  Constantine  at  Constantinople  (Eusebius, 
Vit  t  Constant  \v.  58,59)  as  a  memorial  church  of  the  Apostles  {/lapTvptov 
4v\  nvi]pLV  rwv  a,iro(rr6\uiv),  and  at  the  same  time  as  a  place  for  his  own 
burial.     This  building  was  destroyed  by  Justinian,  and  its  precise  form  is 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


MEMORIAL  CHURCHES. 


431 


St.  Stefano  Rotondo,  Rome. 


In  Italy  some  circular  churches  were  constructed  to  carry,  not 
domes,  but  wooden  roofs;  of  these  the  most  remarkable  example  is 
St.  Stefano  Rotondo,  at  Rome,  built  between  a.d.  467  and  a.d.  483. 
This  church  had  ori- 
ginally twoaisles,and 
is  of  very  large  size, 
having  a  diameter  of 
about  210  feet. 

The  church  of  St. 
Lorenzo  at  Milan, 
once  the  cathctlral  of 
the  city,  is  very  re- 
markable, as  showing 
an  attempt  to  com- 
bine the  circular  with 
the  .square  plan.  Its 
real  date  has  not  been 
ascertained,  but  it  is 
probably  of  the  earlier 
part  of  the  fifth  ccn- 
tur\-.  The  main  build- 
ing has  lost  all  origi- 
nal character  through  repairs,  but  according  to  Ilubsch  the  original 
walls  exist  to  a  height  of  nearly  40  feet,  and  the  ground-plan  may 
therefore  be  accepted  as  original. 

A  vcr}"-  interesting  example  of  the  combination  of  the  round 
memorial  form  in  the  nave  with  a  choir  and  apse  is  furnished  by  the 
church  of  St.  George  at  Thessalonica;^  and  a  similar  arrangement 
(but  with  a  domed  nave  square  in  its  external  form)  is  seen  in  the 
cathedral  of  Bosrah,  the  date  of  which  is  fixed  to  a.d.  512  (p.  432). 

§  12.  From  the  memorial  churches  was  develoixjd  the  new  and 

unknown  ;  but  that  it  was  in  some  manner  cruciform  appears  from  the 
distich  of  Gregory  of  Naziauzus,  in  the  poem  of  the  dream  of  Anastasius: — 

Sit  Toi^  KOL  ficya.\av\oi'  <So?  Xpicrroio  fiaOifTtuv 
ll\tvpali  trravpOTvirots  T(Tpa\a  rfiMVotitvoy- 

It  would  seem  that  it  stood  in  the  centre  of  a  large  atrium,  surrounded  by 
porticoes.  Bunsen  (Pie  JlasiliJitn  dcs  C/irist/.  L'onis,  s.  oG)  tiiiiiks  that  in 
this  edifice  we  may  discern  the  ijcrm  of  tiie  Byzantine  type  of  church." — 
(Diet,  of  Christittn  Anti'i<i.,  vol.  i.  p.  372.) 

•  See  Vignette  to  Cliap.  IX.  p.  213.  The  church  consists  of  a  circular 
nave  70  feet  in  diameter,  covered  by  a  dome,  a  chancel,  and  an  apse  ;  the 
walls  of  tlie  nave  are  20  feet  thick,  and  in  them  are  eight  great  recesses, 
two  of  which  serve  as  entrances  and  one  as  a  sort  ot"  vestibule  to  the 
chancel ;  the  roof  is  covered  with  a  magnificent  series  of  mosaics. 


432 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XVIH. 


very  elaborate  Byzantine  plan  of  clmrcli  architecture,  which,  from 

the  time  of  Justinian,  almost  entirely  superseded  the  basilican  form 

in  the  East,  and  of  which  the  first  grand 

example  is  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia  at 

Constantinople.^ 

In  the  Eastern  churches  of  the  new 
Byzantine  type  a  modification  of  the  plan 
of  tSt.  Sophia  was  almost  exclusively 
adopted,  the  modified  plan  being  a  quad- 
rangular figure  approaching  a  square,  with 
a  dome  covering  the  centre,  and  a  large 
internal  porch  or  narthex  at  the  entrance. 
This  plan,  however,  did  not  originate  with 
the  architect  of  St.  Sophia,  the  germ  of  it 
is  perhaps  to  be  found  in  the  domed  ora- 
tories or  Kabyles  of  Syria.  From  such  a 
simple  dome,  a  building  like  the  cathedral  of  Ezra— in  which  the 
dome  is  surrounded  by  an  aisle,  and  an  apse  added— is  readily 
derived  (this  example  dates  from  a.d.  510);  and  if  to  such  a  plan  a 
narthex  be  added,  we  have  the  typical  Byzantine  plan,  as  in  the 
church  of  SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus  at  Constantinople,  built  under 


Catliedral  at  Bosrab. 


■Section  of  the  Cburch  .'I    •-.  .-  i^ius  and  Bacchus, 
Constantinople. 


Justinian,  but  somewhat  earlier  than  St.  Sophia.^  The  peculiar 
feature  of  the  latter  church  is  the  placing  of  the  dome,  not  upon 
piers  and  arches  on  every  side,  but  u^wn  semi-domes  east  and  west, 

•  See  Chap.  X\'I.  p.  oGl.  The  Vignette  on  p.  o61  and  the  subjoined 
plan  on  p.  433  will  give  a  general  idea  of  the  form  of  this  si)lendid  church, 
a  detailed  description  of  which  will  be  found  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian 
Antiijq.,  vol.  i.  pp.  373,  374. 

^  The  section  shows  the  vaulted  (jal/crij  or  upper  story  running  all  round 
the  church. 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


BYZANTINE  CHURCHES. 


433 


St.  Sopliia,  Constantinople. 


434 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XVHI. 


by  which  means  a  vast  space,  more  than  200  feet  long  by  100  feet 
wide,  totally  unencumbered  by   piers  or   columns,  was  obtained. 

This  construction  has,  however, 
never  been  copied  in  Christian 
churches,  but  it  has  served  as  a 
model  for  the  mosques  of  Con- 
stantinople. 

In  the  West  we  have  for  a 
long  time   very  few  examples 
of  the  Byzantine  tyjie  :  indeed 
the  only  conspicuons  one  is  tlie 
church   of  St.    Vitale  at  TJa- 
venna,  the  sent  of  Justinian's 
recovered  empire  in  the  West. 
This  church,  built  between 
526  and  547,  is  almost  identical 
with  St.  Sergius  in  tlie  arrange- 
ment of  the  dome,  of  the  gal- 
leries, and  of  the  pillars  which 
support  them.      Ravenna  also  furnishes  the  finest  exanii)le  of  the 
hasilican  churches  which  continued  to  be  built  in  tlie  West,  that  of 
St.  ApoUinare  in  Classe,^  which  was  begun  before  538,  and  dedicated 


St.  Vitale,  Ravenna. 


St.  Vitale,  Ravenna. 


in  549.     Here  the  eastern  ends  of  t'le  aisles  are  ]iartcd  off  and  ter- 
minate in  apses,  an  arrangement  of  which  this  is  the  earliest  instance, 


'  See  the  Vignettes  to  Chapter  XII.  and  this  Chapter. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  CHURCHES  AFTER  JUSTINIAN.  ^35 

at  least  of  a  date  clearly  ascevtainod.  This  noble  church  retains  the 
decorations  of  the  apse  in  marble  and  mosaic,  in  a  veiy  complete 
state.  The  capitals  are,  as  seems  to  be  usual  in  the  basilican  cliurches 
of  this  period,  more  Roman  than  Byzantine  in  character.  Upon  the 
capital  rests  a  block  or  dosseret,  ornamented  with  a  cross,  as  m  many 
other  churches  of  the  time. 

Attached  to  the  west  front  is  a  tall  circular  tower  of  seven  stages, 
which  is  probably  of  the  same  age,  and  perhaps  the  earliest  extant 
example  of  a  church  tower .^ 

Of  the  typical  forms  of  church-building  now  described,  the  lirst 
three— namely,  tlie  basilican,  the  memorial  or  sepulchral  churches, 
and  the  separate  chapels  or  oratories— are  fouml  existing  together 
from  the  a^^e  of  Constautine  to  that  of  Justinian.  During  this 
period  so  much  unity,  as  well  of  ritual  and  practice  m  religious 
matters  as  of  style  and  feeling  in  art,  prevailed  throughout  the 
Roman  Empire,  that  the  differences  between  the  ecclesiastical  archi- 
tecture of  its  various  provinces  are  chiefly  differences  of  detail. 

At  the  bo-inning  of  the  period  which  follows,  namely,  from 
Justinian  to  Charles  the  Great,  the  great  development  of  the  Byzan- 
tine style  took  place,  and  the  architecture  of  the  East  is  thence- 
forward widely  ditlcrcnt  from  that  of  the  West.  Soon  afterwards 
the  fra-mcnts  into  "^vhich  the  empire  had  divided  were  formed  into 
new  nations,  most  of  whom  developed  something  of  new  plan  or 
new  stylo  in  their  ecclesiastical  buildings  ;  but  it  is  impossible  in 
this  work  to  treat  of  the  architectural  history  of  these  nations  sepa- 
rately.2  it  jg  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  have  explained  the  early 
typical  forms,  which  were  generally  followed  in  all  subsequent 
ages  of  the  Church,  and  adapted  to  the  various  styles  of  national 
architecture. 

§  13.  One  point  remains  to  be  noticed,  the  sacred  character 
attachtd  to  churches,  as  set  apart  from  all  common  uses  and 
solemnly  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  and  the  religious  use  of  a 
congregation  by  a  distinct  act  of  consecration.-'' 

>  The  form  is  the  more  interesting  as  throwing  light  on  the  round 
towers  of 'Ireland  and  Scotland,  which  are  now  proved  to  have  been  church 
towers. 

■  This  part  of  the  subject  ma^-  be  divided  into  the  following  sections:— 
1  The  western  part  of  the  territorv  of  the  Eastern  Empire  ;  2.  Armenia 
and  the  adjacent  provinces;  3,  Italv  ;  4,  Fiance,  Germany,  and  Switzer- 
land ;  5,  Spain  ;  f,,  Ireland  ;  7,  Scotland  ;  8.  England  ;  all  which  are  described 
in  the  Pict.  of  C/iristinn  Antiqq.,  vol.  i.  pp.  378,  f>dl. 

3  Consecraiio,  Dedicatio ;  Gr.  a<t)ifpt»(Tis,  Eusrb.  Vit  Const,  iv.  60 ; 
iyKaivta,  ih.  iv.  43  ;  cf.  avfevicf,  Procop.  de  Aedif.  Jnstiniani,  i.  3.  The 
essential   idea  of  cousecration   is  expressed  in  the  following  passages: — 


4:36  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

"  It  seems  almost  a  necessity  to  men  to  have  their  places  of 
common  worship  recognized  and  accustomed.  That  those  places 
should  not  only  acquire  sacredness  of  association  by  use,  but  should 
previously  liave  imparted  to  them  in  some  sort  a  sacredness  of 
object,  seems  also  consonant  with  natural  religion.  The  former 
more  clearly,  and  yet  the  latter  also,  imiilicitly,  is  found  in  all 
ages,  a  feature  of  all  religions,  rude  and  civilized,  the  same 
with  all  classes,  of  diverse  nations,  however  widely  separated; 
as  exemplified  in  groves,  sacred  stones,  pillars,  altars,  temples, 
pagodas."  ^ 

The  Old  Testament  furnishes  examples,  from  the  grove  (or  tree) 
planted  by  Abraham  in  Beersheba,^  aud  the  stone  that  Jacob  conse- 
crated with  oil  at  the  place  to  which  he  gave  the  new  name  of 
Bethel,  "  the  house  of  God,"*  to  the  solemn  and  renewed  dedications 
of  the  tabernacle  and  the  first  and  second  temple  by  Moses,  David, 
and  Solomon,  by  Ezra,  Zerubbabel,  aud  the  Maccabees,  following 
the  command  of  Jehovah  to  set  apart  a  place  for  His  Kame  and 
presence.  The  sacred  character  of  that  "  House  of  God "  Avas 
recognized  by  Christ  and  His  disciples,  who,  when  first  formed  into 
a  church,  "daily  continued  perseveringly^  i7i  the  Temj^le  with  erne 
accord,  praising  God  ;"  and  constantly  joined  in  the  worship  of  the 
synagogues,  places  already  consecrated.  Aud,  ^ust  as  devout  Jews, 
far  from  the  temple  and  where  there  was  no  synagogue,  resorted  on 
the  Sabbath  to  a  place  "  where  prayer  was  wont  to  be  made,"'*  and 
Paul  himself  joined  theua  there,  so  we  may  fairly  suppose  it  to  have 
been  from  the  same  feeling,  and  not  simply  for  convenience,  that 

*'  Consecratio  Ecclesiae  est  dedicatio  ejiisdcm  ad  cultinii  divinum  speciali  ritu 
facta  a  legitimo  ministro,  ad  hoc  ut  popuhis  fidelis  opera  rehgionis  in  ei 
rite  exercere  possit "  (Ferraris'  Promta  Bibliotheca,  iii.  157).  "  When  we 
sanctify  or  hallow  churches,  that  which  we  do  is  to  testify  that  we  make 
them  places  of  public  resort,  that  we  invest  God  Himself  with  them,  that 
we  sever  them  from  common  uses  "  (Hooker,  Ecc.  Pol.  v.  16).  "  By  the 
consecration  of  a  church,  the  ancients  always  mean  the  devoting  or  setting 
it  apart  for  Didne  service"  (Bingham,  Aivtiq.  vni.  9). — Diet,  of  Christian 

Antiqq.,  Art.  CONSECRATION  OF  CHURCHES. 

'  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.  Ibid.  *  Qgjj_  j^jj^  33^ 

»  Gen.  x.\viii.  16-22. 

*  Acts  ii.  46,  irpoa-Kaprepovi'Tes  "  persisting,  adhering  to  strongly  ;  "  the 
very  same  word  used  just  before  to  e.^press  their  steadfastness  to  their 
teachers,  their  faith,  and  Christian  fellowship,  ^a-av  5e  ■KpocTKaprtpovvrfs 
TT/  Si5a\j5  Twv  airoffToKccv  Kal  ttj  Koivwvia. 

*  Acts  f.\'\.  I. '5,  ou  ii/Qn't^eTO  wpncrevxh  flvai.  which  might  verv  well  be 
rendered.  "  where  an  oratory  was  established,"  that  is,  by  the  consent  and 
resort  of  the  worshippers,  though  without  a  building  as  vet ;  but  even 
thi'-  there  may  have  been,  for  Josephus  uses  irpoa-fvxv  for  an  oratory  in 
the  full  sense. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  DEDICATION  OF  CHURCHES.  437 

the  apostolic  churches  had  some  regular  places  of  meeting,  as  we  see 
from  several  allusions  in  the  New  Testament.^ 

The  same  idea  is  implied  in  the  very  name  of  Church,  i.  e.,  tlte 
Lord's  House,^  and  its  distinct  expression  by  a  solemn  act  of  con- 
secration is  a  usage  of  immemorial  antiquity.  Thus,  Ambrose* 
calls  the  rite  of  dedication  of  churches  a  most  ancient  and  universal 
custom.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  in  an  oration  ■»  on  the  consecration 
of  a  new  church,  says,  "  that  it  was  an  old  law,  and  very  excel- 
lently constituted,  to  do  honour  to  churches  by  the  feasts  of  their 
dedication." 

Eusebius  records,  with  thankful  joy,  the  consecration  of  the 
new  churches  built  under  Constantine,  to  replace  those  destroyed 
throughout  the  whole  Empire  by  Diocletian's  edict: — ^ 

"After  these  things  a  spectacle  earnestly  prayed  for  and  nmch 
desired  by  us  all  appeared,  namely,  the  solenmization  of  the  festival 
of  the  dedication  of  churches  throughout  every  city,  and  the 
consecration  of  the  newly-built  oratories.  .  .  .  Indeed,  the  cere- 
monies of  the  bishops  were  most  entire,  the  presbyters'  performance 
of  service  most  exact,  the  rites  of  the  Church  decent  and  majestic. 
On  the  one  iiand  was  a  place  for  the  singers  of  psalms,  and  for  the 
rest  of  the  auditors  of  the  expressions  sent  from  God  ;  on  the  other 
was  a  place  for  those  who  performed  the  divine  and  mystical  services. 
There  were  also  delivered  the  mystical  symbols  of  our  Saviour's 
passion.  And  now  people  of  every  age  and  sex,  men  and  women, 
with  the  utmost  vigour  of  their  mim'.s,  with  joyful  hearts  and  souls, 
by  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  worshipped  God,  the  Author  of  all 
good.     All  the  prelates  then   present  made  public  orations,  every 

>  Luke  xxii.1'2  ;  John  xx.  19-26  ;  Acts  i.  13  ;  ii.  2  ;  Rom.  xvi.  5 ;  1  Cor. 
xi.  22;  xvi.  19;  are  examples  quoted  by  Professor  Bhiut  (/^iW.sVi  Priest, 
sect.  ix.  p.  281).  We  have  already  given  some  instances,  perliaps  still 
stronger  (note  to  Introd.,  p.  11,  §  3).  On  the  earliest  use  ot'  buildings 
expressly  as  churches,  see  ibid.  §  4.  Besides  what  is  said  there,  arguments 
for  the  very  early  existence  of  distinct  churches  liave  been  drawn  from 
Clemens  Romanus'(/i)).  ad  Cor.  i.  41),  Ignatius  {Ep.  ad  Macjncs.  7).  Justin 
Martyr  {Apol.i.  67),  Tertullian  (de  Idolat.  7),  the  heathen  Lucian  (Philop. 
p.  1126).  The  very  earliest  place  where  the  Chui-ch  mot  after  Christ's 
ascension,  tlie  Ca:)mcn!nm,  or  "  upper  room  "  at  Jerusalem  (Acts^  i.  13),  is 
said  to  have  been  i>reserved  and  dedicated  as  a  regular  place  of  worship. 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem  {Cat.  Lcct.  xvi.  4)  speaks  of  it  as  "  here  in  Jerusalem, 
in  the  tipper  church  of  the  Apostles,"  an  epithet  may  have  given  rise  to  the 
tradition  preserved  by  Bede  (de  Loots  Sanctis,  tom.  ix.),  that  "  the  upper 
room  was  enclosed  afterwards  with  a  beautiful  church,  founded  by  the 
hoh'  apostles,  because  in  that  jdace  they  had  received  the  Holy  (Jhost." 

-'  Kypio/cT^  (oJKt'a),  Dominica.  ^  Ep-  22  ad  Marcellin. 

*   Orat.  43.  *  ^L  E.  x.  3. 


438  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVUl. 

one  as  well  as  he  was  able,  endeavouring  to  set  forward  the  praises 
of  those  assembled." 

Besides  this  general  account  of  the  service,  Eusebius  gives  full 
descriptions  of  the  consecration  of  the  churches  built  by  Constantino 
at  Jerusalem,  Constantinople,  and  Antioch.^  A  most  interesting 
case,  which  occurred  at  Alexandria,  while  illustrating  the  regular 
use  of  consecration,  shows  us  the  great  Athanasius  protesting 
against  attaching  superstitious  importance  to  the  formal  act.  In 
his  Apology  to  the  emperor  Constantine,  a.d.  335,  he  defends 
himself  from  the  serious  charge  of  using  an  undedicated  church.  He 
allows  the  truth  6f  the  fixct.  He  said  they  had  certainly  kept  no 
day  of  dedication,  which  would  have  been  unlawful  to  keep  without 
orders  from  the  em]ieror.  The  buiK'.ing  was  not  yet  complete.  He 
grounds  his  ajjology  on  the  great  concourse  of  people  in  Lent,  the 
grievous  want  of  church  room  elsewhere,  the  pressure  of  all  to  hear 
Athanasius,  the  increased  mass  of  the  crowd  on  Easter  Day  (when 
the  undedicated  church  was  used),  the  precedents  of  the  Jews  after 
the  captivity,  and  of  buildings  so  used  in  Alexandria,  Treves, 
Aquileia,  the  reasonableness  of  worshipping  in  a  building  already 
called  "  the  Lord's  house  "  from  the  very  time  of  laying  the  founda- 
tions.^ "  There  was  no  dedication,  but  only  an  assembly  for  the 
sake  of  prayer.  You,  at  least,  I  am  sure,  as  a  lover  of  God,  will 
approve  of  the  people's  zeal,  and  will  pardon  me  for  being  unwilling 
to  hinder  the  prayers  of  so  great  a  multitude."  "  May  you,"  he 
adds,  "  most  religions  Augustus,  live  through  the  coiuse  of  many 
years  to  come,  and  celebrate  the  dedication  of  the  church.  The 
place  is  ready,  havivrj  been  already  sanctified  hy  the  prayers  ivhich 
have  been  offered  in  it,  and  requires  only  the  presence  of  your 
piety."^ 

The  Byzantine  writers  of  Justinian's  age  describe  the  ceremonies 
at  the  dedication  of  St.  Sophia,  and  of  other  churches  built  by  that 
emperor.     When  heathen  temples  were  converted  iuto  Christian 

*  Eusebius  (  FjY.  Const,  iv.  43)  says  of  the  .dedication  of  Constantine's 
church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  :  "  The  ministers  of  God  adorned  the  festival 
partly  with  their  prayers,  and  ])artly  with  their  discourses.  For  some  of 
them  with  praises  celebrated  the  benignity  of  the  religious  emperor  towards 
the  universal  Saviour,  and  in  tlieir  orations  set  forth  the  magnificence  of  the 
Martvrium  ;  others  entertained  their  hearers  with  theological  discourses 
upon  the  divine  doi/mitn,  fitted  to  the  present  solemnitj- ;  others  interpreted 
the  lessons  of  the  divine  volumes,  and  disclosed  the  mystic  meanings." 
He  describes  the  various  topics  of  his  own  discourses  on  this  occasion,  of 
which  we  liave  one  in  praise  of  Constantine  {ihid.  c.  45).  Among  other 
consecration  seimons  we  have  one  by  Ambrose,  on  Lukevii.  .'),  and  some  by 
Augustine  and  his  brother  Caesarius. 

'  Apol.  ad  Const.  17-21.  ^  /^.  04^  25. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  CONSECRATION  RITUAL.  43$) 

churches,  they  were  luuified  by  "expiatory"  rites,  svich  as 
sprinkling  witli  holy  water  and  setting  up  the  cross  ;^  and  even 
churches  which  had  been  dedicated  by  Arians  and  other  heretics, 
were  required  to  be  reconsecrated  for  catholic  worship.  The  power 
of  consecration  belonged  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese ;'  nor  was  a 
bishop  allowed  to  consecrate  a  church  out  of  his  own  diocese,  even 
if  it  were  built  by  himself.^ 

We  cannot  here  go  into  the  details  of  the  consecration  ritual,  which 
indeed  was  far  from  being  definite  till  later  times.  It  will  suffice  to 
state  tliat  there  are  two  distinct  pei'iods  in  the  history  of  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  churches.  In  the  early  ages,  certainly  as  late  as  the  time 
of  Constantiae,  a  church  was  inaugurated  (as  we  have^seen)  by  solemn 
ceremonial,  and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God  with  prayer,  and 
with  sermons  illustrating  the  nature  of  the  solemnit\'.  Then,  as 
churches  built  over  the  tombs  of  martyrs  came  to  be  regarded  as 
endowed  with  peculiar  sanctitj-,  the  possession  of  the  relics  of  some 
saint  came  to  be  looked  u[ion  as  absolutely  essential  to  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  building,  and  the  deposition  of  such  relics  in  or  below 
the  altar  henceforward  formed  the  central  portion  of  the  consecra- 
tion-rite. All  the  essentials  of  such  a  rite  are  found  in  the  descrip- 
tion by  Gregory  of  Tours,^  in  the  sixth  century,  of  the  consecration 
of  an  oratorj''  at  Tours,  a  very  beautiful  cell,  heretofore  used  as  a 
saltcellar:  "The  altar  was  placed  in  its  future  position;  the  night 
was  spent  in  vigil  at  the  basilica;  in  the  morning  they  went  to  the 
cell  and  consecrated  the  altar,  then  returned  to  the  basilica,  and 
thence  took  the  relics.  There  were  i>resent  a  very  large  choir  of 
priests  and  deacons,  and  a  distinguished  body  of  honourable  citizen.s, 
with  a  large  assembly  of  people." 

To  the  second  phase  belong  all  the  ancient  rituals  of  consecration 

•  Cod.  Theodos.  xvi.  tit.  10:  "conlocatione  venerandi  religionis  christi- 
ans sigui  expiari  pracipimus."  The  same  rite  was  prescribed  by  Justinian 
at  the  beginning  of  any  building  of  a  church  (^Aovell.  cxxxi.)  Gregory  the 
Great  instructed  Augustine  and  his  comi)auions  to  purify  the  heathen 
temples  in  Britain  (af^ter  destroying  the  idols  in  them)  by  aspersion  with 
holy  water,  to  set  up  altars,  to  deposit  relics  of  the  martyrs:,  on  whose 
birthdays  the  churches  were  to  be  dedicated  with  leasts  as  attractive  as  the 
old  heathen  sacrifices.     (Bede,  //.  7:^.  i.  30.) 

-  The  4th  canon  of  the  General  Council  of  Chnlcedon  (a.v.  451)  provides 
that  "no  one  shall  anywhere  build  or  establish  a  monastery,  or  house  of 
praver,  without  the  consent  of  the  local  bishop." 

^  First  Council  of  Orange  (441),  Can.  10:  and  Second  Council  of  Aries 
(about  451),  Can.  37.  The  Third  Council  of  Orleans  (538)  makes  the  .same 
provision  about  altars,  Can.  15.  The  distinct  consecration  of  altars  seems 
to  have  begun  in  the  sixth  century  (Bingham,  Ercks.  Antiq.  viii.  !>,  10. 

♦  De  Gloria  Confessorum,  c.  xx.'(Migne,  Patrol.  71,  p.  842). 


442  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHI. 

however,  be  so  polluted^  as  to  need  reconciliation  by  the  perpetra- 
tion in  it  of  homicide  or  other  revolting  crime ;  and  if  the  relics 
which  had  been  deposited  at-consecration  were  removed,  the  church 
and  altar  lost  this  sacred  character  until  these  were  restored  ;  witli 
the  relics  and  the  renewal  of  masses,  the  whole  effect  of  consecration 
roturned.- 

§  14.  Among  the  ornaments  of  churches  the  Cross  held  a  con- 
spicuous place ;  and  we  now  begin  to  trace  a  decided  tendency  to 
the  worship  of  the  sacred  symbol.  In  a  spiritual  sense,  the  Cross — 
but,  be  it  well  observed,  only  as  the  CVoss  o/  Christ — was  the 
watchword  of  the  Christians'  faith,  not  only  as  the  instrument  of 
their  salvation,  but  as  the  sign  of  fellowship  with  their  Lord  in 
humiliation,  self-denial,  and  sufTering.  This  He  had  Himself 
enjoined  upon  them ;  "  If  any  man  will  be  my  discii)le,  let  him 
take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me;"  and  Paul  had  said,  "  God  forbid 
that  I  should  glorj',  save  in  the  cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by 
whom  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world."  But 
this  "  glory "  was  easily  transferred  to  the  cross  itself,  first  as  a 
suggestive  idea,  and  then  as  a  material  symbol,  and  even  as  a  form 
possessing  mystic  virtue.  While  the  form  of  the  cross  ^  was  uplifted 
in  churches  and  elsewhere,  the  act  of  making  the  sign  (f  the  cross 
was  practised  as  a  preservative  against  bodily  and  spiritual  dangers.* 

The  cross,  sculptured  in  a  great  variety  of  forms,*  on  sepulchral 
and  other  memorials,  was  in  use  much  earlier  than  Constantine,  as 
is  shown  by  the  Catacombs  and  other  evidence.  Apologists  as 
early  as  Tertullian  and  Minucius  Felix,*  found  it  necessary  to 
combat  the  charge  that  Christianity  was  but  a  new  form  of  idolatry, 

'  Such  pollution  had  the  effect  of  desecration  (cxsccratio). 

2  Vigilius,  Pope  538-555,  Ad  Eutherium,  Epist.  ii.  c.  4.  (jregory  of 
Tours  {^Hist.  Franc,  ix.  6)  mentions  an  instance  in  which  a  church,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  homicide  having  been  perpetrated  in  it,  lost  the  privilege  of 
Divine  Service  (officium  perdidit).— Z>jc<.  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  Desk- 

CRATION. 

*  Called  HuA.oi'  and  lifpvnn  (as  well  as  trravpos  and  cnix),  after  the  Scrijv 
tural  precedent  in  Gal.  iii.  13,  where  the  ignominy  attached  to  hanging,  with 
specific  reference  to  a  gibbet  (Deut.  xxi.  23),  is  transferred  to  the  Roman 
mode  of  execution  by  the  cross.  But,  after  Helena's  discovery,  the  mere 
u-ooii  of  the  cros.s  acquired  a  special  sanctity. 

*  See  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  SiGN  OF  THE  CROSS. 

*  See  the  Cuts  on  pp.  241,  242. . 

«  Tertull.  Apol.  HJ ;  Ad  iXationcs,  i.  c.  12;  Min.  Felix,  Oct.  cc.  9,  12. 
It  is  curious  to  find  both  writers  laying  stress  on  the  various  forms  in 
which  the  cross  entered  even  into  heathenism,  as.  for  instance,  in  the  frame- 
work of  a  military  trophy  ;  while  other  early  Christian  writers  appeal  to 
the  many  ways  in  which  the  cross  occurs  in  nature  and  art,  to  prove  the 
universa,Iit.y  of  the  emblem. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  ADORATION  OF  THE  CROSS.  443 

aTavpoXarpeia ;  or,  as  the  heatlicn  objector  in  j\Iinucius  scornfully 
puts  it,  that  the  Christians  "  worship  that  which  tliey  deserve,"  and 
that  "crosses  arc  not  for  them  to  adore  but  to  sutler  uix>n."  ^ 

The  Emperor  Julian,  a  century  after  Minucius,  taunts  the  Chris- 
tians, as  the  Caecilius  of  that  writer  had  done,  with  inconsistency, 
in  that  while  they  refused  to  reverence  (TrpoaKvvflv)  the  sacred 
Ancile,  wliich  fell  down  from  Jupiter,  they  still  reverenced  tho 
wood  of  the  cross,  continually  made  the  sign  of  it  on  their  foreheads, 
and  enpiraved  it  before  their  houses.^  The  gist  of  Cyril's  answer  is 
•worthy  of  notice  : — Since  Christ  the  Lord  and  Saviour  of  all  divested 
Himself  of  His  Divine  ]\Iajesty,  and  leaving  His  Father's  Throne 
was  willing  to  take  upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  to  be  made 
in  the  likeness  of  man,  and  to  die  the  cruel  and  ignominious  death 
of  the  cross,  therefore  we  being  reminded  of  these  things  by  the 
sight  of  the  cross,  and  taught  that  One  died  thereon  that  we  all 
might  have  life,  value  the  symbol  as  productive  of  thankful  remem- 
brance of  Him. 

Certainly  Julian,  but  for  his  better  knowledge  of  Christianity, 
had  more  excuse  for  the  misrepresentation  than  the  heathens  before 
Constantine.  It  is  from  the  iMiiperor's  vision  of  the  sacred  sign,' 
and  his  mother's  discovery  of  the  true  cross  (as  will  be  related 
presently)  that  a  new  development  of  such  adoration  may  be  traced  ; 
though  not  yet  as  strict  ivorship.*  Thus  Ambrose  says,  that  Helena 
adored,  not  the  rouod,  according  to  the  vain  error  of  the  impious 
Gentiles,  but  the  King  who  hung  upon  the  w-ood;*  and  Jerome 
says,  that  Taula  adored,  lying  prostrate  before  the  cross,  as  if  she 
saw  the  Lord  hanging  there.* 

'  "  Ut  id  colant  quod  niereutur,  et  jam  non  adorandae  sed  subeundae 
cruces  ;  "  to  which  the  Christian  interlocutor  replies  (c.  29),  "  Cruces  etiam 
nee  colimus  nee  optanius." — Diet,  of  Christum  Anti(jq.,  Art.  Cross,  Adora- 
tion OF. 

-  Cj-ril  Alex.  Cuntra  Juliamim  lib.  vi.  Patrol,  dr.  Ixxvi.  795. 

'  Eusebius  says  of  Constantine,  rhv  viKo-rrothv  4rina.  ffTavp6v  (T  ita  Const. 
i.  31  •  of.  i').  ii.  IG  ;  iv.  '21  ;  and  Oratio  dc  I  nidilius  Const,  c.  9  ;  also  Sozo- 
men  i.  4,  oet  rov  0a(Tt\(ws  ^767(r9ai  Kal  irpoffKVfna-fois  vtvifiiaro  irapa  tuiv 
aTpaTiairHv).  Cviil  of  .lerusalem  {Kpist.  ad  Const,  p.  247)  speaks  of  rh 
awTXipiov  Tov  crravpov  ^vKof. 

•  The  distinction  was  drawn,  as  afterwards  in  the  controversy  about 
imaoje-worship,  between  the  reverence  (7rpo(r/<i/j'T}(ris)  jiaid  to  a  most  holy 
thing,  and  the  worship  (Aorpeio)  due  to  God  alone  ;  but  the  fallacy  of  this 
verbal  ditVerence  is  shown  by  the  use  of  the  words  in  Matt.  iv.  10,  and 
Luke  iv.  8!    (See  note  to  Chap.  XXI.  §  7.)  '  Liotnt.  Tlicodosii,  §  46. 

<*  Hieron.  E/iitaph.  I'aulac,  K/rist.  108,  <id  Eustochiuin,  §  9.  See  further 
the  distinction  as  drawn  by  Augustine  (Tract,  i.  in  Johanncm,  %  16): 
''  Dicimus  quideni  lignum  vitam,  sed  secundum  intellectum  lignum  Crucis 
uude  accepimus  vitam." 


444  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

But  such  a  distinction,  while  maintained  in  Avords,  was  sure  to  be 
overpowered  by  the  close  intermixture  of  the  sign  with  its  signi- 
ficance ;  and  especially  when  the  adoration  of  the  cross  came  to  be 
mixed  up  with  the  worship  of  images.  Thus,  Kusticus  Diaconus,  an 
eminent  writer  of  the  sixth  century,  maintains  the  adoration  of  the 
Cross  as  leading  on  to  that  of  the  Crucified,  though  he  adds  a  protest 
against  its  being  said  that  we  adore  the  Cross  together  with  Christ.^ 
And  John  of  Damascus,  the  greatest  Eastern  theologian  of  the 
eighth  century,  while  explaining  in  his  defence  of  Image  Worehip, 
that  "  we  worship  also  the  figure  (tvttov)  of  the  precious  and  life- 
giving  cross,  not  honouring  the  wood  (or  matter,  vXt]v) — God  forbid 
(fjifj  yevo'iTo) — but  the  figure  as  a  symbol  of  Christ,  makes  this  the 
very  ground  for  the  adoration  of  the  cross,  "  for  wherever  the  sign 
may  be,  there  also  will  He  be  Himself."^  Such  pleas  give  but  a 
lame  answer  to  the  question,  jiropounded  by  an  early  apologist 
for  the  practice,  "  Why,  when  God  has  forbidden  through  His 
prophets  the  worship  of  created  things,  do  we  offer  adoration  to 
images  and  the  cross? "•'• 

Further  illustrations  of  the  wide  prevalence  of  the  feeling  are  to 
be  found  in  numerous  narratives  of  the  Fathers,  of  a  more  or  less 
legendary  character,  referring  to  the  miraculous  power  inherent  in 
the  sacred  symbol.  Thus  Sozomen  ■•  gives  us  an  account  of  a  certain 
physician  named  Probianus  who  had  been  converted  to  Christianity, 
but  who  would  not  accord  honour  to  the  cross  as  the  sign  of  salva- 
tion, until  when  suffering  from  a  painful  disease  of  the  feet  he  was 
taught  by  a  vision  to  find  in  reverence  of  the  cross  a  means  of  relief, 
and  thus  was  cured.  In  the  TruUan  Synod  held  at  Constantinople 
in  691  A.D.,  it  was  ordained  that  since  the  cross  shows  to  us  the 
way  of  salvation,  and  therefore  we  offer  to  it  in  words  and  in 
thought  our  adoration,  it  should  be  distinctly  prohibited  to  engrave 
crosses  on  the  pavement,  where  they  would  be  trodden  imder  foot, 
and  that  where  these  already  existed  they  should  be  erased.* 
There  are  forms  of  service  for  the  adoration  of  the  Cross  in  the 
Roman,  Greek,  and  other  ancient  Liturgies." 

'  "  Non  tanien  crucem  coadorare  dicimuv  Christo."  Contra  Acephalos ; 
Patrolo-i.  Ixvii.  1218. 

*  "El/da  yap  tiu  ^  rh  ai^fx^loy,  tVe? /cat  avrhs  ttrrai.  Joh.  Dumasc.  de  Fide 
Orthoduxii,  iv.  1 1. 

*  Queestioncy  aJAntiochum  diiccin,  xxxix.  {Patrolog.  xxviii.  62"2),  falsely 
ascribed  to  Athanasius. 

*  Hist.  Feci.  ii.  3. 

*  Can.  73;  Labbe,  Concilia,  vi.  117."). 

«  See  further  the  Diet,  of  Christim  Antiqq.,  Arts.  Cross  ;  CROSS,  adora- 
tion OK. 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


THE  CROSS  AND  CRUCIFIX. 


445 


§  15.  All  that  has  now  been  said  applies  to  the  simple  cross  as  a 
symbolic  form,  though,  with  the  growth  of  pomp  and  sumptuous- 
ness  in  worship,  it  was  made  of  silver,  gold,  and  other  precious 
materials,  and  adorned  with  gems,  carving,  and  chasing,  and  various 
artistic  devices.  It  was  also  made  to  contain  relics,  especially  in 
the  case  of  the  pectoral  cross  worn  by  bishops  as  an  encolpion} 


The  addition  of  the  figure  of  the  suffering  Saviour  made  the 
Crucifix,'^  in  naming  which  it  is  at  once  necessary  to  distinguish 
between  the  use  of  the  Crucifix  as  an  object  or  instrument  of  devo- 
tion, and  that  of  pictorial  or  other  representations  of  the  Crucifixion 
as  a  scene.  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that,  for  several  cen- 
turies after  their  first  introduction,  all  representations  of  the  cruci- 
fied form  of  our  Lord,  whether  alone  or  as  the  central  figure  of  the 
crucifixion,  in  pictures,  reliefs,  or  mosaics,  were  only  symbolical,  as 
the  icons  of  the  Greek  Church  still  are ;  intended  simply  to  recal 
the  great  event  in  its  meaning,  without  historical  realism  or  artistic 

'  The  cut  shows  the  oldest  existing  specimen  of  such  a  pectoral  cross, 
which  was  found  not  lono;  since  upon  the  breast  of  a  corpse  in  the  basilica 
of  St.  Laurence,  outside  the  walls.  It  came  to  light  in  clearing  the  interior 
of  that  church,  and  we  are  indebted  to  De  Rossi  tor  a  careful  drawing  of  it 
(Bulletino,  Apr.  18G3).  On  one  side  it  bears  the  inscription,  Emmanoviia 
[Emmanuel]  NouiSCVJl  DEVS;  on  the  other,  the  following  words,  addressed 
apparently  to  Satan:  Crvx  est  vita  Mini  ||  MOIJS  iximjce  tiiu  ;  a  cavity 
closed  by  a  screw  appears  to  Iiave  been  intended  for  relics.  Reliquaries  iu 
the  form  of  a  cross  are  first  mentioned  by  Gregory  the  Great.  He  sent 
one  of  them  to  tjueen  Theodelinda  with  a  fragment  of  the  true  cross  ;  this 
still  exists  at  Monza,  and  is  used  by  the  provost  of  the  ancient  church 
in  that  city  when  he  officiates  pontificiilly.     (See  cut  on  p.  447.) 

*  Crucijixus,  that  is  (Christ)  fastened  on  the  Cross. 
21 


446 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XVHI. 


r>riiciiJicular  of  Vulican  Cross. 


appeal  to  emotion.  This  last  step 
was  reserved  for  the  revival  of  art 
in  the  later  middle  ages. 

The  symbolical  purpose  of  such 
representations  is  seen  in  the  tran- 
sition from  the  cross  to  the  earliest 
form  of  the  crucifix.  One  of  the 
first  types  used  to  represent  the 
Saviour  was  the  Agnus  Dei,  "  the 
Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world  ;"^  and  in  this 
form  the  sacrificed  Saviour  is  re- 
presented on  the  famous  Vatican 
Cross,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
the  type  of  sj'mbolic  representation 
in  the  sixth  century.^ 

The  Trullan  Council  at  Con- 
stantinople (a.d.  691)  ordered  that 
inasmuch  as  the  antitype  is  better 
than  the  type,  the  figure  of  Christ, 
as  the  Lamb  that  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world,  should  henceforth 
be  set  up  after  the  form  of  a  man 
on    the    "  icons,"  that   is  on  all 

'  .John  i.  29. 

-  The  cut  is  from  C.irdin.il  Borgia's 
monographs,  Rome,  1779-80.  A  me- 
dallion of  the  Lamb  bearing  the  cross, 
and  with  a  nimbus,  is  j)laced  at  its 
central  point  of  intersection,  and  it 
is  accompanied  by  two  half-length 
figures  of  our  Lord,  with  the  cruci- 
form nimbus  at  the  top  and  foot  of 
the  vertical  limb.  Two  others  at  the 
horizontal  ends  are  supposed  to  re- 
jiresent  Justin  H.  and  his  Empress 
Sophia.  The  upper  half-length  of  the 
Lord  holds  a  book  in  the  left  hand, 
and  blesses  with  the  right ;  the  lower 
one  holds  a  roll  and  a  small  cross. 
The  embossed  lily-ornaments  are  of 
great  beauty,  and  there  is  an  inscrip- 
tion on  the  back,  which  Borgia  reads 
thus : — 

"  Ligno  quo  Christus  huraanum  snbdidit 
hostem 
Dat  Romae  Justinus  opem." 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


THE  CRUCIFIX  IN  CHURCHES. 


447 


emblematic  representations,  instead  of  the  older  lamb.^  From 
the  end  of  the  seventh  century,  therefore,  we  may  date  the 
setting  up  of  the  crucifix  in  churches  by  ecclesiastical  authority; 
but  this  enactment  of  a 
rule  leaves  little  doubt 
that  the  practice  already 
existed  to  a  considerable 
extent.  At  all  events, 
it  is  certain  that  both 
the  crucifix  and  pic- 
tures of  the  Crucifixion 
had  been  mj)rivate  use 
much  earlier;  as,  for 
instance,  on  pectoral 
Grasses,  of  which  there  is 
still  extant  an  example, 
j  ust  a  century  older  than 
the  TruUan  Council,  in 
the  famous  reliquary 
which  is  said  to  have 
been  sent,  with  a  frag- 
ment of  the  true  cross, 
by  Gregory   the  Great  The,,.!.,;    .,-.      ,r,x. 

to  Theodelinda,  wife  of 
Antharis,  king  of  the  Lombards  (a.d.  590,  foil.).* 

Representations  of  the  Crucifixion  as  a  scene  were  still  earlier 
than  crucifixes ;  and  of  these,  also,  the  earliest  known  examples 
are  in  a  form  for  private  use,  such  as  in  MSS.  and  on  the  covers  of 
diptychs.  The  most  interesting  is  the  illumination  in  the  Syriac 
MS.  of  the  Gospels  in  the  Medicean  Library  at  Florence,  dated  in 

'  Can.  82  : — Thv  rov  a1povT0<i  tj;v  aixaprlav  Kodfiov  ^Anvov  XpitrroC  tou 
060V  7]fjM)V  KaTO,  Thv  avdpclnnvoy  \apaKrrjpa  Ka\  tv  to7s  (ik6(tiv  airh  tov 
vvv  ovtX  Toil  -naXaiov  ainvov  avaffTTjKovadai  opiCofify.  This  is  the  Council 
called  Quiniscxtum.  as  being  a  supplement  to  the  Fitlh  and  Sixth  General 
Councils  (Chap.  XVI.  §§  11,  15),  and  it  has  in  the  Greek  Church  the 
authority  of  a  General  Council. 

*  This  crucitix  (with  an  ampulla,  whict  is  also  said  to  have  been  a  present 
from  Gregory  to  Theodelinda,  and  on  which  the  Crucifixion  is  represented 
in  another  form),  is  among  the  tre;i.sures  of  the  cathedral  at  Monza.  It 
bears  the  crucified  Christ  in  that  merely  suggestive  fonu  which  belongs  to 
this  early  period,  and  which  is  strongly  indicated  by  the  1  mg  priestly  robe, 
whereas  the  Roman  custom  of  crucifying  naked  must  have  been  well 
known.  The  figures  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  extended  arms  appear  to 
represent  the  Virgin  Jlary  and  St.  John.  For  the  description  of  other 
early  crucifixes,  and  the  discussion  of  their  ages,  see  the  Diet,  of  Christim 
Antiqq.,  Art.  Critifix. 


448  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHI. 

A.D.  586  by  its  writer,  a  monk  named  Eabula.  It  is  composed, 
with  instinctive  skill,  in  two  groups,  the  upper  representing  the 
Crucifixion,  and  the  lower  the  Resurrection,  each  imiting  the  lead- 
ing incidents  in  one  scene.  In  the  former'  are  the  three  crucified 
persons,  with  a  marked  difference  in  the  attitudes  of  the  two  thieves. 
The  Saviour  has  the  nimbus  round  his  head  and  the  long  robe,  for 
which  the  soldiers  at  the  foot  are  playing,  not  with  dice,  but  at  the 
old  game  of  mora  on  their  fingers.^  The  acts  of  offering  Christ  the 
sponge  dipped  in  vinegar  on  a  reed,  and  piercing  His  side  with 
the  spear,  are  both  shown.  To  the  right  of  the  grouj-)  stands  the 
Virgin  and  another  woman,^  and  to  the  left  three  others,  seemingly 
for  the  "women  looking  on  afar  off."* 

Another  most  interesting,  though  much  later,  Crucifixion  or 
Crucifix  (as  it  may  well  be  called,  from  the  prominence  given  to  the 
central  figure),  is  that  on  the  ivory  Diptych  of  Bamhona,  in  Picenum,* 
of  the  ninth  century.  Here  we  had  reached  the  age  in  which  the 
First  Person  of  the  Trinity  is  exhibited  ia  an  upper  comi)artment ; 
while  in  remarkable  contrast  below  is  the  old  type  of  Eome,  the 
twins  suckled  by  the  wolf.  The  Sun  and  Moon,  which  are  usually 
shown  above  the  cross,  are  here  personified  as  figures  bearing 
torches ;  and  below  the  arms  of  the  cross  are  the  Virgin  and  St.  John. 
"This  wonderful  ivory  is  now  in  the  Vatican  Museum,  and  is  in  the 
most  ancient  style  of  what  may  be  called  dark-age  Byzantine  art, 
when  all  instruction  and  sense  of  beauty  are  departed;  but  so 
vigorous  a  sense  of  the  reality  of  the  fact  remains,  as  to  render  the 
work  highly  impressive."  * 

§  IG.  The  introduction  of  Crucifixion-pictures  into  churches  was 
naturally  earlier  than  that  of  crucifixes  ;  as  memorial  scenes,  apart 
from  any  idea  of  worship;  though  a  sense  of  reverence  and  fear  of 
any  approach  to  idolatry  caused  these  to  be  among  the  last  of  such 
public  representations.'^     Even  befoie  the  time  of  Constantine,  pic- 

'  See  the  cut  on  page  1. 

'^  In  this  detail  the  picture  is  unique  among  crucifi.xions. 

^  Perhaps  her  sister  ;  see  John  xix.  25. 

*  Matt,  xxvii.  5o  ;  Mark  xv.  39  ;  Luke  xxiii.  49. 

*  See  the  vignette  to  Chap.  VI.  p.  127. 

*  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  1.  c. 

'  Before  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  Gregorj-  of  Tours  {ob.  593)  men- 
tions a  painting  of  the  Crucifixion,  which  was  placed  in  the  church  of  St. 
<.ienesius,  at  Narbo,  but  which  gave  offence,  apparently  because  it  repre- 
sented the  Saviour  as  almost  naked  (pictiira,  quae  Doininuin  nostrum  q'lasi 
/jiwcinctnm  lintco  indicat  crucifixmii).  It  was  not,  however,  i-emoved,  but 
veiled  with  a  curtain,  by  order  of  the  bishop,  and  only  at  times  exhibited 
to  the  people.  (Gregor.  Turon.  dc  Gloria  Mariyrum,  i.  23  ;  Schaff,  vol.  iii. 
p.  562). 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  PICTURES  IN  CHURCHES.  449 

tures  representing  the  events  related  in  Scripture  history  had  Iteen 
set  up  in  churches ;  but  as  yet,  and  for  some  time  after,  with  the 
sole  purpose  of  impressing  on  the  mind,  through  the  sense  of  sight, 
the  scenes  of  whicli  words  gave  a  less  vivid  presentment.^  In  the 
choice  of  subjects  one  chief  purpose  was  to  exhibit  the  harmony  of 
the  Jewish  and  Christian  dispensations,  scenes  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment history  being  placed  in  comparison  with  those  of  the  New 
Testament,  to  which  they  corresponded  as  type  and  antitype,  and 
especially  with  the  events  of  the  Life  of  Christ  as  recorded  in 
the  Gospels.  Thus  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac  was  depicted  side  by 
side  with  the  death  of  Jesus  ;  the  gathering  of  the  manna  witli 
the  Lord's  Supper;  the  water  flowing  from  the  rock  with  Cliristian 
baptism. 

There  is  a  manifest  distinction  between  the  necessary  introduction 
of  Jesus  and  His  Apostles  and  the  saints  of  Scripture  history,  in 
such  memorial  scenes,  and  their  separate  portraiture  as  objects  of 
that  reverent  contemplation  which  naturally  passed  on  into  worship.^ 
But  the  tendency  to  the  transition  was  very  soon  seen  and  resisted. 
As  early  as  the  time  of  Constantino,  we  find  Eusebius  of  Cajsarea 
condemning  the  representation  of  Christ  and  the  holy  persons  named 
in  Scripture,  on  the  ground  that  the  glory  of  the  Saviour  cannot  be 
depicted,  and  that  the  true  image  of  the  saints  is  a  saintlj'  life.^ 
Eusebius  reckons  these  Images*  as  all  such  representations  are 
named  in  ecclesiastical  language — among  the  corruptions  brouglit  in 
by  heretics,  citing  likenesses  of  Simon  Magus  and  of  Manes,  which 
were  reverenced  by  the  Simonians  and  the  Manicheans  ;  but  such 
things  (he  adds)  were  to  be  rejected  by  Christians.     By  the  end  of 

*  According   to   tho  principle — "  Segnius  irritant  animos  demissa   per 

•  aureni,  Quam  qua;  sunt  oculis  subjecta  fidelibus,  et  qua;  ipse  sibi  tradit 

spectator."     (Horat.  de  Arte  I'oetica,  180-2).     But  it  was  forgotten  that 

this  was  only  one  element  of  the  question,  where  spiritual  worship  and 

impression  were  concerned. 

-  Throughout  the  whole  growth  of  the  practice  we  can  trace  the  instinc- 
tive feeling  that  statues,  or  "  graven  images"  in  any  form,  were  nearer  to 
idolatry  than  pictures.  They  were  used,  indeed,  as  memorials,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  case  of  St.  Hippolytus,  and  sculptured  monuments  are  found  in 
the  catacombs,  and  carved  ornaments,  chiefly  symbolical,  were  employed 
in  the  structural  decoration  of  churches.  But,  as  we  shall  sec,  tlie  Greek 
Church,  while  leading  the  way  in  the  worship  of  "  images  " — (eJ'(co»'«s, 
iiiM(jines,i.e.  "likenesses,"  as  in  the  Second  Commandment) — prohibited  ail 
sculpture,  and  statues  were  of  very  late  introduction  in  the  Latin  Church. 

'  In  his  Letter  to  Constantia  (the  sister  of  ('onstantine),  which  formed  one 
of  the  leading  authorities  discussed  in  the  later  controversy,  and  quoted  in 
the  Second  Council  of  Nica;a.  The  patriarch  Nicephorus  (in  the  ninth 
century)  objects  to  the  testimony  of  Eusebius  that  he  was  nn  Arian  (!). 
which  in  fact  he  was  not.  *  EiKovev. 


450  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

tlie  fourth  century  such  images  were  not  only  common,  but  they 
Jiad  hccome  objects  of  reverence  akin  to  worship;  for  Augustine 
confesses  that  many  in  his  time  were  "adorers  of  pictures;"' 
but  they  were  still  resisted  by  the  chief  teachers  of  the  Church. 
Epiphanius^  relates  how  he  himself,  while  travelling  in  the  Holy 
Land,  tore  a  curtain  which  he  found  hanging  before  the  sanctuary 
of  a  church,  with  a  figure  either  of  Christ  or  of  a  saint  painted  on  it, 
declaring  such  representations  to  be  contrary  to  Scripture.  In  the 
two  following  centuries  the  practice  gained  ground  in  connection 
with  the  growing  reverence  for  the  Virgin  Mary,  whose  image  was 
set  up  in  many  churches,  often  throned,  and  with  the  infant  Jesus  in 
lier  arms.  Our  Lord  Himself,  and  the  Apostles  and  other  saints,  were 
exhibited  in  individual  portraiture,  and  no  longer  only  in  historic 
scenes.  The  character  of  authentic  portraits  began  to  be  claimed  for  the 
pictures  of  Christ,'  and  miraculous  virtues  were  attributed  to  them. 

All  this  tended  to  the  WorsJiip  of  Imarjes,  especially  in  the 
Eastern  Church  ;  and  before  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  the  prac- 
tice *  found  an  eloquent  defender  in  Leontius,  bishop  of  Neapolis  in 
Cyprus,  Avhose  arguments  were  afterwards  relied  on  by  the  Second 
Council  of  Nica;a.°  His  defence  rests  on  the  plausible  but  fallacious 
plea  repeated  ever  since — "  I,  worshipping  the  image  of  God,  do  not 
worship  the  material  wood  and  colours ;  God  forbid ;  but  laying 
hold  of  the  lifeless  representation  of  Christ,  I  seem  to  myself  to  lay 
hold  of  and  to  worshij)  Christ  through  it."  He  dwells  much  on 
the  miracles  wrought  by  images,  especially  on  the  cases  in  which 
blood  had  been  seen  to  flow  from  them.^  But  the  Monophysites 
held  oiit  against  the  prevalent  superstition  ;  and  one  of  the  bishops 
of  that  party,  Xenaias  or  Philoxenus,  in  the  earh'  part  of  the  sixth 
century,  was  zealous  in  ejecting  images  from  all  the  churches  in  his 
diocese,  the  Syrian  Hierapolis. 

The  different  attitude -of  the  Western  Church  towards  this  ques- 
tion, at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  may  be  well  seen  by  con- 
trasting the  language  of  Leontius  with  that  of  Pope  Gregory  the 
Great.  Serenus,  bishop  of  Marseille,  finding  the  people  disposed  to 
worship  the  images  in  his  church,  had  them  all  broken  up  and  cast 
out.  Upon  hearing  of  this,  Gregory  wrote  to  Serenus  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms : — "  It  hath  reached  our  ears  some  time  ago  that  your 

»  Dc  Mor.  Eccl.  Cath.  i.  34. 

*  lu  A  letter  translated  by  Jerome  (Epist.  li.  9).    Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  359. 
3  See  note  to  Chap.  I.  p.  27. 

*  Under  the  name  of  irpocrKvvijffis. 

*  Si'u  Chap.  XXI.  §  7.  The  great  "  Iconoclast  Controversy  "  is  related 
in  that  chapter. 

"  Apol.  in  Act,  iv.  Cone,  Nic.  ii.     Labb.  vii.  237 


Cent.  IV.-VI.        THE  WESTERN  CHURCH  ON  IMAGES.  451 

fraternity,  seeing  certain  worshippers  of  images,  lias  broken  and  cast 
forth  the  said  images  out  of  the  church.  And  indeed  we  praise  you 
for  being  zealous  lest  aught  made  by  the  hand  should  be  worshipped; 
but  we  think  that  you  ought  not  to  have  broken  the  said  images. 
For  painting  is  used  in  churches,  that  they  who  are  ignorant  of 
letters  may  at  least  read  on  the  walls  by  seeing  there  what  they 
cannot  read  in  books."  ^  "  It  is  one  thing  to  adore  a  picture,  another 
to  learn  by  the  story  of  the  picture  what  ought  to  be  adored  .  .  . 
If  any  one  wishes  to  make  images,  by  no  means  forbid  him ;  but  by 
all  means  stop  the  worship  of  images."-  In  both  these  epistles 
Gregory  teaches,  and  in  the  second  at  great  length,  that  pictures 
were  placed  in  churches  "not  for  worship,  but  onhj  to  instruct  the 
minds  of  the  ignorant;"*  but  elsewhere  he  indicates  another  use 
Avhich  experience  has  shown  to  lead  rapidly  to  direct  worship :  "  We 
do  not  prostrate  ourselves  before  it  ('  the  image  of  our  Saviour')  as 
before  the  Godhead ;  but  we  worship  Him  whom  by  help  of  the 
image  we  call  to  mind  as  born,  as  suflering,  or  even  sitting  on  His 
throne.  And  while  the  picture  itself,  like  a  writing,  brings  the  Son 
of  God  to  our  memory,  it  either  rejoices  our  mind  by  the  suggestion 
of  His  resurrection,  or  consoles  it  by  His  passion."* 

In  the  history  of  the  conversion  of  England,  we  read  that  Augus- 
tine, in  his  first  interview  with  King  Ethelbert  (a.d.  597),  came 
"  bearing  a  silver  cross  for  banner,  and  an  image  of  the  Lord  the 
Saviour  painted  on  a  board."  ^  r.ut  the  earliest  account  of  pictures 
in  an  English  church  occurs  in  Bede's  life  of  Benedict  Biscop,  the 
first  abbot  of  Wearmoutli  and  Yarrow,  who,  in  678,  "  brought  from 
Home  paintings  of  sacred  images,  to  wit,  of  the  blessed  Mary  and  of 
the  twelve  Apostles,  besides  representations  of  the  Gosiiel  history, 
and  of  the  visions  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  and  placed  them  in 
his  church ;  so  that  all  who  entered  the  church,  even  those  ignorant 
of  letters,  whithersoever  they  turned  their  eyes,  might  contemplate 
the  ever-lovely  countenance  of  Christ,  and  of  His  saints,  though  in 
an  image ;  or  might  more  heedfully  call  to  mind  the  grace  of  the 
Lord's  Incarnation,  or,  having  the  Last  Judgment  before  their  eyes, 
might  remember  to  judge  themselves."*  In  G86  Biscop  brought  other 
pictures  from  Rome,  many  of  saints  and  Gospel  subjects,  as  before ; 
but  some  also  illustrating  the  relation  of  the  New  Testament  to  the 
Old,  as  Isaac  bearing  the  wood  beside  Christ  bearing  His  Cross,  the 

»  Epist.  ad  Scrcnnin,  vii.  111.  "  Epist.  ad  eund.  ix.  9. 

*  Non  ad  adorandimi,  scd  ad  instniendas  solinmmxlo  mcntes  nesciodlwTU 

*  Fp.  ad  Secund.  vii.  54.        •  *  He<lo.  Hid.  Eccl.  i.  25. 

6  Hist.  Ahhat.  Uuircmut/i.  et  Gniuens,  §  5.     In  all  this  there  is  not  a  word 
of  worship  or  adoration  of  the  pictures. 


452  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

"brazen  serpent  on  the  pole  by  Christ  on  the  cross.^  Pictures  of  this 
character  probably  abounded  in  Rome  at  the  time  ;  for  a  great 
number  are  mentioned  as  to  be  seen  there  by  Gregory  II.  in  his  first 
reply  to  the  emperor  Leo,  a.d.  726." 

§  17.  The  frequent  mention  of  pictures  of  the  Virgin  Mary  leads 
us  on  to  the  growth  of  "  Mariolatry."  The  first  tendencies  to  pay 
divine .  honours  to  Mary  as  the  "Mother  of  God  "  provoked  (as 
we  have  seen)  the  Nestorians  and  Eutychian  disputes,  and  were 
strengthened  by  tlie  issue  of  those  controversies.  In  the  rhetorical 
fervour  of  maintaining  the  disputed  title  of  Theotokos,  Catholics 
and  Eutychians  se'emed  almost  to  place  the  "  Mother  of  God  "  on 
a  level  with  her  divine  Son  ;  and  the  Monophysite  patriarch  of 
Antioch,  Peter,  was  the  first  to  introduce  her  name  into  all  the 
prayers  of  his  liturgy.  Numerous  churches  were  dedicated  to  her, 
the  earliest  being  probably  the  Basilica  on  the  summit  of  the 
Esquiline,  founded  by  Pope  Liberius  (352-366),  and  rebuilt  by 
Sixtus  III.  (in  432),  which  is  still  distinguished  as  St.  Mary  the 
Greater.^  The  solemn  invocation  of  the  Virgin  for  prosperity  in  state 
affairs  stands  recorded  in  the  Acts  of  Justinian  ;*  and  Narses  never 
ventured  on  a  battle  without  some  sign  of  her  approval.  In  this 
extreme  zeal  to  pay  to  the  mother  of  Jesus  Christ  that  very  excess 
of  honour  against  which  He  himself  had  warned  His  disciples,^ 
there  mingled  both  a  lower  feeling  of  human  nature  and  a  trace 
of  that  heathen  element  which  we  have  seen  infecting  so  mony 
other  usages  of  the  Church.  "  The  idea  of  a  female  mediator — 
performing  in  the  higher  world  offices  akin  to  those  labours  of 
mercy  and  intercession  which  befit  the  feminine  character  on  earth 
— was  one  which  the  mind  of  mankind  was  ready  to  receive;  and, 
moreover,  this  idea  of  the  blessed  Mary  was  welcomed  as  a  substi- 
tute for  some  that  had  been  lost  by  the  fall  of  polytheism,  with 
its  host  of  lemale  deities.     The  veneration  of  her,  therefore,  ad- 

*  Hist,  Abbit.  Uuiremuth.  et  Gijniuens,  §  8.         '  Labb.  Cone.  vii.  16. 

3  S.  Maria  Major,  now  Santa  Maria  Maggiore  and  the  Liberian 
Basilica. 

*  Cod.  I.  xxxvii.  1.  A  stone  set  up  originally  at  Corinth,  and  now  in 
the  Musenin  of  Verona,  bears  the  inscription,  "  Holy  Mary,  Mother  of  God, 
('A7ia  Mopi'a  0€OT<{/<e),  protect  the  kingdom  of  the  Chris-t-loving  Justinian, 
and  his  faithful  servant  Victorinus,  with  them  that  live  godly  in  Corinth." 
Still  stronger  invocations  of  other  saints  are  found  on  inscriptions  of  Jus- 
tinian.— Diet,  of  C/irisiian  Antiqq.,  Art.  Inscriptioxs. 

5  Matt.  xii.  4G-50;  Mark  iii.  31-35;  Luke  viii.  19-21;  xi.  27,  28.  See 
Keble's  hymn  on  the  Annunciation  {Cluistian  Year),  which  gives  an  in- 
teresting exhibition  of  a  sentimental  tendency  to  Mariolatry  overmastered 
by  the  truth  inculcated  by  Christ,  that  His  obedient  disciples  are  still  more 
blessed  than  she  is  as  His  mother;  nay  that  such  are  His  brother  and 
sister,  and  mother. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.         MARIOLATRY  AND  SA1NT-\V0RSHII\  453 

vanced  rapidly,  although  it  was  not  until  a  much  later  jieriod  that 
it  reached  its  greatest  height." ' 

Few  traces  are  yet  found  of  the  worship  of  Angels  ;  but  even  the 
condemnation  of  all  such  worship  by  a  Laodicean  canon,  as  con- 
trary to  Holy  Scripture,"'^  proves  that  the  practice  had  begun. 
Ambrose  alone  of  the  earlj'  post-Nicene  Fathers  recommends  the 
invocation  of  guardian  augels.  His  greater  disciple,  Augustine, 
represents  the  angels  and  superior  virtues  as  rejoicing  with  us,  and 
assisting  us  in  offering  to  God  those  invisible  sacrifices  of  the 
lieart  which  they  would  not  only  refuse  to  accept  for  themselves, 
but  they  are  shown  in  several  passages  of  Scripture  forbidding  the 
adoration  and  sacrifice  to  them  -which  are  due  to  God  alone.  In 
this,  he  adds,  the  angels  are  imitated  by  the  holy  men  of  God,  like 
Paul  and  Barnabas  at  Lystra;^  evidently  reproving  the  worship  of 
saints,  which  was  already  fast  gaining  ground. 

§  18.  As  in  the  adoration  of  the  Virgin,  so  in  the  increased 
honour  paid  to  saints,  there  was  an  clement  of  compromise  with 
lieathenism.  Converts  regarded  the  martyrs  as  holding  a  place  in 
their  new  religion  like  that  of  the  heroes  in  their  pagan  system ; 
they  ascribed  to  them  a  tutelary  power,  and  paid  them  honours 
such  as  those  which  belonged  to  the  lesser  personages  of  the  pagan 
mythology.*  "  Saints  were,  like  the  heathen  gods,  chosen  as  special 
patrons,  not  only  of  individuals,  but  of  cities.  It  was  not  without 
plausible  grounds  that  heathens,  as  Julian  and  Euuapius,  began  to 
retort  on  Christians  the  charge  of  worshipping  dead  men,  and  that 
the  Manicheans  joined  in  the  reproach.  St.  Augustine  strenuously 
repudiated  it ;  he  exhorted  to  an  imitation  of  the  saints  in  their 
holiness,  and  endeavoured,  as  did  also  St.  Chrysostom,  to  oppose 
the  tendency  towards  an  undue  exaltation  of  them.  But  before 
his  time  practices  nearly  akin  to  the  worship  of  the  saints  had  too 
surely  made  their  way  into  the  popular  belief  and  feeling,  as 
indeed  Augustine  himself  is  obliged  to  confeps."  ^  Some  of  the  most 
distinguished  teachers  of  the  Church"  avowed  that  the  saints  and 
their  days  held  a  place  in  the  Christian  system  like  that  which 
had  been  formerly  assigned  to  the  gods  of  paganism  and  their  festi- 
vals ;  and  the  parallel  was  carried  out  in  the  promises  of  honour 
to  their  altars  and  even  threats  of  dishonour,  by  which  prayers 
offered  to  them  were  enforced,  and  by  addressing  to  another  saint 
the  prayers  which  one  had  left  unanswered. 

'  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  582. 

^  Coticil.  Laod.  c.  .'35  (a.d.  372  ?) ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  369. 

8  Augustin.  de  Gic.  Dei,  x.  19.  *  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  3G5. 

*  Ibid.  p.  366. 

*  As  Theodoret,  quoted  by  Canon  Robertson,  vol.  i.  ]>.  58(1. 


454  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHI. 

The  relics  which,  as  we  have  seen,  were  essential  to  give  sanctity 
to  a  church,  were  found  in  new  abundance,  especially  when 
required  to  support  some  disputed  claim.^  Relics  were  worn  as 
amulets,  and  marvellous  miracles  were  ascribed  to  them,  and 
even  to  cloths  which  they  had  touched  and  water  in  which  they 
had  been  dipi)ed.  The  manufacture  of  spurious  relics  had  already 
become  frequent.  The  biographies  of  lately  deceased  bishops, 
monks,  and  others,  especially  when  they  were  champions  of  ortho- 
doxy, were  crowded  with  miracles  ;2  new  lives  of  ancient  saints 
were  written  in  the  same  vein;  and  non-existing  saints,  with 
complete  biographies,  were  invented,  sometimes  from  mistaking 
the  name  of  a  thing  for  a  person,  like  the  etymological  myths  of 
earlier  ages.^  Thus  the  foundation  was  laid  for  the  whole  fabric 
of  "Hagioloc/y." 

And  here  it  seems  fit  to  explain  the  technical  use  of  this  oft- 
repeated  title  "  Saint."  *  "We  have  seen  that,  both  in  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  Church,  it  was  the  common  name  of  all  God's  people, 
as  separated  from  the  world  and  devoted  to  Him,  and  called  to  a 
holy  life.^  It  was  not  the' distinctive  mark  of  one  Christian  as 
more  holy  than  another ;  much  less  is  it  used  in  Scripture  as  an 
honorary  prefix  to  the  simple  name,  by  which  the  law-giver  and 
priest,  prophets,  apostles,  and  evangelists  are  generally  called.  We 
read  of  our  "  brother  Timothy,"  "  our  beloved  brother  Paul,"  never 
of  St.  John,  St.  Peter,  and  so  forth.® 

'  One  out  of  several  examples  is  the  revelation  in  a  dream  to  Anthimus, 
the  metropolitan  of  Cyprus,  of  the  tomb  of  St.  Barnabas,  in  which  were 
found  his  remains,  and  a  copy  in  his  own  hand  of  St.  Matthew's  gospel, — 
proofs  by  which  Anthimus  defeated  the  claim  of  the  Mouophysite  patriarch 
of  Antioch,  Peter  the  Fuller,  to  jurisdiction  over  the  island  (a.D.  487). 
Theod.  Lector,  ii.  2  ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  581. 

^  An  interesting  case,  connected  with  our  own  history,  is  furnished  by 
the  Life  of  St.  Germanus  of  Auxerre,  whose  many  miracles  against  the 
Pelagians  and  the  barbarian  enemies  of  the  British  Christians  are  repeated 
without  doubt  by  Bode  ;  while  one  of  them,  the  "  Alleluia  Victory  "  is 
unsuspiciously  transferred  again  to  some  modern  text-books  as  the  last 
success  which  gilded  the  fall  of  Roman  Britain.  Bede's  History  is  full  of 
miraculous  legends. 

^  For  example  St.  Vc)-07uca  (see  p.  27,  col.  2);  and  St.  Amphihalus,  the 
fellow  martyr  of  St.  Alban,  whose  name  was  probably  invented  (as  Ussher 
suggests)  from  the  cloak  (nmphihalum')  which  he  gave  to  Albanus. 

*''A7ios,  Sanctiis,  "holy";  and  beatus,  "blessed,"  or  "beatified." 

«  See  Chap.  VL  §  10.    " 

^  The  nearest  approach  to  the  later  ecclesiastical  use  of  the  word  is  in  a 
few  phrases,  such  as  " /io///  prophets  "  (2  Pet.  iii.  2;  Rev.  xxii.  6);  " /loltf 
apostles  and  proj)hets  "  (Rev.  xviii.  20),  and  "  holi/  men  of  God  "  (  2  Pet.  i. 
21  ;  where,  however,  instead  of  ayioi  tov  Oeov  ivOpwiroi,  the  true  reading 
seems  to  be  airh  0fov  &vdpooTroi,  "  men  (sent)  by  (or  from)  God." 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


THE  TITLE  OF  "  SAINT," 


455 


The  insensible  transition  to  the  distinctive  use  of  the  title  in 
speaking  of  departed  saints,  eminent  by  divine  inspiration,  personal 
holiness,  and  power  as  teachers,  and  especially  by  the  seal  of 
martyrdom,  became  a  fixed  custom  as  soon  as  their  names  began  to 
be  enrolled  in  lists  of  persons  honoured  by  the  Church.  The  earliest 
use  of  such  lists,  called  in  ecclesiastical  language  diptychs  (folding 
tablets),^  seems  to  have  risen  from  the  custom  of  reading  out,  at 
the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Sapper,  the  names  ^  of  those  who  had 
brought  contributions  of  bread  and  wine,  which  soon  passed  into  a 
commemorative  record  of  all,  living  and  dead,  who  had  deserved 
well  of  the  church.^  The  custom  existed  as  early  as  the  age  next 
after  the  Apostles,  at  least  if  we  accept  as  geniiine  the  "  Martyrdom 

1  Ai'irruxa  (diptycha),  properly  a  two-leaved  folding  tablet,  also  called 
ffpol  SfXroi,  KaTaKoyos, 
tiudriculiV,  nomina,  tabula:. 
The  form  seems  to  have 
been  derived  from  the 
practice  which  prevailed 
under  the  Roman  Empire, 
by  which  consuls,  praetors, 
aediles,  and  other  magis- 
trates were  wont  to  <lis- 
tribute  to  their  friends  and 
the  people,  on  the  day  in 
which  they  entered  otfice, 
tablets  inscribed  with  their 
names,  and  containing  their 
portraits,  in  token  of  the 
commencement  of  their 
magistracy.  Their  outer 
covers  were  of  wood,  ivory, 
or  metal  elaborately  carved 
or  chased,  as  in  the  con- 
sular diptych  of  Stilicho, 
here  shown,  and  the  most 
interesting  Christian  dip- 
tych of  Kambona,  in  ivory, 
a  liyzantine  work  of  the 
ninth  century.  (Vignette 
to  Chap.  VI.  p.  127). 

2  That  complete  lists  of 
the  names  of  members  of 
the  Church  may  have  been 
kept,  is  suggested  by  their 
love  of  order  and  other 
probabilities,  as  well  as  by 
the  phrase  "  the  number  of  the  names  together,"  in  Acts  i.  15. 

'  Respecting  the  different  classes  of  names  enrolled  in  the  diptycha 
vh-orum,  the  dlpti/cha  mortuonim,  and  the  diptycha  cpiscoporum,  and  for  all 
further  information,  see  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  DlPTYCHS. 


Diptych  of  Stilicho,  a.d.  405. 


456  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

of  St.  Polycarp," '  where  the  recitation  is  said  to  be  made  "  in 
memory  of  those  who  have  finished  their  course,  and  for  the  exer- 
cising and  preparation  of  those  who  have  yet  to  walk  in  their 
steps."  It  is  distinctly  alluded  to  by  Tertuliian  ;'^  and  by  the  end 
of  the  fourth  century,  the  danger  of  a  superstitious  use  seems  indi- 
cated by  Augustine's  protest,  that  the  saints  thus  commemorated 
are  " not  invoked."^  The  authority  by  which  a  name  was  inserted 
in  this  list — the  saint  being  then  said  to  be  "  vindicutus  " — was, 
imtil  at  least  the  tenth  century,  that  of  the  bishop,  with  (no  doubt) 
the  consent  of  his  clergy  and  people,  and,  as  time  went  on,  of  the 
synod  and  metropolitan,  and  according  to  Mabillon,*  of  the  em- 
peror or  king.  But  the  consent  of  the  last  named  could  only 
have  been  asked  or  given  in  cases  of  political  importance,  real  or 
supposed.  The  custom  of  setting  apart  certain  days  (generally 
those  of  their  death  or  martyrdom) ''  for  the  annual  commemoration 
of  saints  and  martyrs  led,  of  course,  to  the  entry  of  their  names, 
with  those  titles,  in  the  ecclesiastical  Calendars,  which  were  compiled 
for  liturgical  use.*  Of  the  compilation  of  such  calendars  by  bishops, 
containing  the  names  of  martyrs,  we  have  an  example  as  early  as 
Cyprian :  but  there  are  none  extant  of  a  date  before  the  fourth 
century.  The  earliest  are  those  which  contain  fewest  saints'  days — 
and  in  which  the  simple  names  are  given  without  title  or  eulogy, 
even  the  prefix  S.  or  B.  being  but  sparingly  introduced. 

The  formal  act  oi  canonization^  which  is  claimed  as  a  j^rerogative 
of  the  See  of  Rome,  is  defined  by  Ferraris^  to  be  a  "public  judg- 
ment and  express  definition  of  the  Apostolic  See  respecting  the 

'  Ap.  Euseb.  //.  E.  iv.  15.  2  j)e  Cor.  3. 

3  "Non  invocantur."    De  Civ.  Dei,  xxii.  10. 

*  Praef.  in  Actt.  SS.  Bened.  p.  412. 

5  In  the  language  of  Hagiology  the  general  term  for  a  saint's  day  of 
death  is  Natalis  (dies)  or  Natale,  i.e.,  his  birth  to  immortality,  and  the  days 
of  martyrdoms  are  called  Xatahtia  Martyrum.  The  term  deposilio  is  also 
used,  not  for  the  day  of  burial,  but  in  the  sense  of  layimj  dncii  the  burthen 
of  the  flesh.  There  are,  indeed,  cases  in  which  depositio  appears  to  mean 
the  solemn  entombment  of  relics  (especially  in  the  church  named  after  the 
saint),  but  the  usual  terms  for  burial  and  deposit  of  relics  are  elevalio,  cdtus, 
translatio.  In  the  early  calendars  dc'p"sitio  seems  to  be  a|)|>lied  only  to 
bishoi)s,  natalis  and  natalitium  to  martyrs. 

*  A'alcndarimn,  Coinpidiis,  Distrihittio  Officioruin  per  circiUnm  totius  anni, 
P.i\volIqv  (OfjTaiTTtKov,  Ttfx(po\6yiov,  i<p7)ft,(pis  :  later,  KaKfyrdptoy.  See 
A'otes  arid  fllustrations  (A),  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

'  That  is,  enrolment  in  the  authorized  list,  or  Canon  of  S lints  and 
Martyrs.  Canonizare  is  also  used  to  signify  simply  to  "  approve,"  or  to 
'appoint  to  a  canonry,"  or  to  enrol  in  the  "canon"  of  the  clergy,  or  to 
make  a  canon  in  a  Council. — Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  Canonization. 

*  Sub  voc.  Vencratio  Sanctorum. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.    REVERENCE  FOR  HOLY  PLACES.         4ot 

sanctity  and  glory  of  one,  who  is  thereupon  solemnly  added  to  the 
roll  of  the  saints,  and  set  forth  for  the  public  veneration  of  the  whole 
Church  militant,  and  the  honours  due  to  saints  decreed  to  him." 
And  it  is  distinguished  by  him  from  Beat ijicat ion,  which  means, 
according  to  the  same  authority,  a  like  "  lawful  grant  by  the  ix)pe 
to  a  particular   kingdom,    province,   religious   body,    or   place,   to 
venerate  and  invoke,  in  the  mass  and  by  exposition  of  relics,"  &c., 
some  particular  person  deceased.     The  first  formal  canonization  by 
a  poi)e  is  said  to  be  either  that  of  St.  Suibert  by  Pope  Leo  III.  a.d., 
804,  at  the  request  of  Charlemagne,  or  (which  however  depends  on 
a  letter  said  to  be  a  forgery)  that  of  Udalric,  bishop  of  Augsburg,  by 
diploma  of  Pope  John  XV.  a.d.  993.'     The  last  case  of  canonization 
by  a  metropolitan  is  said  to  have  been  that  of  St.  Gaultier,  or 
Gaucher,  abbot  of  Pontoise,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  a.d.  1153.^ 
And  a  decree  of  Pope  Alexander  III.  a.d.  1170,  gave  the  prerogative 
to  the  pope  thenceforth,  so  far  as  the  Western  Church  was  con- 
cerned ;  who  proceeded  in  two  ways,  either  by  formally  sanctioning 
local  or  other  saints,  who  had  long  before  been  canonized  in  effect 
by  common  consent,  or  by  initiating  the  process  himself  in  new  cases. 
§  19.  The  reverence  paid  to  holy  persons  was  shared  by  Holy 
Places,  especially  the  scenes  of  our  Savour's  life  on  earth,  and, 
above  all,  of  His  death  and  burial.     The  first  impulse  to  the  long 
train  of  pilgrimages  to  Palestine  was  given  by  Constantino's  resolu- 
tion to  remove  heathen  abominations  from  the  site  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  to  build  on  it  a  Christian  church -.^  in  pursuance  of 
which  purpose   his  mother   Helena  visited  Jerusalem,  and  there 
(according  to  the  famous  legend)  found  the  Sepulchre,  with  the 
three  crosses  still  lying  near  it,  under  the  earth  which  had  jireserved 
them  from  Hadrian's  attempt  to  remove  every  trace  of  the  Holy 
City.      The   very  superscription  attached  by  Pilate   to  the  cross 
of  Christ  was  found  lying  somewhat  apart !     Not  knowing  which 
of  the  three   crosses   was   the   one  they  sought,  IMacarius  caused 
them  to  be  successively  presented  to  the  touch  of  a  noble  lady  of 
Jerusalem  then  lying  at  the  point  of  death.     The  first  two  crosses 
produced  no  eOect,  but  at  the  touch  of  the  third  the  sick  woman 
rose  up  before  them  perfectly  healed,  thus  showing  that  it  was  upon 
this  that  the  Saviour  had  suffered.     One  part  of  the  cross  set  in 
silver  was  intrusted  to  Macarius  to  be  carefully  guarded  in  Jerusa-. 

»  ULibiU.  Actt.  SS.  Ben.  Saec.  V.  Pref.  §  101  ;  Gibbings,  Praelcct.  on  the 
Diptychs,  p.  33,  Dubl.,  1864.  ==  Gibbins,  as  above 

'  A.D.  326.  Euseb.  Vit.  Const,  iii.  26,  sqq.,  with  Constantine's  Letter  to 
^f„cari'ls,  bishop  of  Jerusalem  {Ibid.  c.  30);  Socrates,  //.  K.  i.  17;  Theo- 
doret,  //.  /;.  i.  18. 


458  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

lera,  and  the  remainder,  together  with  the  nails,  was  forwarded  to 
Constautine.  One  of  the  nails  was  attached  to  his  helmet,  and 
another  to  the  bridle  of  his  horse,  in  fulfilment,  according  to  sundry 
fathers,  of  the  prophecy  of  Zachariah  xiv.  20.*  Socrates  states  that 
the  portion  of  the  cross  sent  to  Constantine  was  by  him  inclosed  in 
his  own  statue,  which  was  placed  on  a  column  of  porphyry  in  the 
so-called  forum  of  Constantine  in  Constantinople,  that  thus  the  city 
might  be  rendered  impregnable  by  the  ix)ssession  of  so  glorious  a 
rehc.  According  to  Sozomen,  besides  the  miracle  wrought  on  the 
sick  lady,  a  dead  man  was  instantly  restored  to  life  by  the  touch  of 
the  cross;  but  Pauiinus,  while  mentioning  this  says  nothing  of  the 
other  miracle.  In  Ambrose,  spite  of  a  protest  to  the  contrary,  we 
see  traces  of  the  feeling  in  which  respect  for  the  cross,  as  a  token  of 
Him  who  hung  thereon,  drifted  into  an  adoration  of  the  cross 
itself.2 

The  earliest  mention  we  have  of  the  Finding  of  the  Cross  is  in 
the  Catecheses  of  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  delivered  rather  more  than 
twenty  years  after  Helen's  alleged  discovery ;  in  which,  though  he 
does  not  allude  to  the  narrative  in  the  form  given  by  subsequent 
writers,  he  yet  says  that  fragments  cut  off  from  the  cross  were 
spread  over  the  whole  world,^  and  he  also  alludes  to  the  Finding  of 
the  Cross  in  a  letter  written  some  years  later  to  Constantius,  the 
son  of  Constantine,  on  the  occasion  of  a  luminous  cross  appearing  in 
the  sky  over  Jerusalem.*  From  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century 
onwards  all  ecclesiastical  writers  take  the  truth  of  the  narrative  in 
its  main  form  for  granted,  though  sundry  variations  of  detail  occur. 

The  alleged  discovery  is  commemorated  in  the  Church  of  Eome 
by  a  festival,  best  Ivuown  by  its  Latin  title,  Inventio  S.  Crucis 
(May  3),  the  institution  of  which  cannot  be  traced  with  any  certainty 
earlier  than  the  end  of  the  eighth  century',  or  the  beginning  of  the 
ninth.     The  Greek  Church  has  no  such  special  festival,  but  com- 

'  Jerome,  however  (Comm.  in  Zcch.  in  loc.)  speaks  of  it  as  one  might 
have  expected,  "  nam  sensu  quidem  pio  dictam  sed  ridiculam." 

*  For  the  above  tradition,  see  Socrates,  I.  c. ;  Thcodoret  I.  c. ;  Sozomen,  ii.  1 ; 
Ambrose  de  ohitu  Theodosii,  c.  46  ;  Patrol,  xvi.  1399,  Sulpicius  Severus,  Hist. 
Sacra,  u.  S4 ;  Patrol,  xx.  148,  Rufinus,  I/ist.  i.  7,  8;  J'atrol.  xxi.  1475, 
Paulinus  of  Nola,  Ep.  ad  Severum,  31 ;  Patrol.  Ixi.  325,  Gregory  of  Tours, 
Liber  Miraculornm,  i.  5  sqq. ;  Patrol.  Ixxi.  709.  Cyril  of  Alexandria  also 
((7om/».  in  Zech.  in  loc;  Patrol.  Gr.  Ixxii.  271)  refers  to  it  as  the  current 
history  in  his  day.  Chrysostom  evidently  believed  in  the  discovery  of  the 
cross,  and  speaks  of  the  practice  of  conveying  small  portions  of  it  about  as 
amulets  {Qnod  Christus  sit  Dens,'c.  10;  Patrol.  Gr.  xlviii.  826). — Diet,  of 
Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  CROSS,  Finding  of. 

'  Catcch.  iv.  10;  x.  19;  xiii.  4;  Patrol.  Gr.  xxxiii,  468,  685,  776. 

♦  Ep.  ad  Const,  c.  3. 


Cent.  IV.-Vl,  PRACTICE  Ob'  PILGRIMAGE.  459 

bines  the  celebration  of  the  Finding  with  the  day  of  the  Exaltation 
of  the  Cross  (September  14).* 

The  discovery  of  the  Cross  by  Helena,  and  the  example  of  her 
visit  to  the  Holy  Land,  gave  (as  we  have  said)  a  strong  impulse  to 
the  practice  of  pilgrimage.  Besides  the  influence  on  devout  minds 
of  contemplating  the  places  hallowed  by  the  presence  of  Christ,  and 
by  the  wondrous  events  which  form  the  historical  basis  of  saving 
faith,  a  sj^ecial  eflicacy  was  attributed  to  prayers  oflered  on  those 
sacred  spots  of  earth,  many  of  which  were  distinguished  by  special 
nuracles.  "  From  all  quarters — even  from  the  distant  Britain  ^ — 
pilgrims  flocked  to  the  sacred  sites  of  Palestine,  and  on  their  return 
they  carried  home  with  them  water  from  the  Jordan,  earth  from 
the  Eedeemer's  Sepulchre,  or  chips  of  the  true  Cross,  which  was 
speedily  found  to  possess  the  power  of  reproducing  itself.^  *  *  * 
Pilgrimage  became  a  fashion,  and  soon  exhibited  the  evil  character- 
istics of  a  fashion,  so  that  already  warnings  were  uttered  against 
the  errors  and  abuses  which  were  connected  with  it.  The  monk 
Hilarion,  during  his  residence  of  fifty  years  in  Palestine,  visited 
the  holy  sites  but  once,  and  for  a  single  day  ;  in  order,  as  he  said, 
that  he  might  neither  ajjpear  to  despise  them  on  account  of  their 
nearness,  nor  to  suppose  that  God's  grace  was  limited  to  any  par- 
ticular place."  *  And  stronger  language  to  the  same  efi'ect  was  used 
by  a  still  more  distinguished  resident  in  Palestine,  who  sometimes 
expatiates  earnestly  on  its  hallowed  associations  ;  *  but  against  the 
idea  of  merit  of  virtue  in  pilgrimage,  Jerome  thus  warns  Paulinus :° 
"  It  is  not  matter  of  praise  to  have  been  at  Jerusalem,  but  to  have 
lived  religiously  at  Jerusalem.  The  scenes  of  the  Crucifixion  and 
of  the  Resurrection  are  profitable  to  such  as  bear  their  own  cross 
and  daily  rise  again  with  Christ — to  those  who  show  themselves 

'  The  Finding  of  the  Cross  is,  however,  observed  as  <a  distinct  festival  by 
some  branches  of  the  Eastern  Church,  as  by  the  Coptic  on  March  6,  and 
by  the  Ethiopic  on  May  4. 

«  EieroQ.Eplsf.  xlvi.  10;  Pallad.  Hist.  Laus.  118. 

^  "Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  although  cited  by  Uaronius  as  a  witness  for  the 
multiplication  of  the  wood,  in  reality  speaks  only  of  the  dispersion  of  frag- 
ments throughout  the  world  (^Catech.  iv.  10).  liut  Paulinus  of  Nola,  in  a 
distant  country,  and  half  a  century  later,  speaks  of  the  reproduction  (^£pist. 
xxxi.  6)." 

*  Ap.  Hieron.  Epist.  Iviii.  3 ;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  369.  For  the  di.s- 
suasive  of  Gregory  Nyssen  against  jiilgrimage,  see  above,  Chap.  XIII.  §  4. 
The  like  testimony  is  borne  also  by  Chrysostom  and  Augustine. 

*  Hieron.  Epist.  xlvi.  4;  xlvii.  2;  cviii. 

®  Epist.  Iviii.  quoted  by  Canon  Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.'oTO,  who  points  out 
that  the  first  sentence  is  imitated  from  Cicero, />ro  Murena,  12.  "Non 
Asiam  nunquam  vidisse,  sed  in  Asia  continenter  vixisse,  laudandum  est." 


400  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIH. 

worthy  of  so  eminent  a  dwelling-place.  But  as  for  those  who  say 
'  The  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord  '—let  them  hear 
the  Apostle's  words — '  Ye  are  the  temple  of  tlie  Lord,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  dwelleth  in  you.'  The  court  of  heaven  is  open  to  access 
from  Jerusalem  and  from  Britain  alike  ;  '  for  the  Kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you.' "  Such  words  of  pious  wisdom  were  thrown  away  on 
minds  fascinated  by  the  attraction  which  has  been  the  fruitful 
source  of  superstitious  penance,  waste  of  time  and  labour  and 
human  life,  intolerant  zeal  and  a  long  series  of  murderous  wars, 
down  even  to  our  own  age. 

§  20.  The  Puhiic  Worship  of  the  Church  had  been  adorned,  or 
burthened,  with  a  great  increase  of  pomp  and  elaborate  ritual,  since 
the  time  when  Pliny  and  Justin  Martyr  described  its  primitive 
simplicity.'  Leaving  to  special  works  on  Christian  antiquities  ^ 
the  growth  of  ceremonies,  the  new  and  splendid  dresses  of  the  clergy, 
nearly  all  of  which  had  come  into  use  by  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century,'  and  similar  details,  we  must  notice  the  interesting 
progress  of  liturgical  forms.* 

The  classic  word  Liturgrj,^  used  in  the  Greek  republics  for  certain 
public  burthens  imposed  on  the  wealthy  for  the  benefit  of  their 
fellow-citizens,  is  adopted  in  the  New  Testament  for  the  work  of 
the  Jewish  priesthood  and  the  Christian  ministry,  and  also  for 
services  of  beneficence  to  the  brethren."  Its  special  restriction  to 
divine  worship  and  sacramental  service  is  first  found  in  the  time  of 
Constantine.^  As  the  worship  throughout  all  the  churches  came  to 
be  more  and  more  regulated  by  fixed  rules,  while  in  minor  details 

*  See  Chap.  VHI.  §  3. 

*  See  especially  the  several  articles  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq. 

^  Down  to  the  same  time  the  special  clerical  vestments  were  onlv  used 
in  the  services  of  the  Church.  In  every  day  lite,  the  clergy  wore  the  ordinary 
dress  of  citizens ;  but  the  tendency  to  adopt  a  distinctive  costume  is  seen 
in  the  censure  passed  by  Pope  Celestine  (in  a.d.  428)  on  some  Gallic  priests 
for  having,  through  misinterpretation  of  Luko  xii.  35,  exchanged  the 
universal  tunic  and  toga  for  the  Oriental  monastic  dress  ;  "  whereas,"  (he 
said),  "we  ought  to  be  distinguished  from  other  men  by  learning  (or  doc- 
trine), not  by  dress  ;  by  conversation,  not  by  habit ;  by  purity  of  mind,  not 
by  costume  (cultus)."     Schaff',  vol.  ij.  p.  538. 

*  On  the  whole  subject  see  Palmer's  Origines  Liturgicw;  Neale's  various 
liturgical  works  (of  most  profound  learning,  but  highly  ritualistic);  Daniel 
(the  chief  modern  German  mithonty),Cudex' liturgicus  £cclc'siae  Universae  in 
Epitomcm  redact  us. 

*  A«(Toi;p7t'o,'  literally,  work  for^the  people,  with  the  verb,  Xtnovpyio), 
and  the  adjective  and  noun  Xtlrovpyos.  The  general  sense  is  found  in 
Kom.  xiii.  (J,  where  Paul  calls  secular  magistrates  Xttrovpyol  &fov. 

'  See  Luke  i.  23;  Heb.  viii.  2,  (i  ;  ix.  21  ;  x.  1 1  ;  Acts  xiii.  2  ;  Rom.  xv. 
16,  27;  2  Cor.  ix.  12.  ^  Euseb.  Vit.  C<,tist.  iv.  37, 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  WORSHIP  AND  LITURGIES.  461 

the  several  churches  had  diflerent  forms,i  each  of  these  forms,  as  set 
forth  in  a  book,  was  called  a  Liturgy!^ 

The  origin  of  liturgical  forms  is  one  of  those  points  of  early 
ecclesiastical  development,  of  which  the  course  can  no  longer  be 
traced.  In  the  Jewish  worship,  the  liturgical  element  is  found  in 
the  use  of  certain  prayers  and  psalms  (especially  in  Psalms  113-118) 
and  the  responsive  Amen ;  and  both  these  may  be  traced  in  the 
Church  of  the  New  Testament,^  which  had  forms  used  by  Christ 
Himself  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  words  of  institution  in  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  the  Baptismal  formula,  as  responsive  to  which  may  be 
added  the  confession  of  faith  made  by  Peter  in  the  name  of  all 
the  disciples,"  that  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  before  his  baptism,^ 
and  the  penitential  prayers  for  mercy  uttered  by  the  despised 
publican,*  the  outcast  lepers,^  and  many  others,  which  have  been 
perpetuated  in  the  "  Domine  miserere  "  and  the  "  Kyrit  e?e»son." 
Together  with  these  and  other  Scripture  models  for  prayer  and 
penitence,  confession  of  faith  and  sacramental  service,  the  primitive 
church  possessed  rich  forms  of  praise  and  joyful  thanksgiving,  not 
only  in  the  Psalms,*  but  in  the  new  songs  which  heralded  Christ's 
coming— the  prophetic  thanksgivings  of  Mary  and  Zacharias,  the 
Song  of  Simeon,^  the  "Angelic  Hymn,"  or  "Gloria  in  Excelsis"i°— 
andlilie  worship  of  the  heavenly  sanctuary  revealed  to  John  in  the 

>  Socrat.  If.  E.  v.  22 ;  Sozom.  //.  E.  vii.  19. 

«  "The  Latin  Church  calls  the  public  eucharistic  service  Mass,  and  the 
liturgical  books  sacramcntarium,  riluale,  missale,  also  libri  mysteriorum,  or 
simpfy  W(?///."— SchafV,  vol.  ii.  p.  519.  ,.    .    . 

3  See  the  quotation  of  the  second  Psalm  in  the  apostolic  prayer  (Acts  iv. 
25   26):  and,  for  the  responsive  Amen,  1  Cor.  siv.  16.  ,    .  , 

*  Mitt  -Kvi.  16,  and  parallel  passages;  adopted  as  the  essential  form  ot 
Christian  profession  in  1  John  iv.  15.  Compare  the  striking  examples  in 
the  Gospels  of  individual  confession  of  faith  made  to  and  approved  by  Jesus 
himself;  as  Mark  ix.  23,  24;  John  ix.  o5-;58. 

5  Acts  viii.  37.  "  J'Uke  xviii.  13. 

'  Luke  xvii.  12.  -?    .      t>    i 

8  It  is  almost  superfluous  to  observe  how  large  a  portion  of  the  1  salms 
consists  in  forms  of  general  prayer,  profession  of  faith  and  utterance  ol 
simi)le  doctrine,  penitential  confession  of  sin  and  prayers  for  pardon,  com- 
plaints of  surtering  and  sorrow  mingled  with  submission  to  God's  will,  and 
meditation  on  the  glories  of  God,  His  wonders  in  creation,  nature,  and  pro- 
vidence, His  just  and  unsearchable  judgments,  and  in  short  on  all  the  aspects 
of  human  life  in  relation  to  the  Father  of  men,  to  the  promised  Messiah,  and 

to  the  Holv  Spirit.  ,      ,r       -r    ^  .. 

9  Entitled  in  the  liturgies  from  their  initial  words,  the  Magnipcat,  the 
Benedictus,  and  the  Siinc  Jnmittis,  all  in  the  Hist  two  chapters  of  Luke; 
besides  the  perversion  of  Gabriel's  salutation  to  the  Virgin  (Luke  i.  28),  into 
the  Ave  Maria  of  Mariolatry. 

»o  Luke  ii.   14. 


MK* 


'in.    ■!.,.. ^t   ^„^...,u 


lii  Hi<)lia»ttC 

•irnm- 

rqicai 

icic  to  aa  earlier 

-J,  ur  even  oomea 

lannet  oi  the  Jewish. 

.  oiiirty  caanoi  be  sans- 

iturs^iea  differ    Irom  one 

■  1'-'  ■*":  !ie  order  oi 

i,  luti  lit  I  the  must 

I'liey   ;ure   fuo 
:  y«t  too  simuar 

-  LSQc  semce  may 
iuk\Ki  iHaxa.  >iui!£V9«4  i£um.  i    :.\.:u  :kBU  .  which  grew-  up 


_    ~  .     -lav    ,■« 


ii.'    tlif    ;i^e    vvhef   tlj<'  h.-iciiiUicut,'-'    vvcf    j/ttf     of    ■tlx*   Jnvipliim 


iS-     Jt^    ii*'i*i^      ^--^ 


tUbL 


\ 


"^4  *«l*^  JWqrxiir^. 


462  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHI. 

Apocalypse,  -which  lias  been  well  called  "  one  sublime  liturgic 
vision."  ^ 

§  21.  Not  content  with  these  examples  and  key-notes  for  the 
free  spiritual  worship  of  the  Church  in  all  ages,  those  who  are  ever 
sacrificing  the  good  they  have  to  the  all  they  claim,  have  fancied 
that  comi^lete  liturgies  existed  from  the  apostolic  age ;  ^  and  that 
fancy  has  given  birth  to  false  titles  and  frauds  even  on  this  sacred 
ground.  There  are,  in  fact,  no  liturgical  books  dating  from  the 
ante-Nicene  age,  nor  is  there  any  proof  that  such  books  existed. 
The  earliest  written  liturgies  belong  to  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  when  we  find  several  in  use,  not  only  by  various  branches 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  among  the  Nestorians,  the  Monophysites, 
and  other  schismatics.  The  only  great  names,  which  are  historic- 
ally connected  with  their  authorship,  are  those  of  Basil  and  Chry- 
sostom  in  the  East,  and  Ambrose  in  the  West.  They  bear  internal 
evidence  of  not  being  older,  at  least  in  their  existing  state,  than  the 
age  just  mentioned.  Besides  the  contrast  of  their  elaborate  forms 
with  the  simplicity  of  the  primitive  worahip,  they  use  the  exact 
terms  of  the  Nicene  and  post-Nicene  theology,  such  as  Sfioovirios  for 
the  Son  and  deoroKos  for  the  Virgin,  with  allusions  to  the  monastic 
profession,  and  marks  of  reverence  for  saints  and  martyrs. 

But  though,  as  full  forms  of  worship,  they  cannot  claim  a  primi- 
tive antiquity,  they  yet  bear  witness  to  a  sort  of  "common  liturgical 
tradition,  which  in  its  essential  elements  reaches  back  to  an  earlier 
time,  perhaps  in  some  jx)ints  to  the  apostolic  age,  or  even  comes 
down  from  the  Jewish  worship  through  the  channel  of  the  Jewish 
Christian  congregations.  Otherwise  their  affinity  cannot  be  satis- 
factorily explained.  These  old  catholic  liturgies  differ  from  one 
another  in  the  wording,  the  number,  the  length,  and  the  order  of 
the  prayers,  and  in  other  unessential  points,  but  agree  in  the  most 
important  parts  of  the  service  of  the  Eucharist.  They  are  too 
different  to  be  derived  from  a  common  original,  and  yet  too  similar 
to  have  arisen  each  entirely  of  itself."^ 

§  22.  The  especially  definite  form  of  the  Eucharistic  service  may 
have  been  derived  from  a  fi.xed  and  sacred  tradition,  which  grew  up 

'  Schart",  vol.  iii.  p.  519.  Anions:;  these  is  the  "  Sanctiis,"  Rev.  iv.  8.  after 
Isaiah  vi.  ;5.  It  must  be  remuinbei-ed  that  tlie  whole  franiework  of  the 
Apocalj'pse  is  modelled  on  the  worship  of  the  Jewish  Tem|)le. 

*  The  notion,  which  we  have  not  space  to  enter  upon,  is  discussed  by 
Professor  Schatl"  (vol.  ii.  p.  521),  who  justly  concludes  that,  if  there  had 
been  such  a  jirimitive  written  apostolic  liturgy,  there  would  uniioubtedly 
have  been  other  and  clearer  traces  of  it  than  a  few  passacjes  which  may  be 
mere  quotations  from  primitive  Cliristian  hymns  and  psalms. 

»  Schaff,  vol.  ii.  pp.  520,  521. 


Cent.  IY.-\L  THE  EUCHARISTIC  SERVICE.  463 

in  the  age  -when  the  Sacraments  were  i)art  of  the  Disciplina 
Arcani}  concealed  for  fear  of  })rofanation,  not  only  from  Jews  and 
heathens,  but  even  from  the  catechumens.  But  the  motive  for  this 
ceased  with  the  fall  of  heatlienism,  wlien  the  divine  service  of  the 
Church  became  pulilic.  'J'he  separation,  also,  of  the  worship  of  the 
catechumens  from  that  of  those  in  full  fellowship  ^  was  broken  down 
as  a  necessary  result  of  the  general  perfection  of  Christianity  and 
the  universal  practice  of  infant  baptism.  Heathen  and  Jews,  as 
well  as  catechumens  and  penitents,  might  take  part  in  the  service, 
except,  of  course,  the  Eucharistic  celebration ;  and  it  should  be 
especially  observed  that  all  these  ancient  liturgies  make  the  eucha- 
ristic sacrifice  (rather  than  the  idea  of  communiuu)  the  centre  of  the 
whole  worship.  All  of  them  combine  action  with  the  utterance  of 
prayer  and  praise,  and  jirovide,  as  in  the  Jewish  worship,  for  the 
responses  of  the  people,  who  thereby  testify  their  own  priestly 
character.*  Some  parts  of  the  liturgy,  as  the  Creed,  the  Seraphic 
Hymn,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  were  said  or  sung  by  the  priest  and 
congregation  together.  Originally  the  whole  congregation  of  the 
faithful  *  was  intended  to  respond ;  but,  with  the  advance  of  the 
hierarchical  principle,  the  popular  element  fell  away,  and  the  dea- 
cons of  the  choir  responded  for  the  wdiole  congregation,  especially 
where  the  language  of  the  liturgy  was  unintelligible  to  the 
people.* 

§  23.  There  are  said  to  be  no  less  than  a  hundred  ancient  liturgies, 
including  the  various  editions  and  translations.  But  they  may  be 
classified  under  five  or  si.x:  f;\milies,  according  to  the  churches  in 
which  they  were  originally  used  ;  namely,  those  of  Jerusalem  (or 
A7itioch),  Alexandria,  Constantinople,  Ei>}iesns,  and  Home.  They 
are  also  to  be  distinguished  as  those  of  the  Oriental  and  tlie  Occi- 
dental Churches. 

I.  The  Oriental  Liturgies  are  the  most  numerous,  and  among 
them  the  Greek  are  the  oldest  and  most  imiwrtant,  though  the 
titles  which  ascribe  them  to  authors  of  the  apostolic  age  arc  mere 
false  pretensions. 

'  See  note  to  Chap.  VIII.  §  o,  p.  196. 

^  The  AfiToi;p7io  KaTr\xov(jL(vwv,  Missa  Catechitmcnorum,  and  Xeirovpyla 
•Toiv  iti<nwv,  Missa  Fidelium  (fine  above,  /.  c).  The  distinction  was  preserved, 
and  still  exists,  in  the  Greek  Church,  but  ouly  as  a  matter  of  t'onn. 

'  After  the  pattern  of  that  most  sublime  thankstjivincj  in  Hev.  v.  9,  10. 

*  In  the  Clementine  Liturgy,  "all"  (Troi'Tej);  in  the  Liturgy  of  St. 
James,  "  the  people  "  {6  Aoos). 

'  In  the  Liturgies  of  St.  Basil  and  St.  Chrysostom.  which  have  displaced 
the  older  Greek  liturgies,  the  Siolkovos  or  x'^9^^  usiiallv  responds.  In  the 
Roman  Mass  the  people  lall  still  further  out  of  view,  but  accompanv  the 
priest  with  silent  prayers. — Schaft',  vol.  ii.  p.  522. 


464  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Cuap.  XVIII. 

(1).  The  Liturgy  of  St.  Clement  is  the  oldest  complete  order  of 
divine  service,  belonging  probably  to  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
century.  It  is  found  in  the  eighth  book  of  the  "  Apostolic  Consti- 
tutions ;"^  and  it  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  normal  liturgy  belonging  to 
the  churches  of  Palestine  in  the  ante-Nicene  period.  Hence  its 
chief  value,  as  showing  the  contrast  with  later  liturgical  develop- 
ments. It  marks  most  distinctly  the  separate  services  for  the 
catechumens  and  the  faithful ;  it  has  the  simplest  form  of  ecclesi- 
astic service,  omitting  even  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  fonns  an 
essential  part  of  that  service  in  all  other  liturgies ;  the  Kicene 
Creed  is  also  absent ;  and  in  the  commemoration  of  departed  saints 
no  names  are  mentioned,  nor  is  that  of  the  "  Mother  of  God." 

(2).  The  Liturgy  of  St.  James^  is  the  oldest  type  of  the  large 
family  which  sprang  from  the  use  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem, 
which  is  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  the  Prayer  for  the  Catholic 
Church,  as  "  the  glorious  Z ion,  the  mother  of  all  churches."  -Its 
date  is  fixed  to  the  fourth  century,  on  the  one  side,  by  the  quota- 
tations  made  from  it  by  Cyril  of  Jenisalem  (ob.  386),  and  on  the 
other,  by  its  containing  the  Nicene  Creed,  as  well  as  the  terms 
ofjLoova-ioi  and  deoroKos,  and  the  commemoration  of  the  Mother 
of  God  and  all  saints,  "  that  we  through  their  prayers  and  interces- 
sions may  obtain  mercy" — but  not  yet  jyrayers  to  them.  "In 
contents  and  diction  it  is  the  most  important  of  the  ancient  litur- 
gies, and  the  fruitful  mother  of  many,  among  which  the  liturgies  of 
St.  Basil  and  St.  Chrysostom  must  be  separately  named .^  It 
spread  over  the  whole  patriarchate  of  Antioch,  even  to  Cyprus, 
Sicily,  and  Calabria;  but  it  was  supplanted  in  the  orthodox  East, 
after  the  Mohammedan  conquest,  by  the  Byzantine  liturgy.  Once 
only  in  a  year,  on  the  festival  of  St.  James  (Oct,  23)  it.is  yet  used 
at  Jerusalem  and  on  some  islands  of  Greece."  *  The  Syriac  Liturgy 
of  James,  which  is  a  free  translation  from  the  Greek,  and  bears 


'  See  Chap.  IV.  §  15. 

^  The  brother  of  Jesus,  and  first  bishop  of  Jerusalem.  The  Jerusalem 
family  of  Liturgies  is  classified  by  Neale  in  three  divisions  : — (1)  The  Sicilian 
St.  James,  used  in  that  island  before  the  Saracenic  conquest ;  (2)  The  Liturgy 
of  St.  Cyril,  which  has  been  assimilated  to  the  Alexandrian  ;  (3)  The  St/riac 
St.  James  is  the  source  of  no  less  than  thirty-nine  Syriac  liturgies,  all  of  a 
Monophvsite  character,  and  used  by  the  schismatic  Syrians  and  Jacobites. 
(For  tiie  full  list  see  Neale's  Primitive  Liturgies,  and  SchafT,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
628-029).  The  ancient  Greek  text  of  the  Liturgia  Jacobi  is  given  in  the 
Jiibliotheca  Patrum,  the  Codex  Apocn/phus  .\oii  Testamcnti,  and  the  Litur- 
gical Collections  ot'  Assemanni,  Daniel,  Trollope,  and  Ne.ile. 

'  See  Chap.  XIII.  §§  ;5  and  7, 

«  Schaff,  vol.  ii.  pp.  528,  529. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  ORIENTAL  LITURGIES.  465 

marks  of  a  later  date,  is  still  used  iu  a  great  variety  of  forms  through 
the  Monophysite  churches  of  the  East. 

(3).  The  Alexandiian  Liturcjij  of  St.  Mark  the  Evangelist,  the 
reiaited  founder  of  the  Alexandrine  church  and  school,*  at  once 
betrays  the  fallacy  of  its  title,  and  marks  the  highest  limit  of  its 
date,  by  containing  the  Nicaino-ConstantinoiX)litan  Creed  of  a.d. 
381.  It  may  be  traced,  in  its  present  form,  to  Cyril  of  Alexandria 
{pb.  444),  by  its  close  agreement  with  the  liturgy  which  expressly 
bears  that  patriarch's  name.  Its  use  was  continued  in  Egypt  till 
the  twelfth  century,  wlien  it  was  supplanted  by  the  Byzantine 
liturgy.  But  the  Copts  retained  the  version  of  it  in  their  own 
language,  from  which  several  extant  Coptic  and  Ethiopic  liturgies 
had  their  origin, 

(4).  Another  of  the  liturgies  that  bear  Apostolic  pseudonyms  is 
that  of  Thaddants,  called  also  the  Liturgy  vf  all  the  Apostles,  but 
more  properly  entitled  the  Liturgy  of  Edessa  or  Mesopotamia,  where 
it  appears  to  have  been  compiled  by  the  Kostoiian  bisliop  Maris,  in 
the  fifth  century,  though  probably  based  on  earlier  elements.  Its 
use  at  Edessa  explains  its  being  ascribed  to  Thaddajus  (or  Jude), 
the  legendary  founder  of  that  church.  It  is  con6ned  to  the  Nes- 
torians,  and  is  the  source  of  several  liturgies  still  used  by  the 
Nestorian  churches,  among  which  is  the  liturgy  of  the  Thomas- 
Christians  of  IMalabar.'^ 

(5).  All  the  above  formularies  have  either  gone  out  of  use,  or  are 
preserved  only  by  schismatic  and  remote  branches  of  the  ancient 
Oriental  Church.  But  the  Byzantine  or  ConstantinopoUtan  Liturgy 
is  still  the  living  guide  of  worship  for  the  great  Orthodox  Greek  and 
Bussian  Church.  It  is  derived  from  the  liturgies  of  Basil  and 
CimvsosTOJi,  both  of  which  were  founded  on  the  so-called  Liturgy 
of  St.  James,  and  have  in  their  turn  been  greatly  modified  in  the 
course  of  time.'  The  older  Liturgy  of  St.  Basd  is  reserved  for 
certain  s^wcial  occasions  ;*  that  of  St.  Chrysostom,  which  is  abridged 
from  Basil's,  being  used  for  the  ordinary  Sunday  service.  Since  the 
sixth  century,  through  the  influence  of  the  patriarchs  of  Constan- 
tinople, which  prevailed  over  the  others  depressed  by  the  Arab 
conquest,  this  Liturgy  supplanted  those  of  St.  James  and  St.  Mark 

>  See  Chap.  VL  §  1. 

-  The  Jl.ilabar  Lituvsry,  which  would  have  been  most  interesting  in  its 
genuine  form,  is  now  only  jjnown  in  tlie  corrupt  edition  published  by  Alexis, 
the  Portuguese  archbislioi)  of  Goa  and  the  Council  of  Diamper  (1599). 

3  See  Chap.  XIII.  §§  3  and  7. 

••  Namely,  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Basil  CJan.  1);  on  the  eves  of  Epiphany, 
Easter,  and  Christmas,  and  throughout  Lent,  e.Tcept  on  Palm  Sunday.  The 
Armenian  Liturgy  is  derived  from  that  of  Basil. 


466  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

in  the  orthodox  churches  of  the  East.  But  in  its  present  state  it 
certainly  does  not  belong  to  the  age  of  Chrysostom,  who  is  recorded 
to  have  simplified  the  Byzantine  service ;  whereas  the  alterations 
made  "in  the  course  of  time  have  produced  a  ritual  more  gorgeous 
and  elaborate  than  that  of  Rome.  It  seems,  in  fact,  not  to  liave 
received  the  name  of  Chrysostom  till  the  eighth  century,  being  still 
called  in  the  seventh  the  Liturgy  of  the  Holy  Apostles} 

§  24.  11.  The  Occidental  Liturgies  are  divided  into  three 
families: — (1).  That  used  in  the  Western  Provinces,  Gaul  and 
Spain  and  Britain,  which  derived  their  Christianity  from  Asia 
Minor.^  Hence  this  family  is  called  the  Ephesian,  and  it  is  ascribed 
to  the  apostolical  authorship  of  St.  John. 

Its  chief  tyjie  is  the  Old  Gallican  Liturgy,  for  which  recent  dis- 
coveries attest  a  very  high  antiquity.^  But  its  present  form  is  not 
older  than  the  fifth  century  ;  and  Hilary  of  Poitiers  is  named  as  one 
of  its  chief  composers,  or  rather  revisers.  It  was  superseded  by  the 
Koman  Liturgy  at  the  time  of  Charles  the  Great  (Charlemagne). 

The  close  connection  of  the  old  British  church  with  that  of  Gaul 
leaves  no  doubt  that  the  former  used  the  same  liturgy  ;  but  no 
traces  of  it  have  survived  the  Teutonic  conquest,  and  the  forms 
of  the  Christianity  re-introduced  into  Britain  by  Augustine  were 
entirely  Eoman.*  The  Old  Spardsh  or  Mozarahic^  Liturgy  is 
closely  allied  in  many  points  to  the  Gallican.     It  seems  to  have 

*  This  known  case  of  the  application  of  a  distinguished  father's  name  to 
the  liturgy  of  a  church,  with  which  he  was  connected,  gives  a  further 
explanation  of  the  similar  connection  of  the  names  of  Apostles  and  Evangelists 
with  the  liturgies  of  churches  of  which  the  foundation  was  ascribed  to 
them  by  tradition.  The  name  assigned  to  the  Liturgy  is  (if  not  a  pure 
invention)  a  mere  inference,  and  cannot  be  any  argument  for  its  real 
authorship. 

-  See  Chap.  111.  §  11.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Roman  Britain  received 
the  Gospel  from  Gaul ;  and  Spain  was  evangelized  probably  from  Gaul, 
unless  it  were  more  directly  from  the  East. 

3  "  Edited  by  Mabillon,  de  Liturgia  Gallicana  Lihri  iii.  Par.  1729 ;  and 
recently  in  a  much  more  complete  form,  from  older  MSS.,  by  F.  J.  Mone, 
Lat.  ntui  Gricch.  Messcii  ans  den  '2ten  bis  Gtcii  Jahrhundcrt,  Frankf.  a.  31., 
1850.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important  liturgical  discoveries.  Moue  gives 
fragments  of  eleven  mass-formularies  from  a  Chdex  Eescriptus  of  the 
former  cloister  of  Reichenau,  which  are  older  than  those  previously  known, 
but  hardly  reach  back,  as  he  thinks,  to  the  second  century  (the  time  of  the 
persecution  at  Lyons,  A.n.  177)." — Schaff,  vol.  iii.  p.  531. 

*  See  Chap.  XIX.  §  10. 

*  This  word  was  a  term  of  contempt  applied  by  the  Arab  conquerors  of 
Spain  to  their  Christian  subjects.  It  is  not  a  compound  (according  to  some 
fanciful  etymologies),  but  a  participial  form  of  the  verb 'ara6a,  and  signifies 
.in  Arab  by  adoption  or  subjection,  or  Arabist,  to  coin  a  word  from  the 
analogy  of  Hellenist. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  OCCIDENTAL  LITURGIES.  467 

been  introduced  before  the  conquest  by  the  Visigoths  in  409,^  for  it 
has  no  traces  of  their  Arian  heresy,  or  of  the  Byzantine  ritual, 
which  they  would  naturally  have  brought  with  them.  Moulded 
into  its  present  form  by  Isidore  of  Seville  and  the  fourth  council  of 
Toledo  (033),  it  remained  in  use  till  the  thirteenth  century,  when 
it  gave  place  to  the  Eoman  order  of  service.^ 

(2),  The  Liturgy  of  St.  Ambrose^  is  still  a  living  service  in  the 
diocese  of  Milan,  where  it  maintained  ils  ground  against  all  at- 
tempts to  substitute  the  Roman  Order,  till  at  length  its  use  was 
confirmed  by  a  bull  of  Alexander  VI.  (1497).  For  this  also  an 
apostolic  author  has  been  sought  in  St.  Barnabas.  Its  main 
substance  is  doubtless  older  tlian  Ambrose ;  but  we  know  that  he 
composed  several  prayers,  jirefaces,  and  hymns,  and  he  introduced 
the  responsive  singing  which  was  already  used  in  the  Eastern 
Church.*  Many  additions  are  said  to  have  been  made  by  Simplicius, 
the  successor  of  Ambrose  (397-400) ;  and  it  was  further  modified 
under  the  Gothic  and  Lombard-  kings,  from  the  end  of  the  fifth 
century  to  the  eighth.  In  its  present  form,  "excepting  some 
Oriental  peculiarities,  it  coincides  substantially  with  the  Roman 
liturgy,  but  it  has  neither  the  pregnant  brevity  of  the  Roman,  nor 
the  richness  and  fulness  of  the  Mozarabic. 

A  liturgy  nearly  allied  to  the  Ambrosian  was  long  used  in  the 
patriarchate  of  Aquileia. 

(3).  The  Roman  Liturgy  is  of  course  ascribed,  like  the  foundiv- 
tion  of  the  Roman  Church,  to  St.  Peter,  and  is  also  called  Petrine. 

'  The  development  of  the  Spanish  Liturgy  certainly  took  place  under  the 
Gothic  kings,  whence  it  is  often  called  tro^Aic;  and  some,  misled  by  this 
title,  have  maintained  that  it  was  introduced  by  the  Goths,  and  derived 
from  Constantinople. 

-  The  Mozarabic  Liturgy  was  first  printed  at  Toledo  (1500),  but  with 
some  alterations  in  conformity  with  the  Roman,  by  Cardinal  Ximenes,  who 
founded  a  chapel  in  the  Cathedral  of  Toledo,  and  also  one  at  Salamanca, 
where  this  form  of  service  is  still  continued  daily.  The  old  Liturgy  has 
been  edited  by  Xeale  {Tetralogia  Liturgica,  in  comparison  with  the  Liturgie.s 
of  Chrysostom,  James,  and  Mark),  and  in  the  85th  volume  of  Migne's 
Fatrologie,  Paris,  1850. 

^  Missalc  Ambrosianuni,  Mediol.  1768  j  a  later  edition  under  the  authority 
of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  Gaisruck,  Mediol.  •  1850.  Neale  {Essags  on 
Litargiologg,  pp.  171.  toll.)  considers  the  Ambrosian  Liturgy,  like  the  Gal- 
lican  and  the  Mozarabic,  a  branch  of  the  Ephesian  family.  '•  All  three  have 
been  moulded  by  contact  with  the  Petrine  family ;  but  the  Ambrosian,  as 
might  be  expected,  most  of  all." 

*  Compare  Chap.  VIII.  §  4,  and  Chap.  XL  §  9  This  antiphonal  singing 
is  a  mark  connecting  the  Ambrosian  witli  tlie  Ephesian  Liturgv,  for  its 
first  use  in  the  East  is  ascribed  by  tradition  to  Ignatius,  a  disciple  in  the 
direct  line  of  St.  John. 


4G8  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

Its  present  form  (in  substance)  cannot  be  traced  historically  above 
the  fifth  century  ;  but  the  antiquity  of  its  leading  features  is 
attested  by  a  general  agreement  with  the  other  ancient  formularies. 
The  fragments  also  of  an  African  Liturgy,  quoted  by  'J'ertullian, 
Cyprian,  and  Augustine,  point,  by  their  resemblance  to  the  Roman 
type,  to  a  common  original  as  old  as  the  latter  part  of  the  second 
century. 

The  oldest  written  forms  of  this  Liturgy,  however,  are  found  in 
three  Sacramentaries,  bearing  the  names  of  Popes  Leo  1.  (ob.  461),V 
Gelasius  (oh.  496),  and  Gregory  L  The  last  of  these,  ascribed  to 
Gregory  the  GReat,'^  is  the  original  of  the  Ordo  et  Canon  MisscPf 
which,  modified  at  various  times,  pre-vailed  over  everj^  other  Latin 
Liturgy,  except  the  Hilus  Ambrosianus,  and  was  finally  sanctioned 
by  the  Council  of  Trent.  The  various  parts  of  the  Roman  Liturgy, 
collected  into  one  book,  form  the  Missal  (Missale  Romanurti)? 

For  the  details  of  the  forms  contained  in  these  various  liturgies, 
and  especially  the  diversities  between  the  Eastern  and  the  Western, 
it  must  suffice  to  refer  to  the  special  works  on  what  is  called 
Lihirgiology.* 

§  25.  All  the  early  Liturgies  contain  confessions  of  faith,  called 
Creeds  or  Si/mboh.^     Such  formularies  had  a  twofold  origin,  in  the 

'  This  Sacratncntarium  Leonianum  or  Veronense  (so  called  from  a  Verona 
MS.),  seems  to  be  misnamed  and  to  date  not  earlier  than  the  end  of  the 
fifth  century.  The  second  may  be  genuine,  as  Gelasius  is  known  to  have 
composed  a  Sacramentarium.  *  See  Chap.  XiX.  §  3. 

^  These  parts  are  the  Sacramentarium,  the  Antip/wnarium,  the  Lection- 
an«)7i(containiug  the  lessons  from  the  Old  Testament,  the  Acts,  the  Epistles, 
and  the  A])ocalypse),  the  Evangeliarium  (the  lessons  from  the  Gospels),  and 
the  Ordo  Jlomanus.  The  directions  for  the  priests,  being  written  or  printed 
in  red  letters,  are  called  Ruhrka;,  "the  Hubriclvs." 

*  For  a  summary  view,  see  SchaflT,  vol.  ii.  pp.  517-538;  and  the  Did.  of 
Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  LITURGIES. 

*  The  term  Creed  describes  properly  such  professions  as  begin  with  the 
word  Credo  (iria-Tevw),  "  I  believe "  (also  in  the  plural,  and  in  the  in- 
terrogative form,  "  Dost  thou  believe?");  but  it  is  used  in  a  wider  sense 
for  an  epitome  of  the  chief  doctrines  held  by  the  Church  or  any  branch  of 
it,  as  well  as  for  a  formulated  declaration  of  faith  on  some  particular 
doctrine,  as  that  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  The  general  standard  of  doctrine 
referred  to  above  is  designated  by  the  early  Fathers  as  6  irio-Teeoy  apxaias 
Kavaiv,  b  Kaviiv  rfjs  a\r]d(ias,  6  Kavuiv  tKK\ri<Ttaa-riK6s,  rh  Kripvyfia  tJ» 
aiTo<rTO\iK6i',  rj  thayyfKik^  koI  iiroffToXtK^  irapdSoiris,  rcgula  Jidci,  lex 
pdei.  A  formal  creed,  in  the  stricter  sense,  is  caih?<l  r]  ttIo-tis  (a  favourite 
designation  of  the  Nicene  Creed),  r/  irapaSoOe'iaa  vixiv  ayia  Kal  airoffroXiKri 
ttiVtij,  fi<les,  fides  apostoli<:a,  Jides  catholica.  'J'he  word  si/mhtilitm  ("a 
watchword,"  and  hence  a  form  of  mutual  recognition  among  believers)  is 
first  used  by  Cyprian  with  express  reference  to  the  form  used  at  baptism, 
and  it  became  the  favourite  designation  of  the  baptismal  creed.  From  the 
Latin  Church  it  gradually  found  its  way  into  the  Greek  in  this  sense, 
though  <Tvn$o\ov  was  before  used  for  a  "  sign." 


Cent.1V.-VI.  creeds  or  symbols.  4()9 

epitomes  of  doctrine  required  as  a  profession  of  foitli  at  bapti.sm,  and 
in  the  compendious  expressions  of  Cliristian  truth  as  opposed  to  the 
teaching  of  heretics.  The  latter,  wliile  founded  upon  and  sustained 
by  Scripture,  is  also  closely  connected  with  the  "apostolical  tra- 
dition" and  catholic  "rule  of  faith,"  ■which  was  recognised  from 
very  early  times,  as  by  Irenajus  and  TertuUian.' 

From  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  if  not  earlier,-  we  trace 
the  use  of  baptismal  creeds,  which  echoed  the  formula  of  baptism 
given  by  our  Lord.  The  convert  was  reasonably  required  to  profess 
liis  faith  in  the  Holy  names  into  which  he  was  baptized.^  Thus 
TertuUiau  speaks  of  the  Holy  Spirit  "sanctifying,  the  faith  of  those 
who  believed  in  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and 
each  clause  of  the  profession  was  followed  by  an  act  of  immersion. •• 
But  there  was  already  more  than  this  simple  formula,  for  TertuUian 
also  tells  us**  that  "  the  Catechumen  was  thrice  immersed,  answer- 
ing something  more  than  the  Lord  commanded  in  his  Gospel." 
From  his  tract  On  Baptism,^  wc  may  plainly  infer  that  this 
"  something  more  "  included  the  professions  of  faith  which  cor- 
responded to  baptism  tinto  repentance  and  the  remission  (if  sins  and 
into  the  Church.  And  Oyjirian,  speaking  of  the  baptismal  symbol 
(the  Holy  names),  and  the  constantly  used  and  legally  established 
words  of  interrogation,*  quotes  as  at  least  a  j)art  of  the  latter, 
"  Dost  thou  believe  remission  of  the  sins  and  eternal  life  through 
the  Church?"^  As  earl}%  therefore,  as  the  third  century  (in  the 
West)  we  may  safely  add  these  articles  to  an  ancient  form  of  the 
baptismal  Creed,"  in  which  the  Catechumen  says,  "  I  believe  in  the 
only  true  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  and  in  his  only-begotten  Son, 
Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
Life-giver."     The  Catechumens  Were  instructed  in  the  articles  of 

'  See  Chap.  IX.,  §  20. 

-  The  expression  of  Ircnrcus  about  "  the  canon  of  the  truth  which  every 
one  received  at  his  baptism  "  suggests  a  formal  creed,  but  is  perhaps  too 
general  to  insist  on. 

^  The  passage  in  Acts  viii.  37,  which  seems  to  furnish  an  e.\ample  in 
the  apostolic  age,  is  wanting  in  all  the  best  JISS. ;  but  its  insertion  is 
another  witness  to  the  early  practice.  Here  "  belief  with  the  whole  heart  " 
is  re(|uired  by  Philip  as  the  only  condition  of  baptism,  and  the  eunuch's 
profession  is  sim|dy,  "I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God." 

*  Such  baptismal  confessions  are  found  in  the  Pseiiilo-Ambrose  On  the 
Sncriimcnts  (ii.  7,  in  question  and  answer,  with  the  threefold  immersion), 
and  in  ancient  forms  of  the  Gallican  and  Koman  liturgies. 

*  Pc  Corona  Militis,  §  3.  «  Pe  Baplisma,  §11. 

*  "  Usitdta  et  Icijitima  verh-x  intcrrogationis  :"  Epist.  ad  Firmilian.  75,  §  x. 
'•  Epist.  ad  Miiijnum,  G9.  §  vii. 

'  Preserved  in  the  Ethiopic  MS.  of  the  Apostolical  Constitutions. 

0  0 


470  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVni. 

faith  which  they  were  to  profess  at  their  baptism;  and  in  the  last 
stage  of  their  preparation  (as  comj'teteiits)  they  were  taught  to  recite 
the  formal  baptismal  symbol.^  Thus  the  Baptismal  Creed  became 
a  Kule  of  Faith :  while,  on  the  other  hand  the  expansion  of  the 
recognised  Rule  of  Faith  by  theological  discussion,  and  especially  in 
the  controversies  with  heretics,  would  cause  the  introduction  of 
new  articles  into  the  Creed,  though  its  baptismal  use  required  its 
simplicity  and  brevity  to  be  maintained. 

Such  a  development  of  the  Rule  of  Faith  and  of  its  expression  in 
various  forms  of  the  Baptismal  Creed  may  be  traced  through  the 
Fathers  of  the  first  four  centuries,  till  it  assumes  that  definite  form, 
of  which  the  Roman  version  ^  ultimately  prevailed,  in  the  misnamed 
Creed  of  the  Ajwstles.  In  acknowledging  that  it  has  no  claim  to 
that  venerable  title,  we  must  guard  against  the  common  assumption 
that  it  is  the  oldest,  as  well  as  the  simplest  Creed  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  True — as  we  have  seen — it  may  be  traced,  in  its  most 
essential  elements,  from  an  early  post-apostolic  age;  but,  its 
development  belongs  solely  to  the  Western  Church,^  and  its  formal 
adoption,  as  a  written  Creed,  is  later  than  the  Nicene.  It  was 
the  ancient  baptismal  creed  as  used  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
was  known  as  the  SymhoJum  Homcminn,  or  simply  Symholum, 
before  it  received  the  epithet  of  Apostolorum.  Its  forms  were  dif- 
ferent in  different  churches ;  the  earlier  forms  variously  omitting 
the    articles   of   the   "  descent    into   hell,"    "  the    communion    of 

'  Ambrose,  describing'  to  Jlarcellina  the  riots  at  Milan,  mentions  (evi- 
dently as  a  custom)  that  on  Sunday,  after  the  reading  of  the  lessons  and 
the  sermon,  the  catechumens  having  been  dismissed,  he  delivered  the 
symbol  to  the  competentes  in  the  baptistery  of  the  basilica. 

^  Hence  called  Symholum  Iiomanum,  as  well  as  Symholum  Apostolorum. 
The  legend  which  ascribed  it  to  the  Apostles — each  supplying  one  of  the 
twelve  clauses — is  first  found  in  Rufinus,  Expositio  in  Symbol.  Apost. 
(about  A.D.  400).  The  title  must  now  be  regarded  as  mere  conventional 
nomenclature  (there  are  thousands  such  in  history  and  science),  which  it 
would  be  as  idle  to  attempt  to  change  as  to  defend  it  on  grounds  which 
are  mere  afterthoughts.  The  gradual  growth  and  full  development  of  the 
Creed  is  admirably  traced  by  Professor  Heurtley,  Ilarmonia  Symholka. 
The  whole  subject  of  the  Creeds  is  also  treated  by  Canon  Swainson,  '  The 
Nicene  and  Apostles'  Creeds :  their  Literary  History,  together  with  an 
Account  of  the  Growth  and  Reception  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Faith,  com- 
monly called  "The  Creed  of  St.  Athanasius," '  1875;  also  in  his  article 
Crkeds  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antlqq.  The  various  forms  of  the  Creeds 
are  given  in  Dr.  August  Hahn's  Collection  of  Fonnnlcc. 

*  "  The  Eastern  Churches  denied  all  knowledge  of  it  at  the  Council  of 
Florence.  Kphesius,  one  of  the  legates  of  the  Oriental  Churches,  is  said  to 
have  there  stated,  Tjfieis  oijTe  ^x"!^^"  otire  eiSu/xev  rh  (rvfx$o\ov  rwv  airo- 
(ttSKwv  (Waterland,  ill.  p.  196;  Nicolas,  Le  SymI)ole  dcs  Apotres,  p.  270). 
— Swainson,  Diet,  of  Christian  Aniiqq.,  vol.  i.  p.  493. 


Cent.  IV. -VI.  THE  "APOSTLES'  CKEED."  471 

saints,"  "the  life  everlasting,"  and  the  epithet  "catholic"  before 
"  church." 

The  Koman  Symbol  is  first  distinctly  mentioned  by  Rufinus,  in 
a  passage  which  also  bears  witness  to  the  variety  of  forms  in  which 
the  Creed  was  used.  "  He  describes  the  Creed  of  the  Church  of 
Aquileia  as  resembling  very  nearly  that  of  Home;  he  says  that, 
at  neither  church  had  it  ever  been  put  into  writing  in  a  con- 
tinuous foi'm,  but  adds  that  he  regards  the  type  as  preserved  in  the 
Church  of  Rome  as  probably  of  the  purest  character,  because  there 
the  ancient  2^^'nctice  rous  preserved  of  the  catechumen  reciting  the 
Creed  in  the  hearing  of  the  faithful."^  Here  then  we  have  a 
definite  form  constantly  repeated  from  memory,  but  not  yet  com- 
mitted to  writing ;  and  the  custom  of  preserving  this  symbol 
unwritten  is  referred  to  again  and  again  by  Jerome  and  Augustine. 
"  We  are  inclined  to  believe,"  says  Canon  Swainson,  "  that  the 
Creed  must  have  been  committed  to  writing  when  it  became 
customary  to  recite  it  at  the  Mass.  The  Gelasian  Sacramentary 
(which,  even  if  interpolated,  must  describe  the  ritual  of  the  Roman 
Church  at  some  epoch  or  other)  contains  it.  Since  the  time  of 
Benedict  VIII.,  the  Nicene  Creed  (so-called)  has  been  used  at  Rome 
in  the  Eucharistic  service."     (See  next  section.)  ^ 

§  26.  In  the  Eastern  Church  the  development  of  Creeds  was 
more  closely  connected  with  doctrinal  controversy.  It  was  the 
boast  of  Rufinus  and  of  Ambrose,  that  no  heresy  took  its  rise  within 
the  Church  of  ]\ome,  and  that  she  had  preserved  undefiled  the 
Symbol  of  the  Apostles.  We  have  seen  how  the  chief  Creed  of  the 
whole  orthodox  Church  was  framed  in  the  East  against  the  Arian 
heresy  ;^  but  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it  was  the  pure 
original  composition  of  the  Nicene  Council.  The  assembled  fathers 
plainly  followed  the  guidance  of  an  ancient  baptismal  creed,  one 
form  of  which  is  extant. 

In  the  seventh  book  of  the  Apostolical  Constitutions*  we  have  a 

*  Swainson,  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  vol.  i.  p.  493. 

"  Mention  has  been  made  above  of  creeds  thrown  into  an  interrogatory 
form,  "Of  these  some  were  used  from  an  early  period  at  baptism;  and 
others  in  later  years  at  the  visitation  of  the  sick.  Dr.  Heurtley  has  col- 
lected several  instances  of  the  former  series ;  and  the  pages  of  Martene 
contain  many  e.vtracts  from  old  MSS.  giving  the  order  for  the  latter.  The 
earliest  instance  of  such  a  use  at  confession  that  we  have  found  is  in  the 
rule  of  Chrodegang  (a.d.  750).     (Migne,  89,  p.  1070.)" — Swainson,  I.e. 

^  See  Chap.  X. 

■*  This  book  "  is  regarded  by  most  critics  as  older  than  the  Nicene 
Council,  and  by  many  as  representing  the  customs  of  Antioch,  about  the  end 
of  the  third  century.  Dr.  Caspari  assigns  it  to  the  same  period,  though  he 
considersit  to  have  belonged  to  the  Syrian  Churches." — Swainson,  I.e.  p.  491, 


472  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVHI. 

full  account  of  the  ceremonies  which  were  performed  at  baptism, 
and  of  the  confession  which  the  catechumen  made.  He  said :  "  I 
renounce  Satan  and  his  works,"  .  .  .  "and  after  his  renunciation 
(proceeds  the  text)  let  him  say, '  I  enrol  myself  under  Christ,  and  I 
believe  and  am  bajjtized  into  one,  imbegottcn,  only,  true  God, 
Almighty,  the  Father  of  Christ,  the  Creator  and  Maker  of  all  things, 
of  whom  are  all  things ;  and  in  the  Lord  Jesus  the  Christ,  His  only- 
begotten  Son,  begotten  before  all  creation,  who  by  the  pleasure  of 
the  Father  was  before  all  the  world  ;  begotten,  not  made  ;  through 
whom  all  things  were  made  which  are  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  both 
visible  and  invisible  ;  who  in  the  last  days  came  down  from  heaven 
and  assumed  flesh,  of  the  Holy  Virgin  Mary  being  born,  and  lived 
holily  after  the  laws  of  His  God  and  Father,  and  was  crucified  under 
Pontius  Pilate,  and  died  for  us,  and  rose  again  from  the  dead,  after 
His  suffering,  on  the  third  day,  and  ascended  into  the  heavens  and 
sat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  and  is  coming  again  at  the 
end  of  the  world  with  glory  to  judge  quick  and  dead,  of  whose 
kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end.  I  am  baptized,  too,  in  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  that  is,  the  Paraclete,  which  wrought  in  all  the  saints  since 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  was  afterwards  sent  from  the 
Father,  according  to  the  promise  of  our  Saviour  and  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;  and,  after  the  Apostles,  to  all  who  believe  in  (eV)  the  holy 
Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  in  (ds)  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh,^ 
and  the  remission  of  sins,  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  life 
of  the  world  to  come. ' "  Such  is  the  "  baptismal  confession,"^  or 
Creed,  which  connects  the  "  Kule  of  Faith"  wliich  may  be  found 
in  Irenajus  with  the  Creed  which  has  received  the  name  of  the 
Nicenc.  Eusebius,  too,  transcribes  for  his  flock  the  Creed  which  he 
had  recited  at  the  Kicene  Council  as  "  that  used  when  he  had  been 
a  catechumen,  and  again  when  he  was  baptized." 

Tlie  ^Mcene  Creed  itself,  likewise,  was  used  as  a  baptismal  con- 
fession for  some  time  before  it  is  found  in  the  Eucharist,  or  anj'  other 
liturgical  office.^     The  first  known  example  of  its  use  in  the  com- 

•  It  must  suffice  here  simply  to  point  out  to  the  thoughtful  reader  the 
importance  of  the  distinction  (which  is  obscured  in  our  English  versions  of 
the  Creeds)  between  the  three  phrases,  iriarfvu  and  credo  with  the  object 
in  the  Accusative,  iriartvoi  els  and  credo  in  (with  Accus.),  and  Trfo-Tfuw  iy 
and  credo  in  (with  l)at.  and  Abl.).  '  'OfxoXoyia  ^aTrTitr/jaTos. 

^  For  the  proofs  ot'  this  from  the  Council  of  Ephesus  (-I-;)!),  tlio  Kobber 
Synod  (449),  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  (451),  and  from  Epiphanius  and 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  see  Swainson,  I.e.  p.  491.  The  distinction  is  to  be 
observed  here  between  the  original  Nicene  Creed,  which  was  called  "the 
Creed  of  the  318"  (from  the  number  of  bishops  at  the  Council),  and 
the  same  with  the  additions  made  at  Constantinople,  which  is  called  "  the 
<<aith  of  the  150  holy  fathers."'      Bofh  were    accepted  at  Chalcedon  as 


Cent.  IV.-VI,  THE  "NICENK  CREED."  473 

moil  worship  of  the  Eastern  Church  is  the  order  of  Timotheus, 
bishop  of  Constantinople  (a.d.  511),^  "  that  the  Creed  should  be 
recited  at  every  congregation  ;  whereas  previously  it  had  been  used 
only  on  the  Thursday  before  Easter,  when  the  bishop  catechized 
the  candidates  for  baptism."  "  A  similar  direction  had  been  given 
by  Peter  the  Fuller,  Patriarch  of  Antioch  (450  to  488).  Then  it 
seems  to  liave  spread  through  the  East,  and  thus  the  Creeds  seem 
to  have  found  their  way  into  the  liturgies  which  bear  the  names  of 
Chrysostom,  Basil,  and  others.  From  the  East  the  custom  came 
into  the  West.  The  third  Council  of  Toledo,  c.  ii.  (.\.u.  589) 
directed  that  "  before  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  tlie  liturgy,  the  creed  of 
the  150  should  be  recited  by  the  peoi)le  through  all  the  churches 
of  Spain  and  Gallicia,  according  to  the  form  of  the  Oriental 
Churches."  ^ 

From  a  dispute  between  Pope  Leo  IIL,  and  Charles  the  Great 
(about  806)  concerning  the  words  Filioque,  it  appears  that  some 
Creed  (and  probably  the  Nica^no-Constantinopolitan)  was  then 
sung  at  Rome  in  the  service  of  the  Mass,  but  without  the  disputed 
words,  which  were  used  in  the  Frank  churches.*  About  half  a 
century  later  (between  847  and  858),  Leo  IV.  and  Benedict  IIL 
directed  that  the  Creed  should  be  recited  in  Greek*   (of  course, 

"the  faith  of  the  Catholics,"  but  it  was  only  at  the  reading  of  the  Nicene 
symbol  that  they  responded,  "  In  this  we  have  been  baptized,  in  this  we 
baptize."  There  were  also  other  confessions  of  faith,  put  forth  on  special 
occasions  as  declarations  of  orthodoxy,  but  not  iised  in  any  office  of  the 
Church  ;  expositions  of  the  Faith,  rather  than  Crads. 

'  Cited  by  Theodorus  Lector,  lI.E.  p.  5G3. 

*  Swainson,  I.e.,  who  adds  the  words  of  Reccared's  confirming  order, 
that  all  tlie  churches  of  Spain  and, Gaul  should  observe  the  rule,  accurdimj 
to  the  custom  of  the  Eastern  Fathers,  of  reciting  together,  with  a  loud 
voice,  the  "  most  holy  symbol  of  the  faith  "  before  communicating  in  the 
Eucharist  (Mansi,  ix.  08;i).  The  priest  recited  the  Creed  whilst  he  held 
the  consecrated  host  in  his  hand  (Mabillon,  Litunj.  Gall.  1685,  pp.  2,  12, 
450).  We  should  note  that  the  position  of  the  Creed  in  the  Jlozarabic 
Liturgy  answers  to  the  directions  of  Rcccared. 

^  The  Constantinopolitan  Creed  api)ears  in  the  Baptismal  Service  of  the 
so-called  Gelasiau  Sacramentary  ;  but  this  is  very  uncertain  evidence  for 
the  date  of  its  introduction.  On  this  question,  and  some  interesting  par- 
ticulars connected  with  it,  see  Swainson,  I.e.  §  17,  p.  4y2. 

«  Photius,  de  Spiritus  Mi/staijogia  (Jligne.  vol.  cii.  p.  395).  The  reason 
assigned  is  iVa  ^tj  rb  arfvhi'  rfjs  5iaAe/cTou  ^Kaa<pr\^i.las  trapaaxV  T^P^'po-'^^v, 
an  ambiguous  phrase,  which  Canon  Swainson  takes  to  mean,  "  lest  the 
narrow  character  of  the  Latin  language  should  atVord  any  pretext  for  evil 
spcakiiuj  ■"  but  of  what  sort?  Probably,  cavils  against  the  doctrine  from 
its  fault v  expression  in  flie  Latin  version.  At  all  events,  the  rh  artvov 
TTJy  SioaVktou  is  an  important  testimony  to  the  impossibility  of  dispensing 
with  a  knowledge  of  Greek  in  the  study  of  antiquity. 


474  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

therefore,  without  the  Western  interpolation,  FiJioque).  But  the 
Franks  held  to  their  Latin  version,  which  was  introduced  more  and 
more  generally  into  the  regular  service  of  the  Western  Churches. 
That  form  had  become  universal  in  the  West,  except  at  Home,  by 
the  end  of  the  tenth  century  ;  and  the  resistance  of  the  Popes  was 
at  length  overcome  by  the  influence  of  the  emperor  Henry  II.  over 
Benedict  VIIl.^  (1014).  From  that  time  the  Creed  was  regularly 
used  in  all  the  Latin  Liturgies  in  the  form  in  which  it  is  retained 
in  the  Communion  Service  of  the  Church  of  England. 

§  27.  Our  limits  preclude  any  complete  discussion  of  the  much 
agitated  and  still  very  doubtful  questions  about  the  origin  and  date 
of  the  composition  misnamed  "  The  Creed  of  St.  Athanasius."^  As 
to  its  form  and  substance,  it  is  not  a  proper  Creed,  but  a  responsive 
Canticle,  meant  from  the  first  to  be  sung  antiphonally  in  worship, 
and  hence  it  is  often  entitled  a  Psalm ;  like  the  earlier  hymns 
written  to  inculcate  doctrine.  It  was  never  used  as  a  Baptismal 
Symbol,  nor  was  it  a  Confession  of  Faith  drawn  up  at  any  Council ; 
but  it  is  a  laboured  statement  of  the  ultimate  form  into  which  the 
orthodox  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation  was  cast  by 
some  keenly  logical  and  dialectic  mind.  Its  great  pur2X)se  was  the 
public  asseveration  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  as  universally,  and 
undoubtedly  essential  to  salvation:*  and  it  is  very  generally  over- 

»  Comp.  Chap.  XXV.  §  2. 

'  "Syinbohim  St.  Athanasii,"  or  ^^  Athanasianum,"  also  called  "  Symbo- 
lum  Quicunqiie,''  or  "  Psalmus  Quicunque  vidt "  (from  its  first  words),  and 
"  Fides  Catholica  "  (from  the  assertion  contained  in  its  first  and  middle  and 
last  verses).  With  regard  to  the  pretended  authorship  implied  in* its  title, 
the  student  should  remember  an  important  critical  distinction  between 
three  sorts  of  spurious  works.  There  are  those  of  which  the  authorship  is 
unknown,  but,  from  marks  of  age,  style,  subject,  and  so  forth,  they  have 
been  honestly  ascribed  to  wrong  authors.  There  are  others  wilfully  fabri- 
cated under  a  famous  name.  And  there  are  those  which,  being  genuine 
works  of  antiquity,  but  of  unknown  authorship,  have  been  ascribed  to 
famous  writers,  who  wore  previously  well-known  not  to  be  their  authors. 
The  "Creed  of  St.  Athanasius"  is  of  the  last  kind.  It  was  never  ascribed 
to  him  till  long  after  his  death ;  and  his  name  was  evidently  connected 
with  it  simply  as  being  an  exposition  of  the  Trinitarian  doctrine,  of  which 
he  was  the  zealous  champion,  but  not  in  the  peculiar  form  given  to  it  in 
this  Creed. 

^  These  strong  asseverations  open  and  close  the  Creed,  and  are  repeated 
about  the  middle,  in  concluding  the  statement  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  and  passing  on  to  that  of  the  Incarnation  of  .Tesus  Christ  (vv.  28, 
29).  The  opening  verses,  and  the  last,  read  thus  in  the  original  Latin: — 
"t^uicunque  vult  salvus  esse,  ante  omnia  opus  est,  ut  teneat  Catholicam 
Fidem  :  t^uam  nisi  quisquam  intcgram  inviolatamque  servaverit,  absque 
dubio  in  aiternum  peribit :  Fides  autem  Catholica  ha-c  est.  .  .  "  Then 
follows  the   doctrinal  statement,  concluding,   "  Ha;c  est  Fides  Catholica, 


Cent.  IV.-VL  THE  "ATHANASIAN  CREED."  475 

looked  that  this  necessity  of  holding  the  Catholic  Faitli  is  the  first 
and  main  predicate  of  the  Creed ;  though  the  necessity  of  holding  it 
in  the  particular  form  stated  is  included  in  the  assertion.  It  is  this 
uncompromising  Catholicism,  rather  than  the  logical  form  in  which 
the  doctrine  is  stated,  that  makes  it  a  stumbling-block  to  those 
who  hold  lower  views  of  the  authority  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
of  the  reception  of  Catholic  doctrine  as  essential  to  salvation,  than 
were  recognised  in  the  age  to  which  the  Creed  belongs. 

Not  only  has  it  no  claim  whatever  to  the  authorship,  or  even  the 
age  of  Athanasius ;  it  did  not  even  originate  from  the  Eastern 
Church,  where  it  does  not  appear'till  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century. 
It  is  not  only  never  cited  as  the  composition  of  Athanasius  by  any 
writer  near  his  time,  but  no  trace  of  its  peculiar  fonn  and  phraseology 
is  found  in  his  writings,  or  those  of  his  contemporaries,  nor  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  third  and  fourth  general  Councils.^  On  the  other 
hand,  the  most  perfect  para'Uels  to  its  phraseology  may  be  collected 
from  Augustine,  Ambrose,  Vincent  of  Lerins,  and.  other  Latin 
divines  ;^  and  its  doctrine  ^of  the  double  procession  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  would  alone  suffice  to  mark  its  Western  origin.'  This 
doctrine,  and  the  parallels  referred  to,  which  are  really  in  the  nature 
of  quotations,''  not  only  bear  witness  to  the  source  of  the  Creed, 
but  mark  the  superior  limit  of  its  date.  "  It  implies  (says  Schaff), 
the  entire  post-Nicene  or  Augustmian  development  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  and  even  the  Christological  discussions  of  the  fifth 
century,  though  it  does  not  contain  the  anti-Nestorian  test-word 
deoTOKos,  '  Mother  of  God.'  ^ On  the  other  hand,  it  contains 

quani  nisi  quisque  fideliter  firniiterque  crodiderit,  salvus  esse  non  poterit." 
The  ruling  idea  is  also  shown  in  such  passages  as  "confiteri  Christiana 
vcritatc  compellimur"  (v.  19),  and  "  dicere  catholica  religione  pi'ohibemur  " 
(V.  20). 

'  "  Ger.  Vossius  first  demonstrated  the  spuriousness  of  the  tradition 
in  his  decisive  treatise  of  1G42  ("  De  Tribus  Symbolis  diss,  ii.")  Even 
Roman  divines,  like  Quesnel,  Dupin,  Pagi,  Tillemont,  Jlontfaucon,  and 
Muratori,  admit  the  spuriousness.  Kollner  adduces  nineteen  proofs  against 
the  Athanasian  origin  of  the  Creed,  two  or  three  of  which  are  perfectly 
sufficient  without  the  rest." — Sehaft',  vol.  iii.  p,  695,  note. 

-  See  the  passages  cited  by  Sehaft',  I.e. 

^  See  v.  23,  "Spiritus  sanctus  [est]  a  Patre  et  Filio :  non  factus;  nee 
creatus  ;  nee  genitus  ;  sed  procedens."  So  Augustine  says  (Da  Trin.  xv.  26), 
"  Non  igitur  ab  utroque  est  genitus,  sed  procedit  ab  titrw/ue  Spiritus 
sanctus." 

*  No  reader  of  the  Latin  theologians  referred  to  can  fail  to  see  that  thev 
are  reasoning  out  their  own  views  of  the  doctrine,  and  not  quoting  them 
from  an  existing  creed, 

*  The  Western  origin  of  the  Creed  perhaps  detracts  somewhat  from  the 
force  of  the  inference  as  to  date  drawn  from  this  omission,  and  also  from 


476  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

no  allusions  to  the  Monophysite  and  Monothelite  controversies,  and 
cannot  be  jilaced  later  than  the  year  570 ;  for  at  that  date  Venantius 
Fortiinatus  of  Poitiers  wrote  a  short  commentary  on  it.  It  probably 
originated  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  in  the  school  of 
Augustine,  and  in  Gaul,  where  it  makes  its  first  appearance,  and 
acquires  its  first  ecclesiastical  authoritj\  But  the  precise  author  or 
compiler  cannot  be  discovered,  and  the  various  views  of  scholars 
concerning  him  are  mere  opinions.^  From  Gaul  the  authority  of 
this  symbol  spread  over  the  whole  of  Latin  Christendom,  and 
subsequently  made  its  way  into  some  portions  of  the  Greek  Church 
in  Europe."  The  earliest  distinct  example  of  its  formal  adoption  as 
a  symbol  of  orthodoxy  is  a  canon  of  the  Council  of  Christiacum 
(^Cressy\  a.d.  G76,  which  ej;acts  from  every  priest,  deacon,  sub- 
deacon,  or  clericus,  assent  to  the  "  Fides  S.  Athanasii  praesulis.'"^ 
Its  adoption  into  the  Liturgy  of  the  Frank  Church  is  ascribed,  with 
much  probability,  to  the  authority  of  Charles  the  Great.  "  Gieseler 
and  others  consider  that  it  was  this  Creed  that  was  ordered  to  be 
learnt  by  heart  by  the  Council  of  Frankfort,  794,  when  it  decreed, 
'  Ut  fides  catholica  sanctaj  Trinitatis  et  oratio  Dominica  atque 
Symbolum  Fidei  omnibus  prajdicatur  et  tradatur ; '  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  the  term  fides  catholica  here  is  generic  :  at  all  events 
we  would  refer  to  the  creed  contained  in  Charlemagne's  letter  to 
Elij^andus,^  which  was  assigned  to  the  same  date  (794)  as  being 
more  probably  the  fides  catholica  of  the  Canon.  It  seems  to  have 
been  recited  at  Prime  on  the  Lord's  Day  at  Basle  in  the  ninth 
century :  we  hear  that  in  997  it  was  sung  in  alternate  choirs  in 
France  and  in  the  Church  of  England :  in  1133  it  was  used  daily  at 
Prime  in  the  Church  of  Autun ;  fronr  1200  it  assumed  the  titles 
'Symbolum  S.  Athanasii'  and  * Psalmus  ^iiicttn^tte  vidt^  which 
mark  the  character  it  occupies  in  our  services.  It  was  daily  used 
at  Prime  in  those  English  churches  which  adopted  the  use  of  Sarum, 
but  was  always  followed  by  the  recitation  of  the  Apostles'  Creed : 

the  illustration  (in  v.  37),  "  for  as  the  reasonable  soxil  and  flesh  is  one 
man,  so  God  and  man  is  one  Christ ;"  which  (it  is  urged)  would  hardly 
have  been  used  by  an  orthodox  writer  after  the  condemnation  of  Eutyches 
by  the  Council  ot'Chalcedon  in  451. 

'  Waterland,  in  his  doeply  learned  '  Critical  History  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed  '  (Camb.  17'24),  collects  all  the  opinions  held  up  to  his  time,  but  fails 
to  make  out  any  case  for  his  own  ascription  of  the  Creed  to  Hilary,  bishop 
of  Aries  (about  430).  Vigilius,  of  Thapsus  in  Africa  (about  484),  has  many 
advocates,  on  the  insufficient  ground  that,  for  the  purposes  of  contro- 
versy, he  imposed  works  of  his  own  on  the  Vandals  as  the  compositions  of 
Athanasius  and  Augustine. 

2  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.  Art.  CuESsy.  ^  Migne,  .xviii.  899. 


Cent.  1V.-\'1.  ECCLESIASTICAL  OPPOSITION.  477 

as  if  the  declaration  of  the  Faith  of  the  worshipper  always  followed 
on  the  instruction  of  the  Church  as  to  what  it  was  necessary  to 
believe."  1 

§  28.  It  remains  to  notice  the  opposition  made  from  time  to  time 
within  the  Chufch  to  the  views  and  practices  that  were  gaining 
ground  during  the  period  under  review  ;  especially  to  asceticism 
and  the  monastic  life,  the  reverence  for  saints,  relics,  and  images, 
and  Mariolatry.  We  need  not  dwell  on  that  sort  of  ojiposition 
which  was  prompted  by  worldly  i)olicy,  as  when  the  Emperor 
Valens  condemned  monasticism  because  it  wasted  manly  strength, 
and  substituted  dreamy  contemplation  for  heroic  virtues,  when  they 
were  most  needed  for  resistance  to  the  barbarians ;  nor  on  the 
dislike  of  those  who  felt  their  self-indulgence  rebuked  by  the  stern 
morality  of  ascetics.  The  resistance  which  most  calls  for  notice  is 
that  which  sprang  from  what  Schafi'  describes  as  "  a  liberal,  almost 
Protestant-  conception  of  Christian  morality;  which,  however, 
existed  mostly  in  isolated  cases,  was  rather  negative  than  positive 
in  its  character,  lacked  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  moderation,  and 
hence  almost  entirely  disappeared  in  the  fifth  century,  only  to  be 
revived  long  after,  in  more  mature  and  comprehensive  form,  when 
monasticism  had  fulfilled  its  mission  for  the  world. "^  The  leaders 
of  this  opposition  are  stigmatized  as  heretics  by  writers  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

The  most  notable  of  these  leaders  belong  to  the  latter  jiart  of  the 
fourth  and  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  when  resistance  was 
not  yet  hopeless,*  and  when  also  the  zeal  of  Jerome  and  Epi- 
phanius  was  awake,  to  record  as  well  as  oppose  the  heretics.  In 
the  East,  Aiiiuus,  a  presbyter  of  Sebaste  in  Lesser  Armenia  (about 
A.D.  360),  is  known  to  us  through  Epiphanius,*  as  an  opponent  of 
certain  rules  and  practices,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  of  no 
divine  authority,  and  infringed  upon  Christian  liberty.  Thus, 
though  his  own  life  was  ascetic,  he  resisted  the  appointment  of 
stated  fasts ;  he  objected  to  the  celebration  of  Easter ;  condemned 
prayers  for  the  dead ;  and  maintained  the  equality  of  bishops  and 
presbyters.     The  last  opinion  was  traced  to  his  disappointment  of 

'  Swainson,  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.  vol.  i.  p.  493.  Respecting  the 
new  light  thrown  on  the  question  by  the  re-discovery  of  the  famous 
"  Utrecht  Psalter,"  see  Notes  and  Illustrations  (B). 

^  The  resemblance  is  noticed  by  Roman  Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant 
writers.  Thus  Bellarmiue  calls  Protestantism  the  AUrian  heresy,  from 
Aiirius.  ^  SchalF,  vol.  ii.  p.  '121. 

♦  The  resistance  to  monasticism  at  this  time  was  strong  enough  to 
induce  Chrysostom  to  write  a  work,  in  three  Books,  against  its  opponents, 
npby  Tovs  Tro\ffi.ovvTas  toIs  eVi  Tt)  ixovd^ftv  iviyovaiv.  *  Ilcer.  7a. 

00* 


478  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  CiiAr.  XVIII. 

the  bishopric  of  Sebaste  by  the  hierarchy,  wlio  persecuted  him  and 
drove  him  out,  with  his  followers,  to  live  in  the  fields  and  find 
shelter  in  caves. 

Epiphanius  also  mentions  an  Arabian  sect,  called  Antidicoma- 
rianitce  (i.e.  "  OpiX)nents  of  Mary  "),  Avhose  zeal  was  roused  by  the 
semi-heatheu  worship  paid  to  the  Virgin  by  the  female  devotees 
called  CoUyridians} 

§  29.  Three  Western  leaders  of  this  puritan-like  opposition  are 
better  known  from  the  vehement  writings  of  Jerome  against  them.^ 
Helvidius  (about  a.d.  383) — whether  a  Roman  lawyer  or  priest,  is 
doubtful — demands  notice  for  his  op[)Ositiou  to  the  tenet  of  the  per- 
petual virginity  of  Marj^,  which  had  become  an  essential  support  to 
the  exaltation  of  celibacy  above  marriage.  Helvidius  is  stigmatized 
by  Jerome^  as  rude  and  illiterate;  but  he  shows  skill  in  producing 
the  scriptural  arguments  on  which  the  question  turns,*  and  of 
which  Jerome  gives  ingenious  explanations.  The  question  is  still 
reo'arded  as  open,  even  by  some  Protestant  divines ;  *  but  in  that 
a^^e  the  denial  of  the  '^perpetua  viryinitas"  was  stigmatized  as 
blasphemous  heresy. 

The  Roman  Monk,  Jovikian,  is  the  most  remarkable  of  these 
leaders,  from  the  earnestness  of  his  opposition,  the  broad  princii)les 
on  which  he  based  it,  the  success  he  had  for  a  time,  and  the  bitter 
personal  animosity  of  Jerome.*  It  seems  clear  that  Jerome's  own 
proceedings  at  Rome  ^  provoked  the  protest  of  Jovinian  against  the 
moral  principles  and  tendencies  of  monasticisin.  Not  content  with 
writing,  he  undid  much  of  Jerome's  most  prized  work ;  for  Augus- 
tine® reproaches  Jovinian  with  misleading  many  Roman  nuns  into 
marriage  by  the  examples  of  the  holy  women  recorded  in  Scripture. 

Though  opposed  by  the  Avhole  clergy  of  Rome,  he  carried  with 
him  the  popular  feeling,  already  excited  (as  we  have  seen)  by  the 

*  From  KdWvpi;,  diminutive  of  KoWvpa,  a  cake,  because  they  offered 
cakes  to  the  Virgin  with  rites  which  seem  to  have  been  derived  from  the 
worship  of  Ceres.  Hence  these  devotees,  who  had  i)assed  from  Thrace 
into  Arabia,  are  ranked  among  heretics.     Ejiiphan.  J/ivr.  Ixxix.  1. 

*  A  fourth,  BONOSUS,  bishop  of  Sardica  (A. P.  392),  is  mentioned  by 
Ambrose  as  a  denier  of  the  perpetual  virgyiity  of  Mary  (^De  Instit  Vm/.  35). 

'  Adv.  JJelcidtum :  Augustine  also  writes  (Dc  Ihvrcs.  84)  of  Helvidius 
and  the  sect  of  the  Helvidian=;. 

*  Namely,  Matt.  i.  18,  24,  25;  Luke  ii.  7;  and  the  passages  which 
speak  of  brothers  and  sisters  of  our  Lord. 

*  Lutlier  and  Zwingli  hold  the  same  view  as  Jerome,  and  the  former 
calls  Helvidius  "  a  gross  fool." 

*  See  Jerome's  work,  AJicrms  Jorint'otinni. 

'  See  Chap.  XUL  §  17.  Jerome  was  at  Rome  from  382  to  384,  and 
Jovinian  besran  to  write  before  390.  8  f)g  Jfares.  72. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  JOVINIAN  AND  JKROiME.  479 

results  of  Jerome's  iiitemi)erate  zeal.'  His  success  is  bitterly 
resented  by  Jerome,  wlio  draws  a  vivid  contrast  between  the 
elegant,  sieek,  sensual,  and  bloated  followers  of  Jovinian — all  the 
swine  and  dogs,  besides  vultures,  eagles,  hawks,  and  hounds — and 
his  own  pale,  macerated,  pilgrim-like  disciples.  He  accuses  "  our 
Epicurus  himself"  of  leading  a  life  of  dissolute  luxury;  but,  as 
Augustine  gives  a  much  more  favourable  account  of  Jovinian's 
personal  character,  the  accusations  of  Jerome  may  only  express  his 
exaggerated  view  of  any  departure  from  his  own  standard  of  ascetic 
purity.  The  like  language  was  freely  hurled  against  Luther,  to 
whom  Jovinian  has  been  compared  by  Neander  and  others.  But, 
unlike  Luther,  Jovinian  did  not  act  on  Jerome's  challenge  to  put 
his  principle  to  the  test  by  taking  a  wife  himself,  but  he  seems  to 
have  adhered  to  his  monastic  profession.  The  great  principle  on 
which  he  took  his  stand  was  this,  that  all  jiersons  once  baptized 
into  Christ,  whether  they  be  virgins,  married,  or  widowed,  if  their 
conduct  in  other  resj>ects  be  consistent  with  their  profession,  have 
equal  merit  and  equal  Christian  privileges.  Against  this  position 
Jerome  directs  the  whole  argument  of  his  first  book  "  against 
Jovinian,"'^  with  such  intemperate  vehemence  and  contempt  for 
marriage,  as  to  provoke  a  work  from  Augustine,  maintaining  that 
married  life  is  good,  though  celibacy  is  better.^ 

The  second  book  of  Jeromo  is  directed  against  three  other 
heresies,  which  he  ascribes  to  Jovinian,  but.  which  seem  to  be  not 
so  much  abstract  dogmas,  as  adjuncts  to  his  main  principle. 
Jerome  states  them  as  follows : — that  those  who  are  once  with  full 
faith  bom  again  by  baptism  cannot  be  overcome  by  the  devil; — 
that  there  is  no  (moral)  diflerence  between  abstaining  from  food 
and  enjoying  it  with  thanksgiving ;  and  that  all  wb.o  keep  the 
baptismal  covenant  will  receive  an  equal  reward  in  heaven.  By 
haptism,  however,  Jovinian  understood  that  inward  influence  of  tlie 
Holy  Si)irit,  of  which  the  outward  rite  was  but  the  sign ;  and  he 
drew  a  corresponding  distinction  between  the  visible  professing 
Church  and  the  true  spiritual  Church.  That  one  broad  distinction 
he  maintained  as  excluding  all  lesser  grades,  and  esjiecially  the 
supei'ior  merit  and  reward  which  the  current  opinion  of  the  age 
assigned  to  the  monastic  and  ascetic  life.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  we  only  know  the  views  of  Jovinian  as  they  are  stated  by 
Jerome. 

Before  the  publication  of  Jerome's  work,  Jovinian  was  excom- 

'  Especially  in  the  case  of  Paula  and  Blesilla,  loc,  sup.  cif. 
•  Ajv.  Jovinianmn;  written  in  A.D.  39-. 
3  Pc  Bono  Conjuij'ili. 


480  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Chap.  XVIII. 

municated  and  banished  by  a  council  held  at  Rome  under  Pope 
Siricius,  a  zealous  advocate  of  clerical  celibacy  (about  390).  He 
went  to  Milan,  in  the  hope  of  finding  protection  from  Theodosius ; 
but  there  also  he  was  condemned  by  a  council  held  by  Ambrose. 
Jerome  speaks  of  him  as  dead  in  a.d.  406 ;  ^  and  Augustine  says 
that  his  heresy  was  quickly  suppressed  and  died  out.^ 

§  30.  Jerome's  mention  of  the  death  of  Jovinian  occurs  in  a 
tract — said  to  have  been  dictated  in  a  single  night  at  Bethlehem — 
against  Vigilantius,  whose  reforming  zeal  seems  to  have  been  a 
reaction  for  his  early  experience.  He  was  a  native  of  Calagurris,* 
a  village  on  the  iiorth  side  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  probably  the  son  of 
an  innkeeper.  In  the  family  of  Sulpicius  Severiis,  the  disciple 
and  biographer  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  Vigilantius  acquired 
considerable  literary  culture,  and  he  was  ordained  a  presbyter. 
Through  Sulpicius  he  became  acquainted  with  Paulinus  of  Nola, 
the  friend  of  Jerome,  Augustine,  and  Kufinus,  and  one  of  the  most 
zealous  promoters  of  monasticism  and  reverence  for  the  saints  and 
their  relics.  It  was  in  order  to  be  near  the  remains  of  St.  Felix,  a 
confessor  under  'Decius,  that  Paulinus,  an  Aquitanian  who  had 
renounced  the  highest  rank  for  a  religious  life,  removed  to  Nola  in 
Campania,  where  he  built  a  church  over  the  tomb  of  Felix,  and 
adorned  it  with  paintings  of  subjects  from  the  Old  Testament  and 
a  symbolic  representation  of  the  Trinity.*  On  each  annual  festival 
of  the  confession,  Paulinus  wrote  a  poem  in  celebration  of  his  life 
and  miracles. 

From  Nola  Vigilantius  went  to  the  East,  with  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction from  Paulinus  to  Jerome.  Tlie  intimacy  to  which  he  was 
admitted  did  not  confirm  his  respect  for  the  recluse  of  Bethlehem  ; 
and  he  charged  Jerome  with  holding  Origenist  opinions.  Though 
he  retracted  the  charge,  he  renewed  it  on  his  return  to  his  own 
country,  thus  doubtless  exacerbating  the  fury  with  which  Jerome 
assailed  the  views  that  Vigilantius  now  began  to  propagate.  Gaul 
(he  said)  had  been  free  from  the  monsters  that  infested  other  parts 

1  Ado.  Vii/ilant,  i.  "  Inter  phasides  aves  et  carnes  suiles  non  tarn  emisit 
spiritum  quam  eructavit ;"  a  fair  sperimnn  of  Jerome's  style  of  writing 
about  Jovinian,  and  indeed  his  opponents  generally. 

^  De  Jlirr.  82.     "  Cito  ista  haeresis  op])ressa  et  exstincta  est." 

^  Now  Caseres  in  Gascony.  Jerome  calls  him  Istc  caupo  Cnlagurritawis, 
and  compares  his  "  combining  j)oison  with  the  genuine  faith "  to  his 
"ancient  art  "  of  mingling  water  with  the  wine.  Hence,  as  the  trade  of 
an  innkeeper  was  a  disqualilication  for  holy  orders,  it  is  inferred  that 
Vigilantius  was  the  son  of  an  innkeeper,  and  may  have  assisted  his  father 
in  his  business.  Another  elegancy  of  Jerome's  attack  on  Vigilantius  is  the 
play  on  his  name,  in  calling  him  Dormitantius. 

*  Paulin.  Kpist.  32  ;   I'oeina  28  ;   Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  374. 


Cent.  IV.-VI.  VIGILANTIUS  AND  JEROME.  481 

of  the  earth,  till  "of  a  sudden,  there  lias  arisen  one  Vigilantius,  who 
should  rather  be  called  Dormitantius,  contending  in  an  impure 
spirit  against  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  forbidding  to  honour  the 
graves  of  the  martyrs.  He  rejects  the  vigils :  only  at  Easter  should 
we  sing  Hallelujah.     He  declares  abstemiousness  to  be  heresy,  and 

chastity  a  nursery  of  licentiousness He  opposes  virginity, 

hates  chastity,  cries  against  the  fastings  of  the  saints,  and  would  only 
amidst  jovial  feastings  amuse  himself  with  the  Psalms  of  David."^ 
From  other  passages  we  learn  that  the  superstitions  against  which 
Valentinian  directed  his  most  strenuous  protests  were  those  relating 
to  departed  saints.  He  denounced  the  worship  of  them  as  idolatry, 
and  those  who  collected  and  adored  the  "  wretched  bones  "  of  dead 
men  as  "  ash-gatherers  and  idolaters."  Their  souls,  which  exist 
"  in  Abraham's  bosom,"  ^  or  in  their  appointed  place  of  rest  "  under 
God's  altar," ^  cannot  (he  said),  be  present  at  their  tombs;  and  the 
miracles  wrought  there  were  not  only  false  in  fact,  but  inconsistent 
with  the  purpose  of  miracles,  which  was  the  benefit  of  unbelievers. 
He  denounced  the  lighting  of  candles  at  the  saints'  tombs  as  a  pagan 
superstition,  and  the  vigils,  or  nocturnal  worship  in  their  honour, 
as  an  occasion  of  licentious  disorder,  a  fact  which  Jerome  admits. 
In  opposition  to  the  practice  of  lavishing  money  on  their  shrines,  as 
well  as  to  the  merit  of  voluntary  poverty,  Vigilantius  maintained 
that  it  was  better  for  a  man  to  use  his  money  wisely,  and  to  seek  near 
home  for  objects  of  charity,  on  which  to  bestow  it  according  to  his 
own  jiulgment,  than  to  lavish  it  all  at  once  upon  the  poor,  or  send 
it  to  the  monks  at  Jerusalem.  Amidst  these  opinions  we  find  no 
doctrinal  heresies,  such  as  Jerome  charges  against  Jovinian  ;  nor  is 
he  able — as  in  that  case  he  proved  how  strongly  he  was  willing — 
to  attack  the  moral  charac*^c>r  of  Vigilantius.  The  teaching  which 
roused  his  wrath  was  no  new  doctrine,  but  a  moderate  protest 
against  the  superstitious  innovations,  the  evil  of  which  had  probably 
been  made  clear  to  Vigilantius  from  his  acquaintance  with  Sulpicius, 
Paulinus,  and  Jerome  himself.  And  though  there  were  but  few  to 
raise  such  a  warning  voice,  the  Church  was  not  yet  so  far  gone  as  to 
meet  it  with  such  hearty  denunciation  as  Jerome  desired.  We  are 
not  told  that  Vigilantius  was  condemned  for  heresy ;  but  we  do 
find  that  he  was  countenanced  by  his  own  diocesan,  as  well  as  by 

'  Hieron.  ado.  Vigilant.  1,  2.  The  last  clause  of  this  indictment  seems 
to  refer  to  some  appeal  that  Vigilantius  had  made  in  lavour  of  Christian 
cheerfulness  to  the  words  of  James,  "  Is  any  merry,  let  him'  sinc^  psalms." 
When  a  person's  opinions  are  only  known  through  the  attacks  of  an  enemy, 
it  is  necessarj'  to  follow  the  method  of  "  reading  between  the  lines." 

-  Luke  xvi.  22.  3  i^^y^  ^.j_  g^ 


482 


STATE  OK  THE  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XVllI, 


other  bishops.*  "  It  is  terrible  to  hear,"  says  Jerome,  "  that  even 
bishops  are  companions  of  his  wantonness,  if  those  deserve  this 
name,  who  ordain  only  married  persons  deacons,  and  trust  not 
the  chastity  of  the  single.  We  know  notliing  of  the  later  life  of 
Vigilantius  ;  for  it  is  a  mere  conjecture  that  he  perished  in  the 
invasion  of  the  Vandals,  in  which  catastrophe  we  lose  all  further 
trace  of  his  opinions.  The  distinction  obtained  by  him  and  his 
reforming  predecessors  is  due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  fact  that 
they  provoked  the  antagonism  of  Jerome ;  but  the  absence  of  any 
more  such  leaders  during  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  marks  the 
triumph  of  the  practices  against  which  they  raised  their  protest.^ 

'  Hieron.  Epist.  cix.  2. 

2  Schaff.  vol.  ii.  i)p.  232-3;  Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  373-6.  See  also 
G.  B.  Lindner,  De  Jociniano  et  Vvjilantio  purioris  doctrincc  antesignanis, 
Lips.  1839,  and  Dr.  W.  S.  Gillv,  Vigilantius  and  his  Times,  Lend.  1844. 


Ancient  Baptistery  at  Aquileia. 


Chalices,  from  a  Sarcophagus  at  Bordeaux. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


A.  EARLY  ECCLESIASTICAL 
CALENDARS. 

(Chiefly  from  the  Diet,  of  Chriilian 
Anliqq.  Art.  Calendar.) 

The  student  of  Ecclesiastical  History  re- 
quires some  knowledge  of  the  general  form 
of  the  Calendars  used  by  the  Church  for 
liturgical  purpo.^es.  The  early  Christian 
communities  continued  to  use  the  mode  of 
reckoning  and  naming  of  days  and  years 
which  e.xisted  in  the  countries  in  which 
they  had  their  origin.  The  distinctive 
Church  Calendar  exists  for  the  purpose  of 
denoting  the  days,  either  of  a  given  year,  or 
.  of  any  year,  which  are  marked  for  religious 
celebration. 

First  among  these  liturgiail  require- 
ments is  the  specification  of  the  Lord's  Day. 
This  was  facilitated  by  a  contrivance  Iwr- 
rowed  from  the  heathen  Roman  calendar. 

Just  as  the  nundincB  in  that  calendar 
were  marked  by  a  recurrence  of  the  first 
eight  letters  of  the  alphabet,  so  in  the  Ec- 
clesiastical Calendar,  the  days  of  the  week 
were  distinguished  hythe  first  seven  letters 
(A-G).  The  first  letter  (A)  was  assigned 
to  the  1st  of  January  (the  beginning  of  the 
Roman  and  historical  year),  and,  whatever 
the  letter  to  which  the  first  Sunday  fell, 
that  same  letter  of  course  marked  every 
Sunday  in  the  year,  and  was  called  the 
Dominical  or  Sunday  Letter. 

The  Dominical  I>?tter  is  given  among 
the  '  Notes  for  the  Year '  in  our  Almanacs. 
It  goes  baclcii'ards  in  each  successive 
conmion  year,  because,  there  being  one 
day  more  than  an  exact  number  of  weeks 
(365  =  52  X  7-(-l),  the  year  logins  and 
ends  on  the  same  day  of  the  week.  In 
Leap-year,  though  there  is  one  day  more. 


the  List  day  is  still  marked  A,  because  the 
lettering  of  the  day  passes  over  the  29lh  of 
February  (whence  the  name  Leop-year) ; 
and  consequently  the  Dominical  Letter  is 
changed  one  letter  back  from  that  day  to 
the  end  of  the  year.  Thus,  for  example, 
the  year  1871  began  on  Sunday,  and  its 
Dominical  Letter  was  A.  The  next  year, 
1«72,  began  on  Jloiiday  (A),  and  G  fell  to 
Sunday  from  Jan  7  to  Feb.  25,  whence  we 
had  J/.,  Feb.  26(A),  Tu.,  27(B),  TV.,  28(C), 
rU.,  29  (no  letter),  ».,  March  1  (D).  Sat., 
IMarch  2  (E),  S,  March  3  (F) ;  and  F.  was 
the  Dominical  letter  for  the  rest  of  the  year, 
which  is  expressed  thus,  for  1872  the  Do- 
minical letter  is  GF.  St),  onwards,  for  1S73, 
E ;  1 874,  D ;  1875.  C  ;  1x76,  BA,  the  year  be- 
ginning on  Saturday  and  ending  on  Sunday. 
But  together  with  the  week  of  seven 
days,  of  which  the  first  day,  or  Sunday,  was 
assigned  to  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Resurrection,  there  existed  from  the  earliest 
times  a  yearly  commemoration  {Easter), 
which,  eventually,  by  general  consent  of 
the  churches,  at  first  divide*!  on  this  point, 
was  assigned  to  the  Sunday  next  after  the 
day  on  which,  according  to  certain  calcula- 
tions, the  Jews  were,  or  should  have  been 
celebrating  their  Pa.ssover,  that  is,  the  day 
of  the  full  moon  nearest  to  the  vernal 
equinox.  Hence  the  year  of  the  Christian 
Calendar  is  partly  solar  of  the  Julian  form, 
partly  lunar.  All  the  Sundays  which  are 
related  to  I'^sfer,  i.e.  all  from  our  Septua- 
gesima  Sunday  to  the  last  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  change  their  places  year  by  year: 
the  rest.  i.e.  from  1  Advent  to  the  Sunday 
before  Septuageslma,  shifting  only  to  a 
place  one  day  later ;  in  leup-years,  two. 
About  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century, 


484 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Chap,  XVIII, 


the  Nativity  of  Clirist,  until  then  com- 
memorated, if  at  all,  on  the  Cth  January, 
was  fixed  to  the  25th  December.  And  as 
other  days,  commemorative  of  bishops, 
martyrs  and  apostles  came  to  be  celebrated, 
these  also  were  noted  in  the  fixed  Calendar. 
The  Calendar  existed  in  two  forms :  one, 
in  which  all  the  days  of  the  year  were 
noted,  with  specification  of  months  and 
weeks :  the  other  a  list  of  the  holy  d^iys, 
with  or  without  specification  of  the  month 
date.  Of  the  full  Calendar,  what  seems  to 
be  the  earliest  extant  specimen  is  furnished 
by  a  fraf;ment  of  a  Gothic  Calendar,  com- 
posed, probably,  in  'I'hrace  in  the  fourth 
ccniury,  edited  by  Mai,  Script.  Vet.  Nova 
CoUetio,  V.  i.  66-68.  This  fragment  gives 
only  the  thirty-eight  days  from  23  Oc- 
tober to  30  November.  It  assigns  the 
festivals  of  seven  saints,  two  of  the  New 
Testament,  three  of  the  Universal  Church, 
two  local,  namely  Gothic. 

Not  less  ancient,  perhaps,  is  a  Roman 
calendar,  of  the  time  of  Constantius  II., 
forming  part  of  a  collection  of  chronogra- 
phical  pieces  written  by  the  calligrapher, 
Furius  Dionysius  Filocalus,  in  the  year 
35 1 ;  edited,  after  others,  by  Kollar,  AnaJect. 
Vindobon,  i.  961,  sq(i.  This,  while  retain- 
ing the  astronomical  and  astrological  notes 
of  the  old  Roman  Calendars,  with  some  of 
the  heathen  festivals,  is  so  far  Christian 
that,  side  by  side  with  the  old  nundinal 
letters  A-H,  it  gives  also  tlie  Dominical 
letters,  A-G,  of  the  ecclesiastical  year ;  but 
it  does  not  specify  any  of  the  Christian 
holy  days.     (Comp.  Ideler,  Hdb.  2,  140.) 

Next  in  point  of  antiquity  is  the  Calendar 
composed  by  Polemeus  Silvius,  in  the  year 
448,  edited  by  the  BoUindists,  Acti  sanc- 
torum, Januar.  vii.  176  ff.  This  is  a  full 
Roman  Calendar  adapted  to  Christian  use, 
not  only  as  that  of  a.d.  354,  just  noticed, 
by  specification  of  tlie  Lortl's-days,  but 
with  some  few  holy  days  added,  namely, 
four  in  connection  with  Christ,  and  six  for 
commemoration  of  martyrs. 

Of  the  short  Calendar,  the  most  ancient 
specimen  is  that  which  was  first  edited  by 
llucherius,  de  Doctrina  Temporum,  c.  xv. 
266  sqq.  (Antwerp,  1634) — a  worlc  of 
Roman  origin  dating  from  about  the  mid- 
dle of  Ihe  fourth  century,  as  appears  from 
the  contents,  as  also  from  the  fact  that  it 
is  included  in  the  collection  of  Filocalus, 
thence  edited  by  Kollar,  u.  s. ;  also  with  a 
learned  commentary  by  Lambecivts,  Catal. 
Codd.  MSS.  in  BiUioth.  Caesar.  Vindobon. 
iv.  277  if.,  and  by  Graevius  Thes.  viii.     It 


consists  of  two  portions,  of  which  the  first 
is  a  list  of  twelve  popes  from  Lucius  to 
Julius  (predecersor  of  Liberius),  a.d.  253- 
352;  not  complete,  however,  for  Sixtus 
(Xystus)  has  his  place  among  the  martyrs, 
and  Marcellus  is  omitted.  The  other  part 
gives  names  and  days  of  twenty-two  mar- 
tyrs, all  Roman,  including,  besides  Xystus, 
those  of  earlier  popes,  Fabianus,  Callislus, 
and  Pontianus.  Together  with  these,  the 
Feast  of  the  Nativity  is  noted  on  25th 
December,  and  that  of  the  Cathedra  Pefti 
assigned  to  22nd  February. 

A  similar  list  of  Roman  festivals  with  a 
lectionary  {Capitulare  Jivan gelorium  to- 
tius  anni)  was  edited  by  Fronto  (Paris, 
1652,  and  in  his  Epistolae  et  Dissertat. 
ecclesiasticae,  p.  107-233,  Veron.  1733, 
from  a  manuscript  written  in  letters  of 
gold,  belonging  to  the  convent  of  St.  Gene- 
vieve at  Paris.  This  seems  to  have  been 
composed  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighth 
century.  Another,  also  Roman,  edited  by 
Martene,  Thes,  Analect.  v.  65,  is  perhaps 
of  later  date. 

A  Calendar  of  the  church  of  Carthage,  of 
the  like  form,  discovered  by  Mabillon,  and 
appended  by  Ruinart  to  his  Ada  Alar- 
tyrum,  is  by  them  assigned  to  the  fifth 
centur3'.  It  contains  only  festivals  of 
bishops  and  martyrs,  mostly  local.  It  opens 
with  the  title  "  Hie  continentur  dies  natal- 
itiorum  martyrum  et  depositiones  episco- 
porum  quo-i  ecclesiae  Carthaginis  anni- 
vcrsaria  celebrant." 

As  each  churcli  had  its  own  bishops  and 
martyrs,  each  needed  in  this  regard  (i.e. 
for  the  days  marked  for  the  Iiepositiones 
Epi>coporum,  and  NataHlia  Marty luvi)  its 
separate  calendar.  It  belonged  to  the 
bishop  to  see  that  these  lists  were  properly 
drawn  up  for  the  use  ot  the  church.  And 
to  this  effect  we  find  St.  Cyprian  in  his 
36th  epistle  exhorting  his  clergy  to  make 
known  to  him  the  days  on  which  the  con- 
fessors suffered.  "  Dies  eorum  quibus  cx- 
cedimt  nunciate,  ut  commemorationes 
eorum  Inter  memorias  martyrum  celehrare 
possimus." 

Out  of  these  Calendar  notices  grew 
the  Martyrologies,  which,  however,  they 
greatly  surpass  in  authority  and  import- 
ance. For  the  Calendar,  being  essential  as 
a  liturgical  director}',  was  therefore  com- 
posed only  by  the  bisliop  or  by  some  high 
officer  of  the  church  appointed  by  him. 
Nothing  could  be  added  to,  or  altered  in 
Ihe  Calendar,  but  by  his  authoritj'.  It  was 
accordingly  prefixed   or  appended  to  the 


Cent.  IV.- VI. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTKATIONS. 


485 


Sacramentaries  and  other  liturgical  books.  I  given  from   the  Responsoriale  and  Anti- 
As  an  example  of  an  early  form  of  this     phonarium  ascribed  to    St.   Gregory  the 

Liturgical  Calendar,  the  following  is  here  |  Great  (ed.  ThomasiusJ  : 

Specivien  disti-ibutionis  officiorum  per  circidum  anni. 


Dominica  I.  Adventus  Domini. 
Dominica  II.  ante  Nativ.  Domini. 
Natale  S.  Lnoiae  Virginis. 
Dom.  J II.  ante  Nativ.  Domini. 
Dom.  proxima  ante  Nat.  Dom. 
Vigilia  Nat.  Dom. 
Nativitas  Domini. 
Natale  S.  Stepbani. 
„     S.  Joannis. 
„     SS.  Innocentiuni. 
Dora.  I.  post  Nat.  Dom. 
Vigilia  Ociavae  Nat.  Dom. 
Epiphania  (seu  Theopbania). 
Octava  Epipbaniae. 
Dominica  1.  post  Theophaniam. 
Dom.  II. 
Dom.  III. 
Dom.  IV. 
Parasceve. 
Sabbatum  sanctum. 
Vigiliae  S.  Paschae. 
Dominica  S.  Paschae. 
Dom.  octava  Paschae  (seu,  post  albas 

paschales). 
Dom.  I.  post  Pascha. 
Dom.  II. 
Dom.  II f. 
Dom.  IV. 
Litania  major. 

Vigilia  Apostol.  Philippi  et  Jacobi. 
Dom.   III.   et  IV.  in   Pascha  R.   R. 

de  Auctoritate. 
Dom.  V.  et  VI.  in  Pascha  R.  R.  da 

psalrais. 
In  Natalitiis  Ss.  Infra  Pascha. 
In    Natalitiis    unius    Martyris    sive 

Confessoris. 
In  S.  Crucis  Invenlione. 
In  exaltatione  S.  Crucis. 
Ascensio  Domini. 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  say  to  what  age, 
or  to  what  province  of  the  Church,  a  given 
Calendar  belongs.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
any  of  them  contains  the  genuine  materials 
of  such  lists  existing  in  times  earlier  than 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century.  For 
of  these  lists  scarcely  any  can  be  supposed 
to  have  escaped,  in  the  Diocletian  persecu- 
tion, from  the  rigorous  search  then  decreed 
for  the  general  destruction  not  only  of  the 
copies  of  the  Scriptures,  but  of  all  liturgical 
and  ecclesiastical  documents,  among  wliich 
the  Calendars,  lists  of  bishops  and  martyrs, 
and  acts  of  martyrs,  held  an  important  place 
(Euseb  H.  £■.  viii.  2 ;  Arnob.  adv.  dentfS,  iv. 
36).  Some  rules,  however,  which  may  help 
to  determine  the  relative  antiquity  of  ex- 
tant calendars,  may  be  thus  summarised : — 

) .  Brevity  and  simplicity  in  the  state- 
ment concerning  the  holy-day  are  charac- 


Dom.  V. 

Responsoria  de  Psalmis. 

Diebus  Domlnicis  Antiphonae. 

Vigilia  S.  Sebastianl. 

Natale  S.  Agnetis. 

Purificatio  S.  Marlae. 

Vigilia  et  Natale  S.  Agnae. 

Adunatio  S.  Mariae. 

Dominica  in  LXXma. 

Dom.  in  LXma. 

Dom.  in  Lma.  (seu  Carnisprivil   et 

excarnaliorum). 
Dom.  I.  in  XLa. 
Dom.  II. 
Dom.  III. 
Dom.    in   medio    XLmae    (seu    de 

Jerusalem). 
Laetare  (vel  de  Rosa). 
Dom.  de  Passione  Domini  (seu  Medi- 

ana). 
Dom.  in  Palmis  (seu  indulgentiae). 
Vigilia  Coenae  Domini. 
Dominica    post    Ascensum    Domini 

(seu  item  de  Rosa). 
Pentecoste. 
Octava  Pentecostes. 
Vigilia  Nativitatis   S.  Joannac  Bap- 

tistae. 
(Sic     sequuntur    officia    propria   de 

Sanctis  usque  ad  Advcntum.) 
Communia  Ofticia. 
Responsoria  de   libro   Regum,    Sapi- 

entiae.  Job,  Tobia,  .Judith,  Esther, 

historia  de  Machabaeorum,  de  Pro- 

plutis 
Antiphonae  ad  hymnum  trium  puer- 

orum. 
De  Cantico  Zachariae.    S.  Mariae. 
.Antiptonae  doniinicls   diebus    post- 

Penlecosten  a  L.  usque  ad  XXIV. 

teristic  of  the  earlier  times.  Only  the 
name  of  the  martyr  was  given,  without 
title  or  eulogy;  even  the  prefix  S.  or  B. 
{Sanctas,  /Jeattts)  is  sparingly  used.  Some- 
limes  the  martyrs  of  a  whole  province  are 
included  under  a  single  entry.  Thus  the 
Calendar  of  Carthage,  in  which  eighty-one 
days  are  marked,  has,  at  2  Kal.  Jan.  i'anc- 
torum  Temidensiain ;  15  Kal.  Aug.  .S5. 
•Scililanoium.  In  several  other  calendars 
one  name  is  given,  with  the  addition,  et 
sociorum  (or  comiturn),  ejus. 

2.  To  one  day  only  one  celebration  Is 
assigned  in  the  oldest  Calendars.  "  Com- 
memoratioues "  were  unknown  or  very 
rare  in  the  earlier  times.  These  seem  to 
have  come  into  use  in  the  ninth  ceniury, 
by  reason  of  the  increasing  number  of 
Saints'  days. 

3.  The  relative  antiquity  of  a  Calendar  is 


48G 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Chap.  XVIII. 


especially  indicated  by  llio  paucity,  or  en- 
tire absence,  of  <iays  assigned  to  tlie  B. 
Virgin  Mary.  'Writers  of  the  Cburcb  of 
Rome  satisfy  tbemselves  in  respect  of  tbis 
fact  with  tbe  explanation,  Ibat  tbe  days 
assigned  to  tbe  Lord  include  tbe  commemo- 
ration of  tbe  Blessed  Virgin  Jlotber.  Thus, 
for  e.xample,  Morcelli  {Afr.  Christiana, 
cited  by  Binterim,  u.  s.  p.  14)  accounts  for 
the  entire  silence  of  tbe  Calend.  Carthag. 
concerning  tbe  days  of  tbe  V.  Mary; 
and  tbe  like  explanation  Is  given  of  tbe  fact 
that  of  St.  Augustine  we  have  no  sermon 
preached  for  a  festival  trf  tbe  Virgin. 

4.  Another  note  of  antiquity  is  the 
absence  of  all  saints'  days  and  other  cele- 
brations from  the  period  during  which  Lent 
falls.  Thus  March  and  April  in  tbe  Car- 
thaginian Calendar  exhibit  no  such  days  ; 
and  the  like  blank  appears  in  tbe  calendars 
of  Bucherius  and  Kronto.  For  the  51st 
canon  of  the  Council  of  Laodicea  (cir.  a.d. 
352)  enjoins :  "  a  martyr's  day  must  not 
be  kept  during  the  quatlrigesima,  but  must 
(at  that  time)  be  reserved  for  Sabbaths 
and  Lord's-daj's "  (Bruns,  i.  78).  And 
with  this  agreed  the  rule  of  the  Latin 
Church,  as  expressed  in  the  1st  canon  of  the 
10th  Council  of  Toledo,  a.d.  656  (Bruns,  i. 
298),  with  especial  reference  to  the  falling 
of  Lady-day  (Kcast  of  Annunciation,  25 
Mar.)  in  Lent,  or  on  Easter-day  Itself. 

5.  Before  the  6th  centurj',  no  day  of  a 
canonized  bishop  or  other  saint  is  marked 
to  be  kept  as  festival,  unless  he  was  also  a 
martyr.  Tbe  occurrence  of  any  such  day 
is  a  sure  indication  that  the  Calendar  is  of 
later  date  than  a.d.  400;  or,  that  the  entry. 
is  of  later  insertion.  To  the  bishops  Is 
assigned  tbe  term  Deposit io;  to  the 
martyrs,  Katixlis  or  XataUtium. 

6.  Vigils  are  of  rare  occurrence  in  the 
oldest  Calendars.  Not  one  vigil  is  noted 
in  the  Kal.  Bv-cherianum  and  Kal.  Cartha- 
ginens'.  The  Kal. Frontonianum  (supra) 
has  four.    A  Gallican  Calendar  of  a.d.  826 


edited  by  d'Acbery  (Spicileg.  x.  130),  has 
five  ;  and  another,  by  Manene,  for  which 
be  claims  an  earlier  date  (Thes.  Amxd.  v. 
65)  has  nine. 

For  the  determination  of  the  Province 
or  Church  to  which  a  Calendar  belongs, 
the  only  criterion  to  be  relied  on  is  the 
preponderance  in  it  of  names  of  martyrs 
and  saints  known  to  be  of  that  diocese  -or 
province.  Naturally  each  Church  would 
honour  most  its  own  confessors  and  cham- 
pions of  the  faith.  Especially  does  this 
rule  hold  in  respect  of  the  bishops,  whose 
names,  unless  they  were  also  martyrs  or 
otherwise  men  of  highest  note  in  the 
Church,  would  not  be  likely  to  obtain  a 
place  in  the  Calendars  of  other  than  their 
own  Churches. 

The  Greek  Church  bad  its  calendars, 
under  the  title  i<j>riii.epi';  (eopTo<rTiK>)), 
fjLrjvaiov  {iopT .)  ;  later,  KoAci'Tapioi',  which, 
as  containing  the  offices  for  each  celebration, 
grew  into  enormous  dimensions.  One  such, 
with  the  designation,  Mjji'oAoycoi'  twi' 
(vayycKCuiv  eopracrTiKOv  sive  Kalenda' 
rium  Ecclcsiae  Constantinopolitanae , 
edited  from  a  manuscript  in  tbe  Albani 
Library  by  Morcelli,  fills  two  quarto 
volumes,  liome,  1788.  But  the  title 
lt.T]voK6yiav  corresponds  not  with  the  Latin 
ICalendarium,  but  with  the  Martyrologium. 
Cave,  in  a  dissertation  appended  to  his 
nittoria  Lileraria,  part  ii.  (<ie  Libris  et 
offtciis  eccUsiasiicis  Uraecorum,  p.  43), 
describes  tbe  KoXfvTopiov  or  Ephemeris 
FccUsiastica  in  usum  totitts  anni,  as  a 
digest  of  all  Church  festivals  and  fasts  for 
the  twelve  months,  day  by  day,  beginning 
with  September.  "  That  Calendars  of  this 
kind  were  composed  for  the  use  of  the 
churches  is  plain  from  Biblloth.  A'indobon. 
Cud.  Hist.  Eccl.  xcvii.  num.  xiii.,  which 
gives  a  letter  written  by  tbe  head  of  some 
monastery  in  reply  to  questions  concerning 
monastic  observances  of  holydays ;  to  which 
is  appended  a  complete  Church  Calendar. 


Susjiendetl  Chalices. 


Cent.  IV.-VI. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


487 


B.  THE  ATHAXASIANCRKED  AND 
THE  UTRECHT  PSALTEU. 

Among  the  JISS.  used  by  Archbishop 
Ussher  for  his  work,  De  Symbolis  (1647), 
was  one  in  the  Cottonian  Library  (press- 
murk,  Claudius  A.  VII.),  which  had  dis- 
appeared when  Waterland  wrote  his 
Critical  History  of  the  Athanasian  Creed, 
in  1724.  The  missing  MS.,  still  bearing 
its  pressmark,  was  found  a  few  years 
ago  in  the  University  Library  at  Utrecht, 
to  which  it  was  presented  by  a  certain 
Monsieur  de  Kidder  in  1718;  but  as  to 
how  he  got  it,  or  liow  it  left  the  Cot- 
tonian Library,  there  is  no  evidence. 

This  splendid  M.S.,  on  vellum,  now 
famous  as  the  Utkecht  I'salteu,  con- 
tains, besides  the  Psalms,  the  Canticles 
jVunc  Oiniitlis  and  (Horia  in  ICxcelsis, 
the  Pater  Aoster,  the  Symbolum  jtposto- 
lorum,  and  the  Fides  Catholica  ("  AtUa- 
nasian  Creed ").  The  Psalter  is  of  the 
Gallican,  not  the  Roman  type.  The 
whole  (excepting  perhaps  some  correc- 
tions, and  addition.s  to  the  punctuation)  is 
written  in  one  hand,  in  characters  (as  all 
authorities  agree)  of  the  sixth  century,  if 
not  even  the  fifth.  Here,  then,  is  a  primd 
facie  case  of  a  copy  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed*  written  in  the  sixth  century,  as 
part  of  a  volume  prepared  either  for  litur- 
gical use  or  private  devotion.  This  was 
the  opinion  of  Archbishop  Ussher,  and 
the  arguments  in  confirmation  of  his  view 
have  been  elaborately  set  forth  by  .Sir 
Thomas  Duffus  Hardy,  Deputy  Keeper  of 
the  Public  Records. 

On  the  other  hand,  authorities  of  equal 
competence  in  pala-ography — especially 
Mr.  Bond,  Keeper  of  MSS.  in  the  British 
Museum,  the  Rev.  H.  0.  Co.xe,  ISodleian 
Librarian,  Professor  Westwood,  and  Mr. 
E.  M.  Thompson— find  evidence  in  the 
MS.  of  a  later  date,  which  they  variously 

•  A  very  interesting  question  la  also  involved 
respecting  the  Aimsllea'  Crrcd ;  for  thi«  copy  of  it 
contains  the  clanse  Penrendit  ad  infenui,  whicti 
certninly  was  not  in  tlie  Kunian  Symlxil  till  alxiut 
A.D.  8(X),  or  later.  Bui,  as  affecting  the  (fait  of 
tlie  MS.,  this  only  proves  that  it  was  not  written 
at  K,mt  so  early  as  its  snppoeed  date.  Tlie  article 
existed  in  an  Arian  version  of  the  Apostles'  Creed 
as  early  iis  A.D.  35t>,  and  it  is  found  in  other  nn- 
date4l  MS.S.  which  are  aasifrne*!  to  the  same  ago. 
and  in  another  Gallican  Psalter  tjearing  the  date 
of  5t>0,  in  the  fame  wrhj  fimn  as  in  the  I'tjocht 
Psalter,  "de*x>ndit  ad  infema,"  which  exacUy 
corresponds  with  the  Greek  Ka7a\96vLa  ("  the  re- 
gion below  the  earth  "),  whereas  the  form  that 
has  prevailed  in  the  Itomaii  Symtx^I.  fmni  tlie 
eighth  century  to  the  present  day,  is  "  descendit 
ad  inferos." 


a.ssign  to  the  seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  or 
tenth  centuries.  Not  that  It  is  a  forgery, 
or  fraudulent  imitation,  intended  to  be 
passed  off  as  a  work  of  the  sixth  century — 
on  this  all  seem  now  agreed  — but  a  tran- 
script from  an  earlier  MS.,  the  hand- 
writing of  which  has  been  faithfully  imi- 
tated by  the  copyist. 

On  this  view,  the  Utrecht  Psalter  would 
be  none  the  less  a  witness  for  the  early 
date  of  the  Creed,  that  is  to  say,  if  it  were 
a  part  of  the  original  MS.  But  it  is  further 
argued  that  the  transcriber  of  the  ancient 
PsALTEU  may  have  added  to  it  the  CitiiEDS, 
&c.,  still  imitating  the  old  handicriting, 
certainly  a  difficult  task.  Besides  the 
question  of  the  handwriting,  the  argu- 
ment turns  on  the  style  and  subjects  of  a 
series  of  elaborate  pictures,  with  which 
the  MS.  is  illuminated  on  almost  every 
page. 

That  the  nature  and  limits  of  our  work 
forbid  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  argu- 
ments on  both  bides,  is  the  less  to  be  re- 
gretted as  the  controversy  cannot  be  con- 
sidejed  closed.  Besides,  its  bearing  on  the 
date  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  is  now  gene- 
rally admitted  to  be  of  minor  importance  in 
face  of  the  independent  proofs  of  a  date  for 
the  Creed  as  early  as  the  earliest  assigned 
to  the  MS.  But  the  MS.  has  another 
quality  of  interest  in  connection  with  the 
early  English  Church.  This  Gallican  book 
of  devotion,  found  in  England,  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  British  Psalter  (that  is,  one 
used  in  Britain),  in  spile  of  the  title 
accidentally  derived  from  its  ccmvcyance 
to  the  Continent.  Its  date  would  carry  it 
back  to  the  time  before  the  landing  of 
Augustine,  when  the  kingdom  of  Kent 
w.as  affected  by  Fr.<ink  Christian  influence.' 
The  labour  and  evident  cost  bestowed  on 
Its  writing  and  Illumination  can  leave 
little  doubt  that  it  was  prepared  for  the 
use  of  some  royal  or  noble  personage  who. 
could  read  a  Latin  book  of  devotion;  for 
if  meant  fur  a  native  Anglian,  it  would 
have  had  an  Interlinear  translation.  Of 
course  it  maj-  have  been  brought  over  to 
Britiiiu  long  after  it  was  written  in  Gaul ; 
and  it  is,  therefore,  only  as  a  point  of 
curious  interest  that  we  mention  Sir 
Thomas  Hardy's  conjecture,  that  the 
volume  may  have  been  brought  over  by 
(Juei-n  Bertha,  on  her  marriage  with 
Kthelbert,*  and  by  her  bequeathed  to  the 
monastery  of  Reculver,  the  later  residence 
of  Ethelbert.  "In  support  of  this  con- 
•  See  Chap.  XIX.  §  8. 


488 


2\0T£S  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Chap.  XVIII. 


jccture,  it  is  observed  that  the  charter  of 
this  monastery  appears  formerly  to  have 
been  annexed  to  the  Utrecht  Psjilter,  and 
to  have  been  detached  from  it  when  the 
volume  was  rebound  in  the  time  of  Sir 
Robert  Cotton.  The  charter  is  now  in 
the  Cottonlan  Library  (Augustus,  II.  2). 
The  monastery  was  dissolved  in  999,  and 
iis  effects  were  removed  to  Canterbury, 
and  amongst  them  probably  was  this  MS.  ; 
unless  it  had  been  previously  removed  by 
liercauld,  who  was  promoted  from  this 
abbacy  to  the  archbishopric  of  Canterbury. 
And  at  Canterbury,  in^all  probability,  the 
numerous  e.xisling  copies  of  the  drawings 
of  this  Ps;ilter  were  executed."* 

The  views  of  the  defenders  and  the  im- 
pugners  of  the  early  date  of  the  Utrecht 
Psalter    are  set   forth  in    the  following 
works,  besides  criticisms  in  various  jour-  i 
nals  and  periodicals : — 

1.  The  Athanasian  Creed  in  convection 
with  the  Utrecht  I'salter ;  being  a  Ueport 

•  Sulurilay  Eerim.  April  26th,  1873.  vol.  xsiv. 
p.  662.  There  are  also  important  reviews  of  the 
controversy  in  the  StUurdai/  lievU-ic,  Feb.  Gth,  ^75, 
vol.  xxiix.  p.  Iy5 ;  and  in  the  Acmleniy,  Aug.  let 
and  8th,  1974,  vuL  vi.  pp.  113  and  115.  i 


to  the  Mailer  of  the  Rolls  on  a  MS.  in  the 
University  of  Utrecht.  Hy  Sir  Thomas 
iJuffus  Hardy,  D.C.L.,  Deputy  Keeper  of 
the  Kecords.  1S73. 

2.  The  Utrecht  Ptalter ;  Reportt  ad- 
dressed to  the  Trustees  of  the  British 
Museum  on  the  Age  of  the  Manuscript. 
Hy  E.  A.  Bond,  E.  M.  Thomson,  Uev. 
H.  O.  Coxe.  Uev.  S.  S.  Lewis,  Sir  M. 
Digby  Wyatt,  Professor  AV^estwood,  F.  H. 
Dickinson,  and  Professor  Swainton.  With 
a  Preface  by  A.  Penrhyn  Stanley,  D  D., 
Dean  of  Westminster.  With  Three  Fac- 
similes.   1874. 

3.  J-itrther  liejjort  on  the  Utrrcht  Psal- 
ter;  in  answer  to  the  Eight  Reports  made 
to  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Museum, 
and  edited  by  the  Dean  of  Westminster. 
By  Sir  T.  U.  Hardy,  &c.     1S7J. 

4.  The  History,  Art,  and  Palceography 
of  the  Manuscript  commonly  styled  the 
Utrecht  Psalter.  By  Walter  de  Gray 
Birch,  F.R.S.L.,  of  the  British  Museum. 
1877. 

An  inspection  of  the  MS.,  which  has  now 
been  photographed,  is  essential  to  the  ap- 
preciation of  the  arguments. 


Baptistry  at  Ravenna.    Begun  In  the  Fifth  Century,  and  finished  in  tlie  Sixth. 


St.  Martin's  Cliurcli,  Cantfilniry. 

BOOK    III. 

THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  EASTERN  CHUKCH, 

AND  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE 

HOLY  ROi^IAN  EMPIRE. 

CENTLRIKS   VII.-X. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

POPE  GREGORY  THE  GREAT  AND  THE  FOUNDATION 
OF  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH. 

THE   SEVENTH   CENTl'RY. 

1.  Transition  to  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages — The  chief  interest 
transferred  to  the  West.  §  2.  Pope  Gregoiiy  I.  THE  Great — His  early 
Life — Visit  to  Constantinojile — Election  to  the  I'ajjacy.  §  3.  State  of 
the  Church — Gregory's  Administration — His  Charity  and  Hospitality. 
§  4.  His  relations  to  the  Western  Ciiurches — Assertion  of  the  Supremacy 
of  Rome.  §  5.  His  Contest  with  Constantinople  about  the  title  of 
(Ecumenical  Bishop — The  Kmperors  M  aurice  and  Phocas.  §  6.  Gregory's 
Toleration  —  His  Zeal  against   Paganism  and   for   Jlissions.      §  7.  His 


490  POPE  GREGORY  THE  GREAT.      Chap.  XIX, 

Death,  Works,  and  Opinions.  §  8.  The  Mission  of  AUGUSTINE  to  England 
— Conversion  of  Ethelbert.  §  9.  Establishmnnt  of  the  See  of  Canterbury. 
§  10.  Character  impressed  from  the  tirst  on  the  English  Church.  Con- 
stitution of  the  English  bishoprics — Sees  of  York,  London,  and  Rochester. 
§  11.  Gregory's  directions  about  Heathenism  and  the  Customs  of  the 
Churches— The  native  British  Church  put  under  Augustine — His  Quarrel 
with  the  Welsh  Bishops.  §  12.  Death  of  Augustine — Conversion  of  North- 
umbria,  12ast  Anglia,  Wessex,  Mercia,  and  Sussex.  §  13.  St.  Kinian  and 
the  Pictish  Church— The  Scots  in  Ireland — Pelagianism  in  Britain — 
Mission  of  St.  Germanus— Palladius  sent  to  the  Scots  in  Ireland.  §  14. 
St.  Patrick,  the^  Apostle  of  Ireland — His  Life,  Labours,  and  Writings. 
§  15.  Irish  Missions  to  North  Britain— St.  Columba  and  the  Community 
of  lona — Independence  of  the  Scoto-Irish  Church — Their  Rule  of  Easter. 
§  16.  Irish  Missions  to  the  Continent— St.  Coluniban,  St.  Gall,  and 
others.  §  17.  The  Scoto-Irish  Church  in  Xorthumbria — King  Oswald 
— Bishopric  and  Monastery  of  Lindisfarn  —  King  OswY — Wilfrid — 
— The  Synod  of  Whitby  adopts  the  Roman  Use  of  Easter  and  the  Supre- 
macy of  the  Pope— Wilfrid  made  Bishop  of  York.  §  18.  Thkodore, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury— The  Synod  and  Canons  of  Hertford.  §  19. 
Division  of  Sees— Banishment  of  Wilfrid,  and  his  Appeal  to  Rome — Theo- 
dore and  King  Ecgfrid  resist  the  Pope — Wilfrid  converts  the  South  Saxons 
— His  restoration,  vicissitudes,  and  death.  §  20.  Advance  of  Religion  and 
Learning  by  Wilfrid  and  Theodore,  Hadrian  and  Benedict  Biscop — Im- 
provements m  Churches  and  Worship — Libraries — Monasteries  of'Wear- 
mouth  and  .larrow — The  Venerable  Bede— Egbert,  Archbishop  o£ 
York — Alcuin — Decline  of  Northumbria  and  of  English  Learning. 

§  1.  As  the  early  part  of  the  third  century  marks  the  transition  from 
the  primitive  church  to  tlie  system  of  imperial  Christianity,  so, 
after  tracing  the  connection  of  the  Churcli  -with  the  Empire  for 
three  humh-eil  years,  we  find,  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century, 
another  transition  to  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Tiie  Eastern 
Church,  rapidly  falling  into  decay  through  its  own  corruptions 
and  the  weight  of  Byzantine  despotism,  and  about  to  suffer  the 
great  catastrophe  of  the  Mohammedan  conquest,  recedes  into  com- 
parative insigni6cance.  As  the  new  Christian  states  of  the  West 
come  to  the  front  of  our  scene,  their  ecclesiastical  interests  are  so 
mixed  up  with  their  civil  polity,  as  to  form  an  integral  jvart  of  the 
history  of  each  nation,  leaving  only  the  most  important  facts  to  the 
distinct  province  of  Church  History.  At  the  same  time  Eome  has 
assumed  a  position  which  makes  it  the  centre  of  the  whole  subject; 
and  the  distinct  attainment  of  that  position  dates  from  the  i)onti- 
ficate  of  Gregory  the  Great. 

§2.  Gregory  was  born   at  IJome,   about   540,  of    a  family  of 
senatorial  rank,  and  he  was  the  great-grandson  of  a  Bishop  of  Rome.' 

'  Either  Felix  HI.  or  Felix  IV.     It  is  uncertain  which. 


A.D.  590.  GREGORY  I.  MADE  POPE.  491 

He  rose  to  the  office  of  Prajtor ;  but  about  the  age  of  thirty-five 
he  devoted  his  time  and  property  to  religious  objects.  Besides 
founding  six  monasteries  in  Sicily,  he  established  one  in  his  own 
house  on  the  Ca;lian  Hill.  In  this  monastery,  which  he  dedicated  to 
St.  Andrew,  but  which  has  since  been  called  by  its  founder's  name, 
Gregory  persevered  in  a  strictly  ascetic  discipline,  notwithstanding 
frequent  severe  illness.  About  577  he  was  ordained  deacon,  and 
he  was  soon  afterwards  sent  as  the  legate  of  roi)e  Pelagius  11.  to  the 
court  of  Tiberius  H.^  At  Constantinople  he  maintained  the  reality 
of  the  resurrection  body  against  the  Origenist  opinions  of  the 
patriarch  Eutychius  so  successfully,  that  the  doctrine  of  Eutychius 
was  condemned  by  the  Emperor  and  renounced  by  the  patriarch 
himself  on  his  death-bed. 

Gregory  returned  to  Rome  in  584,  and  became  ecclesiastical 
secretary  to  Pope  Pelagius.  While  residing  in  his  monastery  as 
abbot,^  he  is  said  to  have  witnessed  that  memorable  scene  of  the 
Anglian  captives  in  the  slave-market,  wliich  moved  him  to  under- 
take the  conversion  of  our  heathen  forefathers.''  But  his  services 
could  not  be  s]iarcd  at  Kome,  and  on  the  death  of  Pelagius,  in 
January  590,  the  Senate,  clergy,  and  jicople  elected  Gregory  liis 
successor.  In  vain  he  tried  every  means  to  escai)e  the  dignity,  and 
wrote  to  entreat  the  Emperor  Maurice^  to  Avithhold  his  confirma- 
tion ;  the  Governor  of  Bome  opened  and  detained  the  letter ;  and 
Gregory  was  consecrated  in  September  590. 

§  3.  At  this  epoch  Bome  and  Italy  were  reduced  to  the  deepest 
distress,  and  the  Western  Church  is  compared  by  Gregory  himself 
to  "an  old  and  shattered  ship,  admitting  the  waters  on  all  sides, 
its  timbers  rotten,  and  shaken  by  daily  storms,  and  sounding  of 
wreck."  In  Italy,  the  Arian  Lom'bards  had  destroyed  churclies  and 
monasteries ;  the  clergy  were  too  few  for  their  flocks,  and  both  they 
and  the  monks  were  grievously  lax  in  discipline.  The  cor- 
ruptions of  the  Frankish  kingdom  have  already  been  described. 
Spain  had  only  just  recovered  from  the  Arian  heresy ;  Africa  was 
again  troubled  by  the  Donatists;  and  the  schism 'caused  by  the 
qviestion  of  the  "  Three  Articles  "  was  still  maintained  at  Aquileia 
and  in  other  parts. 

Gregory  set  himself  to  encounter  these  difficulties— with  that  mar- 
vellous activity  and  capacity  for  affairs,  sacred  and  secular,  to 
which  his  letters  *  still  bear  witness— from  the  government  of  the 

>  Tiberius  II.  was  sole  emperor,  578-582,  after  having  been  associated 
with  .lustin  II.  for  four  yonrs. 

-'  It  is  not  certain  whether  he  was  already  aboot  before  his  mission  to 
Constantinoj.le,  or  was  elected  after  his  return.  »  See  below,  §  6. 

*  Jlauricius  was  emperor  for  toventy  years,  582-602. 

*  They  are  nearly  850  in  number. 


492  POPE  GREGORY  THE  GREAT.      Chap.  XIX. 

churches,  the  defence  of  tlie  country,  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
and  the  reclaiming  of  heretics,  to  the  niinutiaj  of  discipline,  the 
management  of  a  farm,  and  the  relief  of  individual  distress.  He 
still  continued  his  simple  monastic  life,  confining  his  society  to  the 
monks  and  clergy,  with  whom  he  pursued  his  studies,  and  for  whose 
education  he  provided.  He  re-organized  his  Church  and  improved  its 
Liturgy,  arranging  the  service  of  the  mass  nearly  in  its  present  form, 
and  establishing  a  singing  school,^  with  the  style  of  chanting  which 
still  bears  his  name.  In  preaching  he  was  constant  and  so  powerful, 
that  he  was  believed  to  be  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  form 
of  a  white  dove.  >  The  wealth  of  his  see  was  devoted  to  the  daily 
relief  of  the  needy ;  for  whom  he  felt  so  deei:)ly  responsible,  that 
when  a  poor  man  was  found  dead  in  the  streets,  Gregory  took  the 
guilt  to  himself.  His  monastery  was  open  to  strangers  and 
wanderers ;  and  once  he  is  said  to  have  received  assurance  of  the 
reward  promised  by  the  Apostle,^  in  a  vision  of  the  Saviour,  who 
said  to  him,  "  On  other  days  thou  hast  relieved  me  in  my  Members, 
but  yesterday  in  Myself."  He  took  part  in  political  affairs  in  the 
hope  of  securing  peace  for  the  Church,  and  his  negociations  with  the 
Lombards  more  than  once  averted  the  miseries  of  war. 

§  4.  In  his  administration  and  his  intercourse  with  other  churches, 
Gregory  used  the  agency  of  the  commissioners  who  managed  the 
property  of  the  Roman  see,  or,  as  it  now  came  to  be  called,  the 
Patrimony  of  St.  Peter .^  They  were  deacons  and  sub-deacons,  and 
laymen  who  were  called  Defensores.  In  some  provinces  and  kingdoms 
— as  in  Gaul  and  Spain — he  was  represented  by  bishops  called 
Vicars,  on  whom  he  bestowed  special  privileges,  the  badge  of  which 
was  the  pall  (paJfium).  He  did  not  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  the  churches  beyond  the  suburbicarian  jirovinces,  which  he  took 
under  his  own  special  care.  But  in  all  parts  of  the  West  he 
asserted  the  supremacy  of  the  see  of  Eome  as  the  centre  of  eccle- 
siastical privileges  and  jurisdiction.  His  agents,  even  when  only 
sub-deacons,  were  empowered  to  admonish  bishops,  and  to  summon 
those  even  of  a  whole  province  to  receive  the  advice  and  rebuke  of 
the  Pope.  He  acquired  a  new  authority  over  the  African  Church 
by  aid  of  the  imperial  governor,  Gennailius ;  and  in  Gaul  he 
established  a  connection  with  the  Frankish  kingdom,  which  might 
supply  and  counterbalance  any  want  of  sup^wrt  or  jealousy  from 
the  Emperor. 

'  "  He  superintended  in  person  the  exercises  of  the  choristers  ;  the  whip 
with  which  he  threatened  and  admonished  them  was  still  preserved  for 
centuries  as  a  relic  (Joh.  Diac.  ii.  5-6)." — Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  5. 

*  Heb.  xiii.  2 ;  Gen.  six.  1. 

*  This  included  estates  not  only  in  Ita^  ani  the  adjacent  islands,  but  in 
Gaul,  Illyria,  Dalmatia,  Africa,  and  even  Asia.     (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  7.) 


A.D.  590.  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  EAST.  493 

§  5.  In  his  relations  with  the  Eastern  Church,  Gregory  took  his 
stand  on  cquaUty  and  mutual  independence.^  He  distinctly  recog- 
nized the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch  ns  his  equals, 
because  they  were,  "  like  himself,  successors  of  St.  Peter,  and  sharers 
with  him  in  the  one  chair  of  the  same  founder."  ^  But,  like  his 
predecessor,  Pelagius,  he  contested  the  right  of  the  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople  (John  the  Faster)  to  assume  the  title  of  (Ecumenical 
Bishop.  He  objected  to  it  as  interfering  with  the  horour  due  to 
the  Em2-)eror,  and  also  on  grounds  which  have  a  most  interesting 
bearing  on  the  Eomish  assumption  of  supremacy ;  for,  in  rebuking 
John,  Gregory  renounced  for  himself  all  similar  assumption.  He 
condemned  it  as  proud  and  foolish,  an  imitation  of  the  Devil,  and 
quoted  against  it  the  jiosition  of  St.  Peter,  who  was  only  one  of  the 
Aix)stles,  though  the  first.  He  declared  that  the  bishops  of  Rome 
had  abstained  from  using  the  title,  though  conferred  on  them  by  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon,  lest  tliey  should  seem  to  deny  the  pontificate 
to  others.  He  urged  the  argument,  which  has  lately  acquired  a  new 
force,  that  if  an  (Ecumenical  Bishop  should  err,  tlie  whole  Church 
woukl  fail,  and  that,  in  fact,  there  had  been  patriarchs  of  Constan- 
tinople who  were  not  oidy  heretics  but  heresiarchs. 

Gregory's  remonstrances  were  unavailing,  alike  with  John  and 
his  successor  Cj'riac,  and  with  the  Emjieror  Maurice,  who  had  other 
grounds  of  quarrel  with  the  Pope.  The  Emperor  often  interfered 
with  Gregory's  strict  discipline,  as  unsuited  to  the  troubles  of  the 
times.  When  Maurice  issued  an  edict  forbidding  soldiers  and  civil 
officers  to  become  monks,  Gregory  told  him  that  he  was  imperilling 
his  salvation.  The  part  which  Gregory  took  in  political  affairs  was 
misrepresented  to  the  Emperor,  of  Avhose  neglect  and  weakness  it 
was  a  practical  rebuke. 

Such  were  the  relations  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope,  when 
an  outbreak  at  Constantinople  deposed  Maurice,  and  gave  the 
purple  to  the  centurion  Piiocas  (602-610),  a  monster  of  vice  and 
cruelty.  The  usurper  sought  the  favour  of  the  Poman  bishop  ;  and 
Gregory's  warmest  admirers  have  failed  to  excuse  his  letters  of  con- 
gratulation and  other  marks  of  honour  to  Phocas.  Cyriac  had  to 
abandon  the  disputed  title  ;  but  it  was  finall}'  sanctioned  by  the 
Emperor  Heraclius  and  by  the  Sixth  General  Council  (681).^  At 
the  same  Council  the  title  was  claimed  for  Pope  Agatho  by  his 
legates,  and  it  was  thenceforward  usually  assumed  by  the  successors 
of  the  great  bishop  who  had  disowned  and  condemned  it. 

'  There  are,  indeed,  passages  in  which  he  seems  to  claim  some  sort  of 
supremacy  fur  the  see  of  Rome  ;  but  their  precise  scope  is  questionable, 
and  the  question  must  be  decided  by  the  general  tenor  of  his  language. 

2  Epist.  vi.  60;  vii.  40 :  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  8.  »  See  Chap.  XVI.  §  15. 
23 


494  POPE  GREGORY  THE  GREAT.      Chap,  XIX. 

§  6.  Gregory  succeeded  in  partly,  though  not  completely,  healing 
the  schism  of  Aquilcia  and  Istria,  by  taking  his  stand  on  the  first 
four  Councils  (whicli  he  likened  in  authority  to  the  Four  Gospels), 
and  treating  the  fifth  as  of  minor  importance.  By  this  compro- 
mise, too,  he  effected  a  reconciliation  between  the  orthodox  Bishop 
of  Milan  and  the  Lombard  queen,  Theodelinda,  who  became  a 
friend  to  the  Roman  see.  Her  son  was  baptized  in  the  communion 
of  Rome,  and  Arianism  died  out  among  the  Lombards  by  the 
middle  of  the  seventh  century. 

Towards  heretics  in  general  Gregory  was  tolerant ;  but  he  urged, 
the  execution  of  the  severe  laws  against  the  fanatical  Donatists. 
He  protected  the  Jews,  and  discouraged  the  attempts  at  their  com- 
pulsory conversion,  which  were  now  often  practised  in  Gaiil  and 
Spain.  But  he  was  zealous  in  rooting  out  the  remains  of 
heathenism  among  the  rural  population ;  reproving  landowners 
who  allowed  the  practice  of  Pagan  rites,  and  urging  the  authorities 
to  reclaim  the  rustics  sometimes  by  lenity,  sometimes  by  increased 
taxes,  or  even  by  personal  chastisement.  Pity  for  the  men  of  old  who 
had  perished  in  heathenism  was  a  constant  emotion  of  Gregory's. 
The  character  of  Trajan  in  particular  is  said  to  have  so  impressed 
him,  that  he  prayed  in  St.  Peter's  church  that  God  might  yet  give 
the  soul  of  the  Emperor  grace  to  know  the  name  of  Christ  and  to 
be  converted.  But  he  knew  that  heathen  nations  were  still  within 
the  reach  of  his  own  eflbrts ;  and  his  yearning  for  their  salvation, 
finding  an  occasion  from  his  benevolence  in  redeeming  the  captives, 
led  to  that  famous  scene  in  the  slave-market  at  Rome,  from  which 
we  may  date  the  long  history  of  those  missions  to  the  heathen,  of 
which  England  was  first  the  object  and  for  ages  afterwards  the 
source. 

§  7.  But  before  relating  this  beginning  of  our  own  church  history, 
we  must  record  the  death  of  Gregory,  which  took  ])lace  soon  after 
the  success  of  the  English  mission  was  fully  assured.  His  letters 
to  Augustine  and  others,  of  which  we  have  presently  to  speak,  are 
the  more  interesting  because  dictated  from  the  bed  to  which  his  in- 
firmities confined  him  for  some  years  before  his  release  on  the  12th 
of  March,  GOL 

Among  the  literary  works  for  which  he  found  time  amidst  his 
incessant  labours  and  frequent  illness,  was  the  "Morals"  on  the 
Book  of  Job,  written  at  the  suggestion  of  Leander,  bishop  of  His- 
palis  (Seville).  Regarding  much  of  the  book  as  fi<iurative,  he 
attempts  to  trace  its  spiritual  and  moral  sense ;  making  Job  the 
type  of  the  Church,  and  his  wife  the  carnally-minded;  his  friends 
are  the  heretics,  and  their  conviction  is  the  reconciliation  of  heretics 
to  the  Church.     This  extravagance  of  allegory  is  fitly  sustained  by 


A.D.  604.  DEATH  AND  WORKS  OK  GREGORY.  495 

a  constant  wresting  of  the  Scripture  text  and  imiwrtation  of  foreign 
matter.  Tlic  great  Pope  had  no  pretensions  to  be  a  critical  expo- 
sitor, and  lie  confesfcs  his  ignorance  of  Greek.  His  practical 
wisdom  appears  in  his  Pastoral  IxuJe,  which  became  a  model  for 
the  bishops  of  the  West,  especially  for  those  of  the  Franks  imder 
Charles  the  Great,  and  the  English  under  Alfred.  His  Dialofiucs, 
addressed  to  the  Lombard  Queen  Theodelinda,  show  the  hold  which 
miraculous  legends  had  now  gained  in  the  Church,  and  bring  out 
the  doctrine  of  jmrrjatory  more  distinctly  than  any  former  work. 
His  Letters  abound  in  passages  showing  a  great  reverence  for 
relics.*  He  strongly  advocates  the  monastic  life,  which  he  himself 
practised ;  and  he  supported  monasteries  against  the  encroachments 
of  bishops.  But  he  condemned  the  excesses  of  asceticism ;  and, 
though  he  contributed  to  extend  celibacy  among  the  clergy,  he  did 
not  sanction  the  separation  of  those  who  were  already  married. 

§  8.  The  most  lasting,  and  to  us  the  most  interesting  fruit  of 
Gregory's  labours,  is  the  introduction  of  Christianity  among  the 
heathen  conquerors  of  Britain.  We  need  not  repeat  the  beautiful 
story,  told  by  our  first  native  historian,^  how  Gregory,  while  still 
abbot  of  his  monastery  of  St.  Andrew's,  was  moved  by  the  sight 
of  some  Anglian  slaves  from  Britain  to  vow  that  the  praises  of  God 
should  be  sung  in  their  land.  I'he  Pope^  gave  his  consent,  but 
the  jieople  of  Bome  would  not  sutler  Gregory  to  leave  them. 
Still,  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  heathen  people  of  the  remote 
and  once  Christian  island  within  the  pale  of  the  Church  was 
among  the  first  objects  that  Gregory  kept  in  view  on  the  papal 

'  His  opinions  on  the  growing  use  of  images  in  churches  are  very  in- 
tercting.      (See  Chap.  XVIH.  §  1(5,  pp.  4&U-1.) 

*  Bede,  //.  U.  ii.  1.  See  the  Student's  Hume,  eh.  ii.  §  14.  .and  the 
picturesque  narrative  of  Dean  Stanley,  Historical  Memorials  of  Canterburif. 
It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  scene  with  the  Anglian  slaves  belongs 
to  the  real  history,  or  to  the  legends,  of  Gregory's  life.  (1)  The  elaborate 
play  on  words  suggests  a  iuspicion  that  the  story  is  rather  hen  trorato 
than  vero.  (-)  Bede  does  not  relate  it  in  its  place  as  part  of  the  history 
of  the  mission  (i.  53),  but  he  brings  it  in  afterwards  as  an  ejiisode.  (i^) 
The  very  words  with  which  he  introduces  and  dismisses  the  story  seem  to 
mark  it  as  derived  from  those  legendary  histories  of  Gregory  which  we 
know  to  have  been  popular  in  England  (.loh.  Diac.  ii.  41,  44),  rather  than 
from  the  authentic  records  which  were  copied  for  Bede  at  Canterbury  and 
Rome,  and  from  which  7nonHme7itit  literantm  he  expressly  distinguishes 
thot  sciiiorum  traditio  about  Gregory  and  his  disciples  (Prafat.)  which  he 
here  cites: — "Nee  pr.Ttereunda  opinio  qu;c  de  beato  Gregorio,  traditione 
majorttm  ad  nos  usque  perlata  est;"  and,  at  the  end,  "  Ha-c  ju.\ta 
opinionem,  quam  ah  antiquis  accepimus,  Historiae  nostrse  ecclesiasticae  in- 
serere  opportunum  duximus." 

'  It  is  not  quite  certain  whether  this  was  Benedict  II.  (574-578)  or 
Pelagius  II.  (578-590). 


496  GREGORY  AND  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  Chap.  XIX. 

throne.  There  is  a  letter  in  which  be  bids  Candidas,  his  defensor 
in  Gaul,  to  buy  some  Anglian  youths  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  and 
send  them  to  be  trained  in  the  monasteries  at  Rome. 

In  596  an  interval  of  jx^ace  with  the  Lombards  gave  the  oppor- 
tunity ;  and  Gregory  chose  Augustine,^  the  provost  of  his 
monastery  of  St.  Andrew,  a  man  of  ardent  zeal,  but  somewhat 
intolerant  and  self-sufficient,'  with  a  band  of  his  monks,  over  whom 
Augustine  was  made  Abbot,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  English 
nation.  Augustine  was  designated  as  the  intended  bishop  of  the 
new  Church. 

On  their  joui^ney  through  Gaul,  the  missionaries  heard  such 
accounts  of  the  ferocity  of  the  infidel  nation,  whose  language  even 
was  unknown  to  them,  that  they  sent  Augustine  home  to  entreat 
that  they  might  be  spared  a  pilgrimage  so  distant,  perilous,  and 
doubtful  in  its  result.^  Gregory  sent  him  back  with  a  letter 
encouraging  them  to  persevere;  the  party  of  forty  monks  was 
joined,  probably  by  some  Gallic  presbyters  ;  and  in  597  tliey  landed 
at  Ebbesfleet,  on  the  S.  point  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  nearly  opposite 
to  the  Castle  of  Richborough  on  the  other  side  of  the  diannel 
called  Waiitsumu,  which  then  divided  the  island  from  the  mainland 
of  Kent.  The  Christian  missionaries  were  in  the  same  position  as 
the  Jutish  auxiliaries  had  been  a  century  and  a  half  before,  awaiting 
in  the  island  the  reception  they  might  meet. 

Their  way  was  not  altogether  luiprepared.  Elhelbert,  the  King 
of  Kent,  who  had  won  a  sort  of  supremacy  over  all  the  Anglo-Saxon 
states  south  of  the  Humber,^  had  a  Christian  wife,  Bertha,  daughter 
of  Charibert  (Herbert),  the  Frank  King  of  Paris,  who  had  brought 
with  her  a  bishop,  Liudhard,  and  practised  Christian  worship  in  an 

"  In  English  the  name,  like  that  of  the  great  bishop  of  Hippo,  is  often 
abbreviated  to  Austin. 

^  The  faults  of  Augustine  are  hinted  at  in  Gregoi-y's  admonitory  letter 
(Beik;,  //.  E.  ii.  31),  and  were  shown,  with  unhai)py  consequences,  in  his 
dealings  with  the  bishops  of  the  old  British  Church.  See  also  Dean 
Stanley's  sketch  of  Augustine's  character  (^Historical  Memorials  of  Canter- 
bury, p.  52,  5th  edit.  18(38). 

*  During  the  century  and  a  half  since  the  beginning  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
conquest,  Britain  seems  to  have  become  almost  as  unknown  to  the  Romans 
of  both  empires  (and  especially  in  the  East,  witness  the  marvellous  stories 
of  Procopius)  as  before  the  first  invasion  of  Cassar.  Even  the  commercial 
intercourse  of  that  age  appears  now  to  have  had  no  bettor  counterpart  than 
the  slave-trade. 

*  Bede,  //.  E.  i.  25,  ii.  .'?.  This  supremacy,  however,  must  not  be 
exaggerated.  Ethelbert's  power  over  the  East  Angles  and  the  Lindisfare 
was  probably  slight;  Mercia  was  still  very  unsettled,  and  the  West  Saxons 
had  long  before  this  (568)  worsted  Ethelbert  in  battle  and  won  Surrey  from 
him.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  Essex  alone  followed  him  in  accepting 
Christianity. 


A.D.  597.  MISSION  OF  AUGUSTINE.  497 

old  British  church  outside  the  walls  of  Canterbury,^  where  the  later 
but  very  ancient  little  church,  still  dedicated  to  St.  Martin,  now 
stands.-  Ethelbert  came  to  'i'hanet  and  lield  an  intervit  w  with  the 
missionaries  in  the  open  air  (for  fear  of  magical  influence),  and,  after 
hearing  Augustine,  he  postponed  Ins  decision,  while  he  oflered  them 
hospitality,  and  liberty  to  worsliip  and  make  converts. 

They  crossed  to  Kichboroiigh  and  advanced  to  Canterbury,  which 
they  entered  singing  the  Allelitjah  of  Gregory's  vow  ;  and  Ethelbert 
gave  them  the  lodging  called  "  Stable-gate."  Their  preaching, 
prayers,  and  self-denying  life  won  many  converts.  After  a  time 
they  were  allowed  to  worship  at  St.  Martin's,  and  there  it  was  (ac- 
cording to  the  local  tradition)*  that  Ethelbert  was  bajitized  on 
Whitsunday,  597 ;  and  the  king's  example  attracted  a  multitude  of 
new  hearers  and  converts.  A  heathen  temple,  once  a  P.ritish  church, 
between  St.  Martin's  and  the  town,  was  given  by  Ethelbert  for  a 
place  of  worship,  and  dedicated  by  Augustine  to  St.  Paucras.'* 

§  9.  According  to  Gregory's  intention,'^  Augustine  now  went  to 
Aries,  to  receive  consecration  from  the  metropolitan  ^Etherius,  as 
"Archbishop  of  the  Anglian  nation."  He  returned  before  Christ- 
mas, when  ten  thousand  converts  were  baptized  in  the  Swale,  the 
channel  which  divides  the  Isle  of  Sheppey  from  the  mainland.'' 
Augustine  now  sent  the  welcome  news  of  his  success  to  Gregory  by 
the  presbyter  Laurentius,  with  a  letter  asking  his  directions,  the 
reply  to  which  throws  a  most  interesting  light  on  the  first 
constitution    of    the    English    Church.^       Meanwhile    Augustine 

'  The  Roman  Donivcrnum  had  hecome  the  capital  of  the  kings  of  Kent, 
Cantipara-burh,  "  the  fortress  of  the  men  of  Kent." 

*  The  fame  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours  throiig;hout  Gaid  and  Britain  justifies 
the  assumption  that  the  Frank  bishop  would  dedicate  the  chapel  to  him,  if 
the  British  Christians  had  not  already  done  so,  as  seems  to  be  implied  by 
Bede  : — "  Ecclesia  in  honorem  Sancti  JIartini  antiquitus  facta  dum  adhuc 
Komani  Britanniam  incolcrent."  The  pre'sent  church,  thous];li  of  great 
antiquitv,  cannot  be  carried  back  so  far  ;us  the  time  of  Augustine. 

^  As  the  J(.sv  of  St.  JIartin's  rests,  not  on  tradition,  but  on  the  testimony 
of  Bede,  the  baptism  would  naturally  take  place  there.  The  font  shown  as 
that  in  which  Ethelbert  was  baptized  is  comparatively  modern,  but  Dean 
Stanley  notes  its  resemblance  to  that  which  appears  in  the  representation 
of  the  event  in  the  seal  of  St.  Augustine's  Abbey.  Tiie  Jai/  of  the  baptism 
is  traditional. 

*  Pancratius  (or  Pancrasiiis)  was  a  boy-martyr  under  Diocletian,  whose 
church  at  Rome  (.S'.  /'(iHcniiib)  stands  on  the  traditional  site  of  his  martyr- 
dom. Gregory's  monastery  was  built  on  land  which  had  belonged  to  the 
family  of  Pancratius.  *  See  above,  §  8. 

*  Gregor.  Fpist.  ad  Eulogium,  viii.  30.  This  letter,  writton  in  598, 
fi.xes  the  consecration  of  Augustine  before  the  bajitism  of  the  ten  thousand. 
Some  writers  confuse  this  with  the  great  baptisms  of  Northumbrians  by 
Palladius  in  the  Yorkshire  Swale. 

■  Bede,  II.  E,  i.  27  ;  Gregor.  Epist.  xi.  64. 


498  GEEGOUr  AND  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  Chap.  XIX. 

was  received  in  his  new  character  by  Ethelbert,  wlio  gave  up 
to  him  his  own  palace  as  "a  seat  suitable  to  his  dignity"  in 
the  "metropolis,"'  the  title  which  has  ever  since  belonged  to 
tlie  see  of  Canterbury,  with  the  primacy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, The  British  or  Koman  church  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
palace  became  the  cathedral  church  of  Augustine,^  of  which  no 
l)art  now  remains  in  the  s[)lendid  edifice  on  tlie  same  site.  To  the 
])alaco  and  clinrch  Ethelbert  added  the  "  possessions  of  various 
kinds"  wiiich  were  deemed  "necessary"  to  siipjwrt  the  newly- 
founded  church  and  bishopric.  As  if  to  leave  the  bishop  the  same 
isolated  dignity  in  Canterbury  that  the  Pope  held  in  liome,  Ethelbert 
built  himself  a  new  palace  at  the  old  Roman  fortress  of  Eegulbium 
(lieculver),  at  the  northern  entrance  of  the  Wantsume  channel. 
Whether  this,  or  the  want  of  room  for  a  new  palace  in  Canterbury, 
were  the  motive  of  his  retirement,  at  any  rate,  as  Dean  Stanley  has 
jiointed  out,  this  grant  of  house  and  land  to  Augustine  was  a  step 
of  immense  importance  in  English  history,  because  it  was  the  first 
instance  in  England  of  an  endowment  by  the  State.  "As  St.  Mar- 
tin's and  St.  Pancras'  witnessed  the  first  beginning  of  English  Chris- 
tianity, so  Canterbury  Cathedral  is  the  earliest  monument  of  an 
English  Church  establishment — of  the  English  constitution  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State.'" ^ 

Kear  the  Church  of  St.  Pancras  (the  position  outside  the  walls 
being  chosen  as  suitable  for  a  burial-place),  Ethelbert  granted  a 
site  on  which  Augustine  built  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul,  since  more  famous  under  its  founder's  name,  given  to 
it  by  St.  Dunstan,  which  became  the  first  great  seat  of  learning  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  depository  of  the  earliest  records  of  English  history.* 

§  10.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  for  understanding  the  whole 
current  of  English  ecclesiastical  history,  to  mark  the  distinction 
between  the  earlier  British   Christianity,  which  sprang  from  the 

'  Bede,  //.  E.  xxvl.  55: — "Noc  distulit  (rex),  quin  etiam  ipsis  doc- 
toribus  suis  loaim  scdis  cornin  ijrudui  conijruum  in  Doruverni  victro/ioli 
sua  donaret,  siinul  et  uecess  u-uis  in  clivcrsis  spdicbus  posscssiones  confcrret." 

^  It  was  dedicated  to  the  Saviour,  and,  besides  being  the  cathedral,  it 
became  the  abbey  church  of  the  monastery  of  Christ  Church. 

*  Memorials  of  Cmi'irhunj,  (.  c.  On  the  parallel  drawn  by  Gocelin 
{Act.  Sanct.  p.  383)  between  this  transaction  and  Constantine's  donation 
of  the  Lateral!  palace  to  Pope  iSylvester,  and  his  own  retirement  to  Con- 
stantinople, the  lloan  observes,  "That  the  parallel  of  Constantine  was 
present  to  the  minds  of  those  concerned  is  evident  from  the  a])]>ellation 
of  Ildcni  given  by  (iregory  t<i  liertlia,  or  (as  he  calls  her)  Ldilbunja  " 
(Epist.  ix.  GO);  and  the  comparison  of  Ethelbert  to  Constantino  is  made  in 
Gregory's  own  letter  to  the  kins;  (Hede,  i.  32). 

*  Its  site  is  now  most  fitly  occupied  by  the  Missionary  College  of 
St.  Augustine. 


A.D.  001.  THE  ENGLISH  BISHOPRICS.  -iW 

gradual  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  by  pereonal  conversions,  and  went 
through  the  ordeal  of  persecution, — and  the  acceptance  by  kings  and 
whole  masses  of  their  subjects  of  a  fully-organized  form  of  Christi- 
anity, wliich  was  forthwith  established  and  endowed  as  the  religion 
of  the  State.  Cliristianity  was  brought  into  England  by  Augustine 
in  the  form  in  wliich  it  bad  become  organized  in  the  lioman  Church, 
with  its  full  body  of  doctrine,  ritual,  discipline,  and  hierarchy,  in- 
cluding the  same  degree  of  respect  for  the  Bishop  of  Rome  which 
Gregory  himself  claimed  from  the  other  "Western  Churches,  and 
limited  by  Gregory's  own  disclaimers  of  any  authority  as  "Uni- 
versal Bishop."  The  example  set  in  Kent  was  followed  in  the  other 
Knglish  kingdoms.  The  bishop's  throne  was  set  up  beside  the 
king's  ;  the  kiiuj-dom  of  the  one  bec^ame  the  hishop-ric  of  the  other  ;' 
the  bishops  sat  in  the  Council  of  the  Wise  Men  as  equal  with  tlie 
Ealdormen  (the  rank  next  to  the  king's)  ;  the  clergy  ranked  with 
the  thanes ;  the  laws  of  the  Church  were  laws  of  the  State.  In  one 
respect  there  is  a  striking  diifercnce  between  the  Church  of  England 
and  those  of  the  provinces  of  the  Empire.  In  the  latter  the  primi- 
tive state  of  things  survived  in  the  great  number  of  bishops ;  there 
being  generally  one  for  every  town,  however  inconsiderable.  The 
different  state  of  things  in  England  (as  in  a  lesser  degree  in  Ger- 
many) may  be^  explained  partly  by  the  tribal  constitution  of  the 
Teutonic  race,  to  whom  it  would  seem  natural  that  the  people  of 
one  king  should  also  liavc  one  spiritual  head,  and  partly  from 
resjiect  for  the  instructions  of  Gregory. 

In  a  letter  which  Gregory  sent  to  Augustine  by  Mellitus,  who 
led  a  new  band  to  reinforce  the  mission  (CO I),  he  directed 
Augustine   to  ordain   twelve   bishops  for   as  many   places.^     He 

'  The  parallel,  partly  concealed  by  the  two  different  suffixes,  is  more 
obvious  in  the  old  cyne-rice  and  biscop-rice  Qnce  signifying  dominioii),  cyne- 
setl  and  biscop-sctl  (seat),  cyne-stdl  and  biscop-stdl  {dirclliiKj).  An  inter- 
«sting  "survival  "  of  the  coincidence  of  <lioceses  with  kingdoms  is  seen  in 
the  bishopric  of  Winchester,  which  still  includes  Surrey,  because  Ceawlin 
of  Wessex  won  that  sub-kingdom  from  Ethelbert  of  Kent  by  the  battle  of 
Wimbledon  (oGH). 

-  Redo,  J/.  K.  i.  29:  "per  loca  singula;"  the  choice  of  sees  being 
evidentlv  left  to  Augustine.  The  number  seems  to  be  derived  from  that  of 
the  Apostles ;  but  it  may  also  be,  as  Dean  Stanley  suggests,  that  Gregory 
had  an  inadequate  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  Britain,  or  at  least  of  the  part 
held  by  the  Teutonic  tribes.  In  (iregory's  former  answer  to  Augustine,  he 
•directi  that  the  bishops  should  not  be  at  long  distances  from  one  another  (h< 
ipsisibit'piscopil(»i(ioitiferr(illo>ninimeili!'jun(jantur  ....  in  pmpinquig sibi 
locis  onlinati):  but  this  is  only  in  order  that  three  or  tour  may  be  con- 
veniently assembled  for  ordinations.  Dean  Stanley  points  out  the  coin- 
cidence, that  the  total  of  twenty-four  bishops  iuthe  two  provinces  (making, 
however,  twenty-six  with  the  two  archbishops)  was  the  same  as  the  number 
of  English  bishops  fixed  under  Henry  VIII. 


500  GREGORY  AND  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH  Chap.  XIX. 

was  also  to  send  a  bishop  to  York  (Eburacum) — which  had  l)een 
the  Eoman  capital  of  Kortli  Britain  and  the  seat  of  a  British  arch- 
bishopric, and  was  now  the  capital  of  the  northern  Anglian  king- 
dom ' — who  was  to  be  made  a  metropolitan  when  a  church  should 
be  formed,  and  who  was  likewise  to  ordain  twelve  bishops.  The 
Archbishop  of  York  was  to  be  subject  to  Augustine,  but  not  to  his 
successor;  the  archbishops  of  the  two  sees  taking  precedence  accord- 
ing to  the  priority  of  ordination.^  It  was  not,  however,  till  some 
years  after  Augustine's  death  that  the  intended  mission  was  sent 
to  York. 

Augustine  hinaself,  shortly  before  his  death,  ordained  two  of  the 
new  comrades  who  had  been  sent  alter  him,  Mellitcs  and  JcsTUS, 
as  bishops:  the  one  of  London,  the  ca}iital  of  the  East  Saxons, 
whose  king,  Sebert,  w^as  the  nephew  and  subject  ally  of  Ethelbert ; 
the  other  of  liochester  (the  Roman  Durobrivis),  the  capital  probably 
of  a  sub- kingdom  of  West  Kent.  At  London  Ethelbert  built  the 
cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul  the  Apostle,  whose  journeys  tradition 
had  extended  to  Britain  f  at  Bochester  that  of  St.  Andrew,  the 
patron  saint  of  Gregory's  monastery ;  and  he  endowed  both  richly 
with  lands  and  other  property  *  (a.d.  604). 

§  1 1.  The  letters  of  Gregory  upon  the  mode  of  propagating  Chris- 
tianity among  our  heathen  forefathers  are  very  interesting.  In  his 
first  fervour  of  joy  and  zeal,  he  sent  a  letter  of  congratulation  and 
advice,''  with  presents,  to  "  the  most  glorious  lord  and  our  most 
excellent  son  Ethelbert,  King  of  the  Angles,"  whom  he  urges  to 
extend  the  faith  uf  Christ  among  the  peoples  under  his  rule,  to  root 
out  the  worship  of  idols  and  overturn  their  temples.  But  another 
letter,  sent  after  the  fresh  band  of  missionaries^  expressed  his  more 

*  When  Gregory  sent  these  instructions,  he  had  doubtless  been  informed 
by  Augustine  that  the  power  of  Ethelbert  did  not  extend  beyond  the 
H  umber. 

*  In  this  letter  Gregory  speaks  of  London  (not  of  Canterbury)  as  the 
intended  see  of  the  primate,  evidently  in  ignorance  of  the  relations  be- 
tween Kent  and  Essex.  The  moilern  ignorance  or  carelessness  which  calls 
St.  Paul's  the  '■'■metropolitan  cathedral  "  is  far  less  excu.sable. 

'  London  had  been  a  bishop's  see  in  the  times  of  Roman  Britain ;  and  its 
old  church,  jirobably  dedicated  to  St.  Paul,  appears  to  have  stood  on  the 
hill  afterwards  occupied  by  Sebert's  and  each  succeeding  cathedral  down 
to  Wren's,  which  tradition  made  the  site  of  a  temple  of  Diana.  Bede  says 
nothing  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter  (the  Wcst-mins'tci-),  which  an  in- 
teresting tradition  relates  to  have  been  built  by  Sebert,  in  obedience  to  a 
miraculous  vision  of  the  Apostle  (see  Ailred  of  Rievaulx,  and  the  French 
Life  of  Edward  the  Confessor). 

*  Bede,  //.  E.  ii.  3. 

*  Ibid.,  i.  32.  A.D.  601,  at  the  same  time  as  that  to  Augustine,  by 
MoUitus  and  his  companions. 

"  .\ddressed  to  Mellitus ;  Bede,  //.  K.  i.  30. 


A.D.  601.  LEITERS  OF  GREGORY.  601 

deliberate  thoughts ;' — that  the  temples  of  the  idols  ought  by  no 
means  to  be  destroyed,  but  purified  with  lioly  water  and  fitted  up 
as  churches  ;  and  that  the  heathen  sacrifices  of  oxen  should  be  con- 
verted into  feasts  in  honour  of  saints  and  martyrs ;  "  to  the  end 
(says  Gregory)  that  through  having  some  outward  joys  continued 
to  them,  they  may  more  easily  agree  to  accept  the  true  inward  joys. 
For  assuredly  it  is  imix)ssible  to  cut  away  all  things  at  once  from 
minds  hartlenod  by  evil  custom,  just  as  the  man  who  strives  to 
reach  the  sunmiit  of  perfection  climbs  by  steps  or  paces,  not  by 
leaps  and  bounds."  The  traces  of  this  policy  are  still  seen  in  many 
ideas  and  customs  that  survive  in  England,  and  in  the  very  language 
of  the  Church,  which  calls  its  greatest  festival  by  the  name  of  a 
goddess  of  our  heathen  forefathers.^ 

In  the  like  liberal  sinrit  Augustine  was  directed  to  arrange  the 
worship  of  the  newly-fouuded  Church,  not  by  one  example,  either 
of  Komc  or  Gaul  (the  differences  between  which  had  caused  him  to 
put  the  question  to  Gregory),  but  to  make  a  careful  choice  of  what- 
ever he  found  in  the  Koman  or  the  Gallic,  or  any  other  Church, 
to  be  more  acceptable  to  God,  and  to  "  pour  into  "  the  English  Church, 
while  new  in  the  faith,  the  good  usages  of  many  churches.  "  For 
(says  Gregory)  things  are  not  to  be  loved  for  the  sake  of  places, 
but  places  for  the  sake  of  things." 

It  would  have  been  well  for  the  peace  of  Britain  and  her  churches 
if  Augustine-  could  have  bent  his  haughty  temper  to  act  on  this 
wise  principle  in  his  dealings  with  the  existing  British  Church. 
The  remnant  of  the  native  Britons,  driven  back  into  the  western 
parts  of  the  island,  had  still  their  ancient  Church,  with  a  primate 
at  Caerleon  on  the  Usk,  though  distracted  and  degraded  by  the 
vices  and  corruptions  of  princes  and  clergy.*  The  bitter  animosity 
and  incessant  warfare  between  these  British  Christians  and  their 
exterminating  conquerors  may  extenuate  the  reproach  that  they 
had  made  no  ellbrt  for  their  conversion  during  the  jxist  century  and 

'  "  Quid  diu  mecum  de  causa  Anglorum  cogitans  tractavi." 
'  Easter,  from  Eastro,  a  goddess  whose  festival  was  in  April.  The  old 
name  for  Christmas,  still  preserved  in  jjoetical  and  festive  language,  Vule, 
was  that  of  the  Pagan  festival  of  the  winter  solstice  (from  ijedl  or  jiil, 
"  merry  ").  The  use  of  the  old  heathen  names  of  the  days  of  the  week 
was  in  conformity  with  the  practice  of  Christendom,  with  only  the  differ- 
ence that  in  England  the  names  of  Teutonic  deities  were  retained — Tuisco, 
Woden,  the  Thunderer,  Friga,  and  S»ter — in  place  of  Mars,  Jlercury,  Jove, 
Venus,  and  Saturn. 

^  Our  great  authority  on  this  point  is  the  book  of  the  monk  Gildas,  in 
the  sixth  century,  I>c  Excidio  Britannia;  Liber  (Jttcruhts,  with  the  appended 
Epistle  of  reproof  and  invective  against  certain  British  chieftains.  Valu- 
able as  this  sole  contftnporarji  record  is,  it  is  marred  by  party  spirit  and 
rhetorical  exaggeration. 


502  AUGUSTIKE  AND  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH.         Cuap.  XIX. 

a  half,  and  had  left  the  work  to  be  done  by  a  fresh  mission  from 
Jlome.  Gregory  seems  to  have  thought  that  a  church  so  inactive 
needed  new  direction ;  for  he  committed  to  Augustine  the  charge 
of  all  the  bishops  of  the  several  parts  of  Britain,  expressly  fur  the 
purpose  "  that  the  unlearned  might  be  taught,  the  weak  strengthened 
by  persuasion,  the  perverse  corrected  by  his  authority."' 

The  last  clause  of  this  commission  was  the  most  congenial  to 
Augustine's  temper.  Through  the  influence  of  Ethelbert  he  ar- 
ranged a  conference  Avith  the  British  bishops  of  Wales  at  a  place 
called  Augustine's  Oak.^  He  exhorted  them  to  join  him  in 
"  catholic  peace,"  that  they  might  unite  in  the  common  work  of 
evangelizing  the  heathen.  The  main  oft'ence  of  the  Britons  against 
the  "  catholic  peace  "  was  their  reckoning  of  Easter.'  When,  after 
all  the  arguments  and  persuasions  of  Augustine  and  his  companions, 
they  obstinately  preferred  their  own  traditions  to  the  judgment  of 
all  the  churches,  Augustine  proposed  an  appeal  to  God  by  the  test  of  a 
miracle.  A  blind  man,  of  English  race,  having  been  brought  before 
the  British  bishops  without  result,  was  restored  to  sight  by  the 
prayers  of  Augustine.  The  Britons  confessed  that  Augustine  was 
the  preacher  of  the  truth;  but,  as  they  could  not  give  up  their 
customs  without  the  consent  of  their  people,  they  postponed  the 
decision  to  a  second  and  more  numerous  synod. 

For  this  conference  seven  British  bishops  were  selected,  with 
the   most   learned   men   of  their  great  monastery   ef  Bangor-in- 

Bede,  //.  E.  i.  17,  §  7  :  "  Britanniarum  vero  omnes  episcopos  tua: 
frateraiLiti  subjicimus,  ut  indocti  doceantur,  infirmi  persuasione  robo- 
rentur,  perversi  auctoritate  corrigantur."  This  language  evidently  points 
to  the  existinj  state  of  an  ignorant,  weak,  erring,  and  unrulj-  Church,  and 
cannot  possiljly  refer  to  the  bishops  hereafter  to  be  ordained  in  the 
English  parts  of  Britain,  whose  very  appointment  is  only  provided  for  in 
a  subsequent  letter,  as  we  have  already  seen. 

^  Bede,  //.  E.  ii.  2.  Usually  identified  with  Aust  Clive  on  the  Severn  ; 
but  this  is  doubtful.     The  common  date  (603)  is  also  uncertain. 

^  See  Ch.  VIII.  §§  14-16.  They  were  not,  as  some  thought  (says  Bede, 
iii.  4),  qu  irtodccimins,  for  they  always  kept  Easter  on  Sumlay :  but  their 
rule  allowed  it  to  fall  from  the  14th  to  the  20th  of  the  Paschal  month, 
instead  of  from  the  15th  to  the  21st.  They  really  followed  the  old  Roman 
custom,  which  had  been  modified  by  the  last  reformations  of  the  Paschal 
cycle.  Among  the  "  very  many  other  things  which  they  did  contrary  to 
the  unity  of  the  Church  "  (Bede),  wore  their  mode  of  administering  baptism 
and  their  form  of  tonsure.  Bede  writes  not  only  as  an  adherent  of  the 
Roman  customs,  but  with  a  strong  Anglian  dislike  of  the  Welsh.  As  to 
the  miracle,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  Bede  lived  when  such  legends  and 
faith  in  them  were  equally  common;  and  the  credulity  of  his  age  is 
neither  binding  on  our  belief,  on  the  one  hand,  nor  any  disparagement  of 
his  general  testimony  to  historic  facts.  Like  all  true  historians,  from 
Herodotus  downwards  (as  they  both  expressly  tell  us),  he  made  his  history 
the  mirror  of  the  authorities  which  he  had  before  him. 


A.D.  604.  DEATH  OF  AUGUSTINE.  503 

the-Wood,^  near  Chester,  and  their  abbot  Dinoth.  It  i.s  said 
(and  the  story  at  all  events  reflects  the  prevalent  opinion  of 
Augustine's-  character)  that  they  went  first  to  consult  a  famous 
hermit,  whether  they  should  yield  the  points  at  issue.  He  told 
them  to  be  guided  by  Augustine's  own  spirit,  whether  he  were 
meek  and  lowly,  as  Christ  commanded,  or  stern  and  haughty. 
They  would  discern  this  by  his  rising,  or  not,  to  receive  them 
when  they  came  to  the  place  of  meeting.  When,  on  their  ar- 
rival, he  remained  seated  in  a  chair,  his  pride  hardened  them 
into  contradiction ;  for,  they  thought,  if  he  despised  them  now, 
how  would  he  treat  them  if  they  submitted?  Though  he  now 
ollcrcd  to  tolerate  their  other  customs,  if  they  would  accept  the 
.Catholic  usages  of  Easter  and  baptism,  and  join  liira  in  preaching 
the  Gospel,  they  refused  to  do  any  of  these  things  or  to  receive 
him  as  their  bishop.'^  Augustine,  assuming  a  threatening  tone, 
foretold  that,  if  they  would  not  have  peace  with  their  brethren, 
they  should  have  war  from  their  enemies ;  and  if  they  would  not 
preach  the  way  of  life  to  the  English  nation,  they  should  suffer  the 
l>enalty  of  death  at  their  hands.  And  so  it  happened  when,  a  few 
years  later,  Ethelfrith,  king  of  the  Northumbrian  Angles,  overthrew 
the  Britons  with  great  slaughter,  near  Chester,  and  massacred  the 
monks  of  Bangor,  who  were  praying  on  the  field  of  battle. 

§  12.  Augustine  died  in  604,  after  ordaining  Laurentius  as  his 
successor.  The  stamp  which  his  mission  left  upon  the  whole 
character  of  the  English  Church  has  demanded  a  full  narrative  of 
its  ]irogres3;  but  the  details  of  the  progress  of  Christianity  in 
England  must  be  left  to  the  special  histories  of  our  country.  Th« 
great  northern  kingdom  of  Northumbuia,  under  Edwin  (whose 
name  is  jji-eserved  in  that  of  Edinburgh),  Avas  converted  in  627  by 
Paulinus,  one  of  Augustine's  comrades,  who  was  the  first  Arch- 
bishop of  York  ;  and  the  conversion  of  East  Anglia  was  a  result 
of  Edwin's  supremacy  over  the  English  kingdoms  (632).  The 
"West  Saxoxs  were  converted  about  the  same  time  by  a  separate 
mission  IVom  Rome  (636).  Mercia— whose  heathen  king,  Penda, 
had  slain  in  battle  two  Northumbrian  Bretwaldas,  Edwin  and 
Oswald,  and  three  Christian  kings  of  East  Anglia,  but  was  defeated 
and  slain  in  his  turn  by  Oswald's  brother,  Oswy  (655)— became 

'  Banconiaburfi  (Bede),  now  Bnnqor-ys-y-coed,  or  Baiujor  Iscocd,  in  Flint- 
.shire.  It  was  one  ot'  the  greatest  monastic  establishments  in  Britain, 
liaving  more  than  2000  monies  (Bode,  /.  c).  The  name  Ban-mr  signilies 
the  "  Hii^h  Choir,"  as  also  at  Bangor,  in  Caernarvonshire.  There  was 
an  Irish  monastery  of  the  same  name. 

-  Not  a  word  is  said  throughout  the  whole  discussion  about  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Pope.  The  inference  of  some  Komau  Catholic  writers,  that 
this  was  tacitly  admitted,  is  truly  marvellous. 


504  THE  OLD  PICTISH  CHURCH.  Chap.  XIX. 

Christian  under  Peada,  the  son  of  Penda,  and  son-in-law  of  Oswy. 
It  was  from  Northumbria  also  that  Christianity  was  carried  to  the 
South  Saxons,  last  of  all,  by  Wilfkith,  bishop  of  York  (680  or 
685).  Thus  all  the  Anglian  and  Saxon  kingdoms  had  become 
Christian  within  a  hundred  j'ears  of  the  landing  of  Augustine  ;  and, 
in  the  early  years  of  the  eighth  century,  English  Christianity  was 
fully  organized,  and  its  results  were  felt  throughout  society  and  the 
state.  The  two  great  centres  of  religious  and  intellectual  life  were 
Canterbury  and  the  Northumbrian  kingdom ;  and  the  latter  owed 
much,  not  only  to  the  former,  but  to  the  older  churches  founded 
beyond  the  limits  of  Eoman  Britain,  at  which  we  must  now 
glance  back. 

§  13.  At  the  very  time  when  the  invasions  of  the  Picts  and 
Scots  overthrew  the  Roman  power  in  Britain,  those  rude  tribes 
began  to  receive  the  light  of  Christianity,  partly  from  Britain  itself 
and  partly  from  Home.  The  labours  of  St.  Nynia  or  Ninian, 
whom  tradition  makes  the  Apostle  of  the  Southern  or  Lowland 
Picts/  are  involved  in  much  obscurity.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
a  Briton,  brought  up  at  Eome,  and  on  his  way  home  to 
have  visited  Martin,  bishop  of  Tours,  who  ordained  him  to  his 
missionary  work,  and  whose  name  he  gave  to  the  church  which 
he  founded  in  Galloway  for  his  bishopric,  and  which,  from  being 
built  of  stone,2  was  called  the  White  House  {Candida  Casa,  identi- 
fied by  tradition  with  Whithorn  in  Wigtonshire).^  His  labours  are 
placed  by  various  authorities  between  410  and  432. 

We  have  more  certain  knowledge  concerning  the  plantation  of 
Christianity  amidst  the  Gaelic  race  of  the  Scots  in  Ireland,  and  its 
diffusion  thence  among  their  brethren  who  had  passed  over  to  the 
western  isles  and  adjacent  coasts  of  North  Britain  (to  which  they 
at  length  gave  the  name  of  Scotland),  and  thence  among  the  Picts. 
Just  at  the  date  commonly  assigned  to  the  death  of  Ninian,  we 
meet  with  the  first  mention  of  Irish  Christianity  among  the  doubtful 
stories  of  the  time  succeeding  the  recal  of  the  Roman  legions  from 
Britain  by  Honorius.*     The  bond  of  Christianity,  here  as  elsewhere, 

'  Those  between  the  Grampians  and  the  two  Roman  walls. 

'  The  early  British  churches  were  of  wood  or  wattled  work. 

^  Bede,  //.  E.  iii.  4.  The  locality  of  Ninian's  hibours  among  the 
Galwegians,  who  were  a  peculiar  branch  of  the  Picts  (probably,  from  their 
name,  of  the  Gaelic  race),  rests  oh  the  traditional  identification  of  Bede's 
Candida  Casa  with  Whithorn.  Bede  seems  to  imply  that  the  Christianity 
planted  by  him  spread  more  or  less  widely  among  the  Lowland  Picts. 

*  The  stories  commonly  set  down  in  English  histories  about  the  ex- 
ploits of  St.  Germanus  in  Britain,  and  the  "  Hallelujah  Victory,"  are  taken 
by  Bede  (i.  17-20)  from  the  legendary  biography  of  St.  Germanus  by 
Constantius,  written  about  forty  years  after  the  bishop's  death  ;  and  they 
cannot  be  turned  into  history  by  simply  leaving  out  the  miracles. 


A.D.  410-432.  NINIAN  AND  PALLADIUS.  605 

replaced  the  parting  ties  of  political  union  ;  and  it  wottld  seem  that 
the  bishops  of  Gaul,  and  the  Pope  himself,  cared  fur  the  state  of 
Christianity  in  Britain  after  the  Roman  legions  and  officials  had 
abandoned  the  island.  The  Pelagian  heresy  did  not  take  root  in  the 
native  country  of  its  author  till  it  was  introduced  by  one  of  his 
disciples,  named  Agricola.  The  people  of  Biitain  sought  the  advice 
of  the  Gallic  bishops,  who  held  a  synod  and  sent  over  Germanus, 
bishop  of  Auxerre,  and  Lupus,  bishop  of  Troyes,  whose  miracles 
won  back  the  people  to  the  Catholic  faith '  (a.d.  429). 

The  chronicler  Prosper  Aquitanus^  ascribes  this  mission  to  Pope 
Celestine,  who  was  moved  to  it  by  the  deacon  Palladius,  who  was 
himself  sent  by  Celestine  two  years  later  as  bishop  "  to  the  Scots 
believing  in  Christ,"^  a  phrase  which,  at  this  time,  can  only 
signify  the  Scots  in  Ireland.  Accordingly  Prosper  says  elsewhere'* 
that  Celestine,  "  having  ordained  a  bishop  for  the  Scots,  while  he 
aims  to  keep  the  Boman  island  [Britain]  Catholic,  makes  the 
barbarian  island  [Ireland]  Christian."  This  is  all  we  know  of 
Palladius  from  primary  authorities.  A  medieval  biographer  of  St. 
Patrick  ^  (perhaps  disparaging  the  work  of  Palladius,  to  preserve  for 
Patrick  the  sole  honour  of  converting  Ireland)  says  that  Palladius, 
disheartened  by  his  little  success  in  Ireland,  crossed  over  to  Britain 
and  died  among  the  Picts.  This  agrees  with  a  local  tradition  at 
FordouH,  where  the  shrine  of  St.  Palladius  is  shown. 

§  14.  At  all  events  the  fame  of  Palladius  was  at  a  very  early 
time  eclipsed  by  that  of  Patricius  (St.  Patrick)  as  the  Apostle  of 
Ireland ;  but  his  true  life  is  involved  by  the  monkish  writers  and 
native  annals  in  an  inextricable  maze  of  legends.  The  only  safe 
guide  is  the  autobiographical  "Confession  of  St.- Patrick  ;"®  but 

'  This  is  Bede's  account,  from  Constantius  (i.  17).  Constantius  and 
Bede  (i.  21)  mention  a  second  visit  of  Germanus,  to  put  down  a  new  out- 
break of  I'elagianism,  in  the  j-ear  before  his  death  (447),  just  before  (some 
make  it  the  ver)'  year  of)  the  arrival  of  the  Jutes  under  Hengist  and 
Horsa.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Bede's  chronology  of  this  period 
is  artificially  constructed  from  ditlerent  sets  of  data. 

^  Ann.  429;  Mon.  Hist.  Brit.  p.  l.\x.\ii. 

'  Prosper,  ann.  431,  copied  by  Bede,  i.  13 :  Ad  Scotos  in  Chn'sto  cre- 
dentes.  The  apparent  contradiction  between  this  and  the  ne.\t  statement 
quoted  from  Prosper  has  been  explained  by  supposing  that  Palladius  had, 
as  a  missionary  from  Britain,  begun  the  conversion  of  the  Scots,  and  had 
then  gone  to  Rome  to  interest  the  Pope  in  the  state  of  both  islands.  But 
such  fragmentary  statements  must  leave  much  in  doubt. 

*  Contra  Collcitorcm,  c.  21,  §  2. 

*  Jocelin  of  Furness,  in  the  twelfth  century  {Acta  Sanctorum,  Martii, 
vol.  ii.  p.  545  ;  Jutii,  vol.  ii.  p.  289). 

*  Confcssio  S.  Patricii  de  Mtd  ct  Conversatione  sua — a  sketch  of  his  own 
religious  life,  and  especially  of  the  motives  which  urged  him  to  preach  to 
the  Irish,  to  whom  the  work  is  addressed.     It  is  written  in  a  rude  style, 


506  THE  SCOTO-IRISH  CHURCH.  Chap.  XIX. 

even  the  genuineness  of  this  is  questioned.  He  came  of  a  noble  and 
Christian  stock,  his  grandtather,  Potitus,  being  a  presbyter,  and  his 
father,  Calpliiirnius,  a  deacon  and  a  man  of  curial  rank,  xvho 
appears  to  have  held  some  office  in  connection  -with  the  Northern 
Roman  Wall.  He  is  frequently  called  by  the  epithet  "  Briton  " 
(Brito) ;  and  he  himself  speaks  of  beiug  with  his  parents  "  in 
Britanniis,"  and  names  as  his  birthplace  the  village  of  Benaven 
or  Bonavem  Tabernice,  which  is  commonl\'  identified  with  the  place 
near  Dumbarton,  to  which  the  local  tradition  has  preserved  the 
name  of  Kilputrick  (i.e.  St.  Patrick's  Cell  or  Church).^  His  native 
name  is  said  to  haye  been  Sttccath  ;  but  a  doubt  is  thrown  on  this 
by  the  Roman  names  of  his  father  and  grandfather.'''  The  traditional 
date  of  his  birth  (372),  coupled  with  that  of  his  death  (492  or  493), 
demands  the  belief  that  he  lived  120  years,  and  some  authorities 
make  it  longer.^  These  difficulties  are  perhaps  created  by  the 
attempt  of  his  biographers  to  place  his  mission  earlier  than  its 
proper  date,  and  to  ascribe  his  ordination,  a;  well  as  that  of 
Palladius,  to  Pope  Celestiue.* 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  Patrick  was  taken  jirisoner  by  the  Scots, 
whose  piratical  vessels  infested  the  coast,  and  was  carried  off  to 
Ireland,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  shei^herd.  In  his  solitarj'  medi- 
tations, his  sense  of  his  own  lost  state  awakened  the  earnest  desire  to 
preach  the  Ciospel  to  the  heathen  natives  around  him ;  and  on  recover- 
ing his  liberty  he  devoted  himself  to  the  work.  His  biographers 
mention  a  visit  to  Gaul  and  Italy,  ^  in  the  course  of  which  he  studied 
under  St.  Martin  of  Tours  and  St.  German  of  Auxerre,  and  was 
ordained,    either    by    Pope   Celestine   or   by   the   Gallic  primate, 

and  the  author  often  alludes  to  his  literary  deficiencies  and  want  of  edu- 
cation.    There  is  no  decisive  evidence  fur  or  against  its  genuineness. 

*  Some  Irish  antiquaries  plead  eagerly  for  the  Gallic  origin  of  St. 
Patrii.-lv,  interpreting  Henavcn  or  Bonavem  to  mean  Boulogne,  and  the 
epithet  Brito  a  native  of  Brittany.  It  might  be  enough  to  set  the  two 
explanations  against  each  other,  for  Boulogne  was  never  in  or  near 
Brittany.  Nor  could  Bonoiii i  be  turned  into  Benaien,  which  is  plain 
Celtic,  e.vactly  desci'ibing  the  position  of  Kilpatriclc,  a  hill  upon  a  river. 

*  His  name  J'atricius  is  explained  as  denoting  his  noble  birth,  or,  more 
probably,  as  the  new  name  received  at  his  ordination,  according  to  a  well- 
known  usage. 

*  The  Annals  of  Connaught  carry  back  his  birth  to  336. 

*  This  rivalry  between  the  fame  of  Palladius  and  Patricius  is  one  kev 
to  the  difficulties.  Another  is  found  by  Mr.  Petrie  {Hist,  and  Antiqq.  of 
Tara  Hill)  in  the  supposition  of  two  St.  Patricks  iu  the  fifth  century,  to 
the  later  of  whom  much  was  ascribed  that  really  belongs  to  his  greater 
namesake;   but  such  duplications  are  always  very  sus])icious. 

*  'i'hough  he  does  not  mention  this,  it  was  a  usual  mode  for  a  person  in 
a  remote  country  to  seek  ordination,  which  it  is  not  easy  to  .^ee  how 
Patrick  could  have  received  otherwise  in  the  existing  state  of  Britain. 


Cent.  V.  LABOURS  OF  ST.  PATRICK.  507 

Araatorcx,  as  missionary  bisliop  to  the  Scots  in  Ireland.  The 
commencemeut  of  his  mission  is  usually  placed  in  432,  inunodiately 
after  the  death  of  Palladius,'  but  one  Irish  authority  places  it  above 
half  a  century  later.'^  Thus  much  alone  can  be  affirmetl  with  safety, 
that  St.  Patrick  left  a  fully-organized  church  among  the  Scots  in 
the  north-eastern  parts  of  Ireland  about  the  end  of  the  fifth  century ; 
that  is,  about  a  luUidred  years  before  Augustine  landed  in  Britain. 
Though  founded  by  a  Briton,  this  church  was  no  fruit  of  missionary 
effort  from  that  of  Britain  ;  and  how  little  communion  there  Avas  be- 
tween the  two  is  remarkably  indicated  by  a  letter  of  St.  Patrick  (if 
genuine),  denouncing  the  wickedness  of  a  Welsh  Prince,  who  bore 
the  classic  name  of  Caradoc,  lor  keeping  in  cruel  slavery  a  number 
of  captives  whom  he  had  taken  in  a  descent  on  Ireland.'' 

"While  the  best  parts  of  Britain  weie  overrun  by  the  Teu- 
tonic heathens,  and  the  remnant  of  the  old  British  Church  was 
inactive  and  corru[it,  Christianity  flourished  in  Ireland,  and  its 
many  monasteries  preserved  learning  and  difiused  civilization  among 
tribes  still  barbarous  and  disturbed  by  factions.*  IMeanwhile  large 
bodies  of  the  Scots  had  crossed  the  channel,  and  formed  settlements 
on  the  Western  Islands  and  neighbouring  coasts  of  North  Britain ;  and 
to  these  Scots  of  Caledonia  tluir  Irish  brethren  carried  back  the 
Christian  light  which  had  come  to  them  from  Britain,  and  spread  it 
further  among  the  Northern  or  Highland  Picts.' 

§  15.  The  leader  in  this  work  was  an  Irish  abbot  of  royal  race, 
named  CoLUMifA,"  or,  as  he  was  called  while  still  a  child,  from  his 

'  This  allowance  of  only  one  year  (or,  at  most,  parts  of  two  years)  for 
the  whole  mission  of  Palladius,  down  to  his  death,  is  again  susjiicious. 

^  Under  King  Lughaidh,  whose  reign  is  placed  from  4S4  to  5C8.  (^Book 
of  Secan.) 

*  Epistola  ad  Coroiiciim,  or  rather,  Epistoli  ad  C/irL'ilkmos  Coroiici 
tyranni  siibditos.  The  other  chief  works  ascribed  to  St.  Patrick  are  three 
collections  of  Catio7is  and  some  Froverbs ;  besides  others  which  are 
certainly  spurious. 

■•  The  Irish  Annals  dispel  the  traditional  dream  of  a  sort  of  golden  age 
of  holy  peace  ;  and  the  name  of  "  Islands  of  the  Saints,"  on  which  the 
tradition  partly  rests,  appears  to  have  been  simply  derived  from  the  old 
Greek  appellation  of  Upa  vriffos,  which  was  but  a  corruption  of  the  native 
name,  Lri  or  l.rin. 

^  These  Northern  Picts  occupied  all  the  country  north  of  the  upper 
Roman  Wall,  except  the  Western  Islands  and  the  part  of  the  mainland 
(nearly  answering  to  Argyleshire)  where  the  Scots  had  settled.  The 
Anglian  kingdom  of  Northumbria  reached  to  the  Forth,  and  the  British 
kingdom  of  Strathclyde  to  the  Clyde. 

"  Bode,  Jf.  E.  lii.  4;  the  various  Irish  Annals;  and  especially  the  Life 
of  Colum'jti  by  Adamnan,  the  ninth  aobot  of  Ilii  (lona).  about  A.D.  700. 
Dr.  Keeves's  edition  of  Adamnan  is  a  mine  of  trustworthv  information  on 
Columba  and  the  Scottish  Church,  lioth  in  Ireland  and  at  lona. 


508  THE  SCOTO-IRISH  CHURCH.  Chap.  XIX. 

diligent  attendance  at  church,  Columkille^  the  "  dove  of  the 
church"  (born  about  520).  Alter  founding  several  monasteries  in 
Ireland,  the  most  famous  of  which  was  that  of  iJearmach,  the  "field 
of  oaks,"-  Columba  crossed  over  to  North  Britain  in  a  wicker  boat 
•with  a  small  band  of  monks,  about  a.d.  563  (565,  Kede),  and  re- 
ceived (probably  as  a  gift  from  the  king  of  the  Dalriad  iScots)  ^  the 
little  island  called  after  him  IcolmhkiU,  which"  has  acquired  uni- 
versal fame,  in  religion  and  poetry,  under  its  curioush'  transformed 
uame  of  Ioxa.*  Columba  crossed  the  Gramjnans  to  ]ireach  to  the 
Northern  Picts,  who  with  their  powerful  king,  Brud,*  were  con- 
verted to  the  Christian  faith.  After  labouring  for  nearly  thirty-five 
years  from  his  migration,  St.  Columba  died  on  the  Uth  of  June, 
596,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,^  and  was  buried  at  lona,  in  the  very 
year  in  which  Augustine  was  on  his  way  to  England. 

The  community  which  he  founded  at  lona  became  the  centre  of 
religious  life  in  the  whole  land  of  the  Picts  and  Scots.  Its  abbots 
were  of  such  dignity  that  they  had  authority  over  bishops.  As  one 
result,  indeed,  of  the  mode  in  Avhich  the  Scoto-Irish  Church  was 
established,  in  contrast  with  the  fully-organized,  form  brought  into 
England  by  Augustine,  it  had,  like  the  old  Roman  provinces,  a 
great  number  of  bishops,  many  of  them  ministers  of  single  congre- 
gations.^ Not  a  word  is  said  in  Bede  or  in  Columba's  Life  of  his 
being  in  any  way  subject  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  ;  though  it  is 
mentioned  that   his   fame    had    spread    over   Britain,   Gaul,   and 

'  In  Latin,  CoIuracclU :  "  nomine  composito  a  Cella  et  Columba"  (Bede, 
V.  10).  *  Now  Durrough,  in  King's  County. 

'  Bede  says  it  was  given  by  the  Pictish  king  ;  but  he  himself  says  that 
the  Scots  inhabited  these  parts. 

■•  Its  original  name,  simply  the  Celtic  word  for  an  "  island,"  is  given  in 
the  various  forms  of  1',  //;/,  Hii  (Bede),  lare  (the  usual  Irish  form),  or 
lou,  from  which  Adamnan  forms  the  adjective  loua,  agreeing  with  insula ; 
and  the  mere  miswritino;  of  this  form  ])roduced  lona,  the  more  readily 
perhaps  as  the  same  word  is  in  Hebrew  the  equivalent  of  Columba's  name, 
"  a  dove,"  as  Adamnan  observes  (see  Reeves,  pp.  2,")8-'262  ;  and,  for  other 
proposed  etymologies,  p.  413).  IcolmUll,  i.e.  I-columhkUl,  is  "  the  island 
of  Columbkill." 

*  Called  Bruidi  McMaclchon  in  the  Annals  of  Tigernach,  and  Bridius 
bv  Bede,  who  places  the  arrival  cf  Columba  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign. 
The  dwelling  of  Brud  seems  to  have  been  on  the  borders  of  the  Ness. 
For  some  interesting  notices  of  him  and  his  relations  with  Columba,  see 
Burton's  Historii  of  Scotl md,  vol.  i.  pp.  228,  2.%,  27"),  281.  Mil  ;  and  on 
the  whole  subject  of  eaily  Christianity  in  Scotland,  the  Church  of  the 
Irish  Scots,  and  lona  and  the  ('olumbite  Church,  see  Burton,  chaps,  vii. 
and  viii.  *  Tigernach. 

'  The  bishops  consecrated  by  St.  Patrick  in  Ireland  were  reckoned  by 
hundi'eds.  "One  of  the  most  moderate  of  the  estimates  makes  them  3G5, 
one  for  each  day  of  the  year.  When  Ireland  was  subjected  to  the  Papacy, 
these  were  converted  into  rural  Jeans"  (Burton,  vol.  i.  p.  269). 


Cents.  VI.-VII.  MISSIONS  OF  THE  SCOTS. 


509 


Spain,  and  had  reached  Rome,  the  greatest  of  cities.  This  in- 
dependence of  Rome  was  not  only  a  natural  consequence  of  the 
isolation  in  which  the  Scoto-Irish  Church  sprang  up  and  grew, 
but  also  of  the  very  important  facts,  that  Ireland,  the  cradle 
of  this  church,  had  remained  untouched  by  the  arms  of  Rome, 
and  that  the  Caledonian  highlands  were  never  really  subject  to 
the  Empire.  Hence  the  Scoto-Irish  Church  had  many  peculiar 
customs,  to  which  it  clung  all  the  more  tenaciously  when  it  found 
itself  regarded  as  heretical  by  the  churches  in  closer  communion 
with  Rome.  Chief  among  these  was  their  observance  of  Easter,  for 
which  they  followed  the  same  rule  as  the  old  British  Church.' 

§  16  To  the  Scoto-Irish  Church  belongs  the  honour  of  sending 
forth  the  earliest  missions  from  the  British  Isles,  even  before  the 
arrival  of  Augustine  in  England.  Columban,  the  leader  in  tnis 
work  was  bom  in  Leinster  about  560,  and  was  trained  in  the  great 
Irish 'monastery  of  Bangor.  In  589  he  crossed  the  sea,  with  twelve 
companions,  first  to  Britain  and  thence  to  Gaul,  intending  to  preach 
to  the  heathen  nations  of  Germany.  But  he  found  a  more  pressing 
work  to  do  for  the  decayed  religion  of  the  conquerors  ot  Gaul. 
He  settled  in  Burgundy  at  the  invitation  of  King  Guntram,  and 
established  three  monasteries  in  the  desolated  region  of  the  Vosges_ 
Mountains.  The  strict  "  Rule  of  St.  Columban  "  and  the  labours  of 
the  monks,  who  cleared  and  tilled  the  land  while  they  taught  the 
people,  won  many  converts.  Columban  showed  the  independent 
spirit  of  the  Scoto-Irish  Church  in  his  controversies  with  the  Popes 
about  Easter  and  the  authority  of  the  see  of  Rome,  above  which  he 
sets  that  of  Jerusalem.  In  reply  to  the  appeal  of  Gregory  the  Great 
to  the  authority  of  Leo,  he  says  that  "perhaps  in  this  case  a  hvmg 
doer  may  be  better  than  a  dead  Li6n."  To  a  Gaulish  synod  he  makes 
a  touching  appeal  that  they  would  allow  him  to  live  peaceably,  as 
he  had  already  lived  for  twelve  years,  amid  the  solitude  of  the 
forest,  and  beside  the  bones  of  his  seventeen  deceased  brethren." 

After  twenty  years,  Columban's  faithful  reproof  of  the  dissolute 
life  of  Theodoric  U.  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  young  kmg  and 
the  resentment  of  his  grandmother,  Brunichild.^  Columban  and  his 
Irish  monks  were  taken  to  Nantes,  to  be  sent  back  to  their  own 
land;  but  the  voyage  was  prevented  by  miraculous  interference; 
and  'the  missionaries  went  to  Metz  and  preached  in  Austrasia. 
>  Bede  iii  "'') '  v  15  21,  22.  Thev  followed  the  Paschal  Canon  of 
Anatolius.  bishop  of  Laodicea,  about  270  (P.ede,  iii.  3).  Bede  mentions 
incidentallv  that  the  Scots  of  Southern  Ireland  had  very  early  conformed 
to  the  Roman  Use  of  Easter.  Perhaps  they  were  converted  by  a  separ.^te 
mission  from  Rome.  =  Columban,  Lpist   ii  ;  Robertson,  vol.  u.  p.  .9. 

3  Brunichild,   like    the   Frank   Mayors    of  the   Palace,   encouraged  her 
grandson's  sensuality,  in  order  to  govern  in  his  name. 


610  THE  CHURCHES  OF  BRITAIN.  Chap.  XIX. 

They  ascended  the  lihine  to  Switzerland,  where  Columban  performed 
many  miracles,  and  settled  at  liregenz  on  the  lake  of  Constance. 
Driven  out  thence,  when  his  protector,  Theodebert  of  Austiasia, 
was  conquered  by  his  enemy  Theodoric  (612),  he  crossed  the  Alps 
into  Lombardy,  where  he  was  received  with  honour  by  Agilulf  and 
Theodclinda,  and  founded  another  famous  monastery  at  Bobbio. 
He  had  a;^ain  engaged,  with  his  native  impetuosity,  in  a  controversy 
with  Ijonilace  IV.  ou  the  Three  Articles,  which  threatened  serious 
consequences,  when  he  died  in  015.  The  monasteries  of  Columban 
became  the  parents  of  many  others,  and  centres  of  missionary 
efforts.  The  most  famous  of  his  discii)les  was  St.  Gallex  or 
St.  Gall,  who,  remaining  behind  when  Columban  went  into  Italy, 
founded  the  monastery  which  bears  his  name,  and  became  honoured 
as  the  Apostle  of  Switzerland.     He  died  in  627. 

In  613,  a  council  of  the  Frank  Church  sent  Eustasius,  the  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Columban  in  the  monastery  of  Luxeuil,  in  the  Yosges, 
on  a  mission  to  Bavaria,  where  the  Christianity  planted  in  the  fifth 
century  by  St.  Severin,  "the  apostle  of  Noricum,"  had  become 
infected  with  heresy.  But  the  final  establishment  of  Christianity 
in  Bavaria  was  not  effected  till  about  the  end  of  the  century  by 
Rudbert,  bishop  of  Worms.  Another  Irish  missionary,  Kyllena  or 
St.  Kilian,  is  said  to  have  converted  Gozbcrt,  duke  of  the  Thurin- 
gians,  but  to  have  suffered  martyrdom  from  the  Queen  Gcilana  (680). 
Livin,  an  Irishman,  became  Bishop  of  Ghent,  and  was  martyred 
about  650. 

§  17.  It  was  for  some  time  doubtful  whether  the  customs  of  the 
Scoto-Irish  Church  would  prevail,  in  Northumbrian  England,  over 
the  forms  introduced  by  Augustine.  For  wdien  Ethelfrith  was 
killed  in  battle  by  Edwin  (617),  his  sons  took  refuge  among  tlie 
Picts,  and  were  brought  up  in  the  Scottish  form  of  Christianity. 
Edwin,  as  we  have  seen,  was  converted,  with  his  people,  by 
Paulinus,  the  associate  of  Augustine ;  but,  when  he  was  defeated 
and  killed  by  the  combined  forces  of  Penda  of  Mercia  and  Cead- 
walla  of  Wales,  the  newly-planted  Christianity  was  almost  rooted 
up  again.^  When  Oswald,  the  second  son  of  Ethelfrith,  killed 
Ceadwalla  in  battle  and  recovered  tlie  kingdom  (63;")),  he  naturally 
sent  to  the  Scots  for  a  missionary  bishop.     The  community  of  lona 

•  It  is  one  of  tin-  charges  brouwlit  by  Bede  against  the  Wolsh,  that  the 
party  and  national  hatred  of  Ceadwalla  prevailed  over  his  Christianity,  so 
that" he  jiennitted,  if  he  did  not  even  take  part  in,  the  jiersecution  of  the 
Northumbrian  Christians  by  the  heathen  Penda.  It  would  seem,  too,  that 
the  fruits  of  the  labours  of  I'aulinus  were  nearly  conHncd  to  Deira,  and 
that  Bcrnicia  (from  the  Tees  to  the  Tweed)  was  little  affected  by  them 
(Bede,  iii.  2). 


Cent.  VII.  THE  NORTHUMBRIAN  CHURCH.  511 

sent  him  Aidan,  a  most  saintly  and  zealous  man,  to  whom  Oswald 
assigned  the  island  of  Lindisfarn  (hence  called  Holy  Island)  for 
liis  bishopric.  Here  Aidan  established  a  monastic  community 
in  close  imitation  of  that  of  lona ;  and  here  a  cathedral  church 
was  built  by  Finan,  the  successor  of  Aidan,  who  also  came  from 
lona.^ 

OswY  (G42-G70),  the  brother  of  Oswald  and  his  successor  as 
King  of  Northumbria  and  Bretwalda,  was  a  great  founder  of  monas- 
teries. His  daughter  ^T^lfleda  entered  the  Abbey  of  "  Hart's  I.sland,"'^ 
under  the  Abbess  Hild,  who  .soon  afterwards  left  it,  to  found  the 
more  famous  monastery  of  Streoneshalh  (afterwards  Whitby),' 
where  the  light  of  English  literature  first  breaks  upon  us  in  ihe 
iwetry  of  ("vKDMox.  Hero,  in  GC4,  King  Oswy  called  a  synod  to 
decide  the  dispute  concerning  Easter,  which  liad  liroken  out  with 
new  violence,  under  Bishop  Colman,  another  monk  fioui  lona,  who  had 
succeeded  Finan  at  Lindislarn.*  The  king  himself  was  devoted  to 
the  usage  of  the  Scottish  C'hurch  in  whicli  he  had  been  brought  uj); 
but  his  wife  Eanfled,  a  Kentish  princess,  was  equally  attached  to 
the  Roman  practice,  and  so  was  their  eldest  son,  Alfrid,  who  had 
been  educated  by  the  famous  Wilfrid.'' 

This  great  light  of  the  English  Church,  equally  distinguished  for 
his  learning,  his  energy,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  his  life,  had  been 
brought  up  at  Lindisfarn;  but,  wishing  to  compare  the  customs  of 
his  Church  with  those  which  claimed  to  be  Catholic,  he  had  been 
sent  by  Eanfled  to  Gaul  and  Rome,  and  had  returned  full  of  zeal  to 
reform  his  native  Church  according  to  the  Roman  usages.  Alfrid 
had  set  him  over  the  monastery  of  Ripon,''  expelling  the  Scottish 
monks  for  wliom  he  had  himself  founded  the  cloister ;  and  he  pro- 
cured Wilfrid's  ordination  as  a  presbyter  by  Agilbert,  bishop  of  the 
West  Saxons.''     This  bishop  appeared  at  the  synod  as  the  leader  of 

'  Bede,  iii.  17,  25.  The  church  was  built  of  oak,  with  a  thatched  roof; 
and,  after  it  had  been  twice  burnt  and  restorcil,  the  seventh  bisho]), 
Kadberct  (088-698^),  removed  the  thatch,  and  cuvcreil  both  roof  and  walls 
with  lead.  At  the  same  time  the  church  was  dedicated  anew  to  St.  Peter 
by  Archbishop  Theodore. 

-  Bede,  iii.  24.  "  Heruten  (fleortea  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  version),  id  est 
Insula  Cervi :  "  now  Hartlepool. 

'  The  name  M'hitbij  (i>.,  "  White  Town  ")  belongs  to  the  Danish  times. 

*  Bede,  iii.  2.".. 

*  Wilfrid  was  now  thirty,  having  been  born  about  634.  The  more  proper 
form  of  the  name  is  W'ilfriih,  but  it  seems  most  convenient  to  keep  the 
simpler  forms  id'  such  names,  usually  adopted  by  historians,  from  the 
Latin  names  given  by  Bede. 

*  Inrhypum. 

'  He  was  Bishop  of  Dorchester,  near  Oxford,  the  original  see  of  the  West 
Saxon  bishopric. 


512  PROGRESS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  Cjiap.  XIX. 

the  Roman  party  ;  but,  being  a  native  of  Gaul,  he  chose  Wilfrid  as 
his  spokesman.  Bishop  Colman  argued  for  the  Scottish  practice 
from  the  authority  of  St.  John  and  the  custom  of  the  churches 
founded  by  him.  Wilfrid  pleaded  the  custom  of  Eome  and  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  every  land,  "  except  only  these  [the  Scots]  and 
their  accomplices  in  obstinacy,  the  Picts  and  Britons,  who,  from 
these  two  remote  islands  of  the  ocean,  fight  against  the  whole 
Avorld."  Above  all  he  insisted  on  the  authority  of  St.  Peter;  and 
asked  if  even  the  holy  Columba  was  to  be  preferred  to  the  Ajiostle 
on  whom  Christ  had  built  His  Church  and  given  him  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom  bf  heaven.  Upon  this  the  king  asked  Colman 
whether  these  words  were  really  spoken  by  Christ  to  Peter.  When 
he  confessed  that  they  were,  and  that  no  such  power  had  been 
given  to  Columba,  the  king  declared  that  he  would  not  con- 
tradict the  door-keeper,  "  lest,  perchance,  when  I  arrive  at  the 
gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  there  should  be  none  to  open 
to  me,  because  I  have  made  an  enemy  of  him  who  is  proved  to 
hold  the  keys." 

If  the  story  be  true,  the  ratification  of  such  a  decision  by  the 
whole  synod  proves  that  the  question  was  already  pretty  well 
settled  by  the  opinion  of  the  Northumbrian  Church.^  It  is 
worthy  of  special  notice  that  the  argument  of  Wilfrid,  and  the 
decision  of  the  synod,  were  based  on  the  assumption  of  the  authority 
of  St.  Peter  as  residing  in  the  Poman  Church,  and  thus  this  greater 
question  was  conceded  with  the  lesser  about  the  reckoning  of 
Easter. 

Colman  and  the  other  Scots  withclrew  to  their  own  country ;  and, 
after  the  speedy  death  of  the  bishop  appointed  to  succeed  him,  the  see 
of  Lindisfarn  was  conferred  on  Wilfrid.  He  preferred,  however,  to 
to  take  his  title  from  York,  the  old  northern  capital  and  see  of 
Paulinus;  and,  as  the  northern  bishops  were  generally  tainted  with 
the  Scottish  heresy,  he  went  to  Gaul  to  receive  consecration  from 
Agilbert,  now  Archbishop  of  Paris.  His  return  was  delayed  for  three 
years,''  and,  finding  that  during  his  prolonged  absence  Oswy  had 
given  the  bishopric  to  Ceadda,^  Wilfrith  retired  to  his  abbey  of  Ripon. 

§  18.  In  the  year  of  the  synod  of  Whitby,  the  same  plague 
which  removed  Wilfrid's  predecessor  in  the  northern  see  carried  ofl' 

'  The  steps  by  which  v.irious  branches  of  the  Scoto-Irish  Church  were 
slowly  won  over  to  the  Roman  practice  are  related  by  Bode. 

*  On  his  voyage  bacic  (607)  his  ship  was  stranded  on  the  coast  of  Sussex, 
but  got  olK  after  a  combat  with  the  heathen  people,  whose  savage  conduct 
moved  Wilfrid  to  the  mission  for  their  conversion,  which  he  undertook 
about  twelve  years  later. 

»  St.  Chad,  afterwards  abbot  of  Lastingham  and  bishop  of  the  Mercians, 
with  his  see  at  Lichfield. 


A.D.  ■668-691.      ARCHBISHOP  THEODORE.  613 

Deusdedit,'  the  first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  of  Englisli  birth. 
Oswy,  as  Brctwalda,  joined  with  the  Kin<^  of  Kent  in  choosing 
a  successor,  Wighard,  wlium  they  sent  to  Jlonie  for  consecration; 
but  he  died  there,  and  Fope  Vitalian,  apparently  at  the  request  of 
Oswy,^  made  an  apjwintment  to  the  see  which  forms  a  landmark  in 
tlie  history  of  the  English  Church. 

It  is,  as  we  have  seen,  a  fund  belief  that  the  Ajjostle  Paul  first 
brought  the  light  of  Christianity  to  Britain ;  but  it  is  an  historic 
fact  that  another  native  of  Tarsus,  Theodore,  was  the  chief  agent 
ill  uniting  the  churches  founded  in  the  various  Anglian  and  Saxon 
kingdoms,  in  organizing  and  improving  their  worship,  and  in  dif- 
fusing the  light  of  learning  over  England.  It  was  of  lasting  con- 
sequence to  the  freedom  and  enlightenment  of  England  that  this 
work  was  done  by  a  Greek,  who,  though  decidedly  attached,  was  not 
bigotedly  devoted  to  Rome,  and  who  was  deeply  imbued  with  Greek 
literature,  the  organ  of  ail  the  best  thought  of  the  ancient  world. 

Though  already  sixty-six  years  old,  Theodore  held  the  primacy 
for  more  than  twenty-one  years  ((3(38-Gyi),  and  displayed  the 
greatest  activity  in  his  duties.  Arriving  in  England  in  669,  he 
visited  every  part  of  the  country,^  and  exercised  his  authority  in 
Northumbria  by  restoring  Wilfrid  to  the  sec  of  York.  The  council 
gathered  by  Theodore,  of  his  own  authority,  at  Hertford*  (673), 
marks  the  first  united  action  of  the  English  Church.  Theodore 
first  asked  the  assembled  bishops,  one  by  one,  if  they  agreed  to 
keep  what  had  been  decreed  canonical ly  by  the  fathers  of  old.  On 
their  all  assenting,  he  produced  a  book  of  Ten  Canons,  which  were 
adopted  by  the  Council.  They  relate  to  the  celebration  of  Easter, 
the  bishoprics,  monasteries,  and  clergy,  the  assembling  of  a  synod 
once  a  year,  and  marriage  and  divorce  ;  and  all  who  should  oflfend 
against  them  were  to  be  suspended  from  the  episcopal  tifiice  and 
from  the  communion  of  the  Cliurch.     Another  synod  was  held  at 

■  Also  called  Adeodatus  ;  his  English  name  was  Frithona  (655-664). 
He  was  the  sixth  primate  :  his  predecessor  heine;  Honorius  (6'J7-653),  who 
had  followed  the  three  fellow-labourers  of  Augustine,  Laurentius  (604— 
619),  Mellitus  (619-624),  and  Justus  (6-_'4-6-_'7). 

*  See  the  letter  of  Vitalian  to  Oswy.  congratulating  him  on  his  turning 
to  the  true  and  apostolic  faith  (Bede.  iii.  29). 

^  Theodore,  like  Augustine,  was  Primate  of  all  England,  for  there  had 
been  no  archbishop  in  the  north  since  Paulinus.  The  archbishopric  of 
York  was  not  revived  till  7I>.'>,  when  Pope  Gregory  Hi.  sent  the  pallium  to 
Egbert. 

*  J/erutford  (Bede,  iv.  5).  This  synod  was  attended  by  the  bishops  of 
E(tsf.  Antjlia,  West  Kent  (Rochester),  the  West  Saxons,  and  Mercians; 
Korthnmbria  was  represented  by  legates  from  Wilfrid.  Sussex  was  still 
heathen  ;  and  Essex  had  about  this  time  apostatized  (Bede,  iii.  30),  though 
it  was  soon  recovered  to  the  faith. 


514  PROGRESS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  Chap.  XIX. 

Hatfield,  in  680,  to  communicate  to  Pope  Agatho  the  opinion  of  the 
Euglish  Church  on  the  Mouothelite  controversy,  by  way  of  prepa- 
ration for  the  General  Council  of  the  following  year.' 

§  19.  Among  the  points  which  Theodore  had  most  at  heart  was 
the  arrangement  of  the  bishoprics  as  nearly  as  possible  upon  the  plan 
of  Augustine,  and  especially  the  division  of  such  enormous  sees  as 
tliose  of  Northumbria  and  Mercia,  His  proposals  on  this  subject  at 
Hertford  led  to  some  discussion  ;  and  the  only  agreement  come  to 
was  that,  as  the  faithful  increased,  bishops  should  be  multiplied. 
Theodore  divided  the  East  Anglian  bishopric  into  the  two  sees  of 
Elmham  and  Dunwich  ;  in  Mercia  he  consecrated  bishops  for  Here- 
ford, Worcester,  Leicester,  and  Lindsey  ;  and  in  Northimibria  for 
the  new  sees  of  Hexham  and  Sidnacester  (near  Gainslwrough),  as  well 
as  for  Lindisiarn.  Wilfrid  opposed  the  division  of  his  see;  but  he 
was  already  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  Ecgfrith,  king  of  North- 
umbria,^ on  a  point  of  discipline;  and  the  archbishop  and  king 
united  to  depose  and  banish  him  (675).  Wilfrid  cariied  his  appeal 
to  Poj^e  Agatho,  and  after  preaching,  on  his  way,  to  the  heathen 
Frisians,^  the  closest  continental  kinsmen  of  the  English,  he  arrived 
at  Kome  in  GIQ*  He  returned  in  080  with  a  decree  of  the  Pojie 
and  the  Pomau  council  in  his  favour.  But  Theodore  and  Ecgfrith 
disregarded  the  anathema  against  all,  ichocver  they  mirjht  he,  who 
should  attempt  to  infringe  the  decree ;  and  the  Pope  made  no  at- 
tempt to  enforce  it.  Here  is  the  first  open  resistance  of  the  English 
Church  to  the  authority  of  Pome. 

Wilfrid  was  imprisoned  by  I^cgfrith  and  afterwards  banished; 
and  he  sought  a  refuge  from  his  persecutors  in  carrying  out  the 
design  he  had  long  formed  for  the  conversion  of  the  South  Saxons. 
Supported  by  their  king  Ethelwalch,  who  had  been  baptized  in 
Mercia,  Wilfrid  spread  Christianity  not  only  among  them,  but 
among  the  Jutes  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  the  opposite  shores 
(about  685),  and  founded  the  South  Saxon  bishoiuic  at  Selscy, 
which  was  afterwards  transferred  to  Chichester.  Soon  after  this, 
Theodore,  near  the  end  of  his  life,  relented  towards  Wilfrid,  and 

•  See  Chap.  XVI.  §  14. 

'  Ecgfrith,  the  second  son  of  Oswy,  succeeded  his  father  in  G70.  His 
first  wife,  vEtheldreda  (jEthelthryth),  daughter  of  Anna,  king  of  East 
Anglia,  was  sui>|)orted  by  Wilfrid  in  keeping  her  vow  of  virginity,  and 
became  a  nun  at  Coldingham,  and  afterwards  abbess  of  Ely.  Ecgfrith 
regarded  the  separation  as  a  divorce,  and  married  again,  and  Wilfrid's 
opposition  to  this  step  provoked  the  enmity  of  the  king  and  his  new  queen. 

^  We  are  not  told  whether  he  was  driven  on  their  coast  bv  stress  of 
weather. 

*  We  have  already  seen  that  he  took  part  in  the  Roman  synod  against 
the  Monothelitcs.     (Chap.  XVI.  §  14,  note.) 


Cent.  VII.-VIII.         KELIGION  AND  CIVILIZATION.  515 

reconciled  him  to  Aldfrid,  tlie  half-brother  and  successor  of  Ecgfrith,^ 
who  restored  him  first  to  the  see  of  Hexham  and  then  to  that  of 
York.  But  he  was  again  expelled  (f!02),  and  retired  into  Mercia, 
where  he  held  the  bishopric  of  I.ichfield  for  ten  years.  In  702 
he  was  cited  before  a  synod  at  C)nesterfield,  in  Yorkshire,  and  de- 
prived of  the  episcopil  office.  Again  he  went  to  Eonie  and  was 
acquitted  (704),  and  after  some  delay  he  was  restored  to  the  see  of 
Ilexham.  His  troubled  and  energetic  life  was  closed  in  the  mona- 
stery of  Oundle  in  709. 

§  20.  \Vilfrid  and  his  associates  and  disciples  in  Northumbria 
divide  with  Theodore  the  honour  of  great  improvements  in  the 
fabrics  and  worship  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  in  the  advance  of 
literature.  When  Theodore  came  to  England,  he  Avas  accompanied 
by  two  of  the  chief  leaders  in  these  good  works.  The  one  was 
Hadrian,  said  by  some  to  have  been  also  a  Greek  of  Asia  Minor, 
whom  Theodore  made  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's.  Bede  describes 
the  assiduous  pains  of  the  archbishop  and  abbot  to  train  their 
numerous  disciples  in  sacred  and  secular  learning,  in  Greek  as  well 
as  Latin,  and  to  commit  to  books  all  the  science  of  the  age. 

The  other  companion  of  Theodore  was  Biscop,-  whose  ecclesias- 
tical name  was  Benedict,  a  native  of  Northumbria,  who  had  once 
before  been  to  Rome  with  Wilfrid,  and  who  was  now  made  Abbot  of 
St.  Peter's,  Canterburj'-,  but  afterwards  settled  in  his  native  kingdom 
and  became  a  great  link  between  the  North  and  South.  Benedict 
Biscop  (as  he  is  commonly  called)  made  no  less  than  six  journeys 
to  Home,  always  returning  with  some  new  contribution  to  the  light, 
order,  dignity  or  comfort  of  the  English  Church  and  people.  At 
one  time  he  brought  back  the  arch-chanter  John,  to  teach  the 
clergy  and  monks  the  Gregorian  chants  and  other  points  of  the 
Boman  ritual.  At  another  time  he  brought  artificers  to  fill  in  Avith 
glass  the  windows  of  the  new  stone  churches,  built  by  him  and 
especially  by  AVilfrid,^  with  the  help  of  masons  from  Gaul,  after 
"  the  Boman  manner,"  instead  of  the  old  wooden  or  wattled  and 
thatched  churches  of  the  Britons  and  Scots.     These  churches  were 

'  Aldfrid  (^Aldfrith  or  EaldfntK),  the  natural  .son  of  Oswy,  and  kin?  from 
085-705,  must  not  be  confounded  with  Alfrid  (Alcfifridus,  Alhfrith),  the 
eldest  legitimate  son  of  Oswy,  who  appears  to  have  died  before  his  father. 

-  That  is,  Bishop,  not  as  an  ecclesiastical  title,  but  a  proper  name  fuuud 
in  the  genealogies  of  the  kings  of  Lindscy.  As  to  whether  it  got  there 
from  the  Latin  cpigcopus,  or  one  of  those  strange  but  frequent  coinci- 
dences which  defy  imi)robability,  there  is  no  evidence. 

^  Chief  among  the  churches  of  Wilfrid  were  that  of  York,  which 
enclosed  the  old  wooden  church  said  to  have  been  built  by  I'aulinus,  his 
minster-church  .nt  Kipon,  and  his  cathedral  at  Ile.xham,  reputed  to  have 
been  the  most  splendid  ecclesiastical  building  north  of  the  Alps. 


516  PROGRESS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH.  Chap.  XIX. 

adorned  with  vessels  for  the  altar,  vestments,  relics,  and  pictures, 
brought  by  Benedict  from  Italy;  but  his  many  "divine  volumes" 
were  a  greater  treasure.^ 

To  find  a  permanent  home  for  these  books,  as  well  as  to  carry  out 
the  monastic  life  after  the  pattern  which  he  had  seen  in  Eome  and 
Italy,  Benedict  obtained  from  Ecgfrith  a  grant  of  the  lands  on  the 
Wear  and  Tyne,  on  which  he  built  the  two  famous  monasteries  of  St, 
Peter's  at  Wcarmouth  and  St.  Paul's  at  Jarrow  (674-682),'^  which 
were  united  under  Abbot  Ceolfrith  (684).^  The  first  and  most 
lasting  fruit  of  these  foundations  is  preserved  to  us  in  the  life  and 
'History'  of  the  "Venerable  Bede."  *  Born  on  the  land  of  Wear- 
mouth  about  the  time  when  it  was  first  granted  (673),  he  was  placed 
in  the  abbey  at  the  age  of  seven  to  be  educated  under  Benedict 
(679),  and  removed  probably  with  the  monks  who  went  to  found 
Jarrow  (682),  where  Ceolfrith  was  his  tutor.  He  Avas  ordained  by 
John,  bishop  of  Hexham,  as  deacon  in  his  nineteenth  year  (690)  and 
priest  in  his  thirtieth  year  (701-2) ;  but  he  spent  his  whole  life  in  his 
monastery,  where  he  died  in  735.  His  own  simple  words  describe 
the  best  side  of  the  English  monastic  life  of  that  age  :  "  iSpending 
the  whole  time  of  my  life  since  then  in  the  same  monastery,  I  have 
given  my  whole  labour  to  studying  the  Scriptures ;  and  in  the 
intervals  of  my  observance  of  the  monastic  discipline  and  the  daily 
occupation  of  chanting  in  the  church,*  I.  have  always  found  pleasure 

'  The  epithet  used  by  Bede  implies  that  these  were  chiefly  works  of 
.sacred  learning;  and  this  agrees  with  what  we  know  of  the  studies  of 
the  age ;  but  the  evidence  is  equally  clear  that  they  embraced  a  much 
wider  range  of  literature. 

*  The  establishment  of  these  cloisters  is  related  by  Bede  in  his  Historia 
Abbatum  Uuiremuthcnsium  ct  Gyniucnsium.     (The  hh's  —  »r's.) 

'  It  was  Ceolfrith  who,  in  rejily  to  a  letter  of  inquiry  from  Naiton 
(Nectan)  king  of  the  Southern  Picts,  instructed  him  and  his  people  in  the 
Roman  Use  of  Easter  and  the  tonsure,  and  also  sent  him  architects  to  build 
a  stone  church  after  the  Roman  manner,  a.d.  710  (Bede,  v.  21). 

*  Legend  ascribes  this  title  to  the  miraculous  impulse  which  prompted 
a  writer  when  at  a  loss  for  a  word  to  fill  up  the  epitaph  : — 

"  Hac  sunt  in  fossa  Bedse  venerabilis  ossa  :  " — 

"  Beneath  these  stones  are  laid  the  bones 
Of  Venerable  Bede." 

*  Bede  was  a  writer  of  hymns,  chiefly,  no  doubt,  in  Latin,  but  some 
probably  in  English  ;  for,  in  the  account  of  his  death  by  the  monk  Cuth- 
bert,  there  is  a  fragment  of  a  hymn  which  Bede  recited  (after  some  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  in  Latin)  "in  nostra  quoque  lingua,  ut  orat  doctus  in 
nostris  carminibits."  At  all  events  this  ]>roves  the  existence  of  hymns  in 
the  vernacular.  Bede's  cont('ni]i(irary,  Alduelm,  first  bishop  of  Sherborne 
(ob.  709),  the  most  learned  of  the  pu))ils  of  Abbot  Hadrian,  wrote  poems 

"in  the  Saxon  dialect,  though  unfortunately  the  ecclesiastics  only  cared  to 
preserve  his  Latin  verses. 


Cent.  VIII.  DECLINE  OF  LEARNING,  517 

ill  either  learning  or  teaching  or  writing."  ^  His  cliief  occupation 
was  in  "writing  Commentaries  on  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  to  suit  my 
own  needs  and  those  of  my  brethren,  gathered  from  the  works  of 
the  venerable  fathers."  His  own  list  of  these  and  his  other  works 
contains  thirty-six  titles,  besides  the  '  Ecclesiastical  History  of  our 
Island  and  liace,'  which  he  brought  down  to  the  j-ear  731. 

From  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  Northumbria  had  been 
the  chief  English  scat  of  learning,  in  which  her  kings  took  the  lead 
together  with  the  clergy.  Bede  celebrates  the  learning  of  Aldfrid 
and  Ct'olwulf,  to  whom  he  dedicates  his  history.  Tiie  next  king, 
Eadbert  (737-758), supported  tlic  efforts  made  in  the  same  cause  by 
his  brother  Egbert,  archbishop  of  York  (732-758),^  who  continued 
the  school  of  learning  established  in  that  city  ])y  Bishop  AVilfrid, 
and  founded  its  famous  library.  The  glory  of  the  school  of  York 
culminated  in  E^jbert's  disciple  Alcuin,^  who  carried  back  to  the 
revived  Empire  of  the  West  the  light  which  had  come  to  Britain 
two  centuries  befoi'C. 

But  this  fair  })icturc  has  another  side.  The  piety  and  learning  of 
the  Northumbrian  kings  were  cast  in  the  monastic  mould,  and  tliey 
became  more  and  more  unfit  to  rule  their  ow^n  fierce  people  and  to 
keep  the  supremacy  over  their  warlike  rivals.  The  defeat  and  death 
of  Ecgfrith  in  liis  unprovoked  attack  upon  the  Picts  broke  the  power 
of  the  kingdom  towards  the  north.  The  dissensions  of  Bernicia  and 
Deira  were  revived.  One  king  after  another  received  the  tonsure 
by  choice  or  by  compulsion.  Mercia  shook  off  the  Northumbrian 
yoke,  and  became  engaged  in  the  long  contest  for  supremacy  with 
Wessex ;  while  the  more  peaceful  virtues  of  the  kings  of  either 
state  found  their  goal  in  monastic  seclusion  or  a  pilgrimage  to 
Rome.  The  incursions  of  the  heathen  Danes  threatened  to  sweep 
away  the  English  Church,  as  the  heathen  Angles  and  Saxons  had 
swept  away  the  British.  It  is  not  till  the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great 
that  England  resumes  its  part  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of 
Europe.  Meanwhile,  however,  the  great  advance  of  the  English 
Church  in  the  seventh  century  was  felt  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
British  Isles  ;  and  the  light  of  Christianity  was  carried  back  to 
their  German  kindred  on  the  Continent.  The  progress  of  these 
efforts  will  be  traced  in  the  next  chapter. 

•   "  Semper  aut  discere  aiit  docere  aut  scribere  dulco  habni." — 11. E.  r.  25. 

-  He  was  elected  bishop  in  73'2,  and  received  the  pall  from  Home  in  73.5. 

'  In  English,  Eahvine.     Ho  was  born  jjrobabiy  in  the  very  year  of  Bede's 
death,  I'Xy.     We   shall  have  to   speak   of  him  again   in  connection  with 
Charles  the  Great.     See  Chap.  XX.  §  10. 
24 


Crown  of  Charles  the  Great,  in  the  Imperial  Treasurj-,  'Vieima. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


THE   CONVERSION  OF  THE   GERMANS,  AND  THE 
FOUNDATION  OF  THE  HOLY  ROMAN  EMriRE. 

THE   EIGHTH    CENTURY. 

1.  Lnglish  Missions  to  Frisia — Wilfrid;  Egbert;  Willibrord  and  others 
§  2.  Winfriil,  or  St.  Boniface,  the  Apostle  of  Germany — His  early  life 
and  ordination  by  Gregory  III.  §  :5.  His  ai)pointiTient  by  Pope  Zachari.\S 
to  reform  the  Frank  Church — Charles  Martel:  his  Victory  over  the 
Moors — His  sons  Carloman  and  Pejiin — Councils  held  by  Boniface — His 
Opponents — Boniface  made  Archbishop  of  Mainz.  §  .">.  The  Carolingian 
dynasty  founded  by  Pepix — Death  of  Boniface.  §  6.  The  Pope,  the 
Empire,  and  the  Lombards — Overthrow  of  the  Exarchate — Pepin's  War 
with  the  Lombards — Pepin's  Donation  of  the  States  of  the  Church. 
§  7.  Charles  the  Great,   King  of  the  Franks — He  overthrows  the 


Cent.  Vll.  VIII.        ENGLISH  MISSIONS  TO  GERMANY.  519 

Loinbanl  Kingdom,  an<l  visits  Rome.  §  8.  The  Supremacy  of  Charles 
acknowledged  by  PoPE  Leo  III. — His  Coronation  by  Leo  as  Emperor  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire — Signiiicance  of  this  act — England  indepen- 
dent of  the  Empire.  §  9.  Wars  of  Charles  with  the  Saxons — Their  Con- 
version by  the  Sword — Other  such  Conversions.  §  10.  Alcuin  at  the 
Court  of  Charles — His  Labours  for  Education — Ecclesiastical  Legislation 
of  Charles — His  Death  and  Burial  at  Aix-la-Chai)elle. 

§  1.  English  missionaries  were  the  chief  though  ii'  t  the  only 
agents  in  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  kindred  tribes  of  Germany. 
We  have  already  noticed  the  previous  labours  of  the  Scoto-Irish 
missionaries,  and  the  beginning  made  by  Wilfrid  in  Frisia,  on  his 
casual  visit  (G78).  The  desire  to  continue  his  work  was  strongly 
cherished  by  his  countryman  Egbert,^  who  had  settled  in  an  Irish 
monastery  ;  but,  being  warned  that  the  mission  was  not  destined  for 
him,  he  sent  to  Frisia  first  Wigbert  (GOO),  and  two  j-ears  afterwards 
Willibrord,  a  Northumbrian,  who  had  been  trained  in  Wilfrid's 
monastery  at  Kipon  before  he  joined  Egbert  in  Ireland. 

Willibrord,  accompanied  by  twelve  monks,  landed  in  Frisia  soon 
after  the  heathen  king  Eadbod  had  been  conquered  b}^  Pepin  of 
Heristal,  the  Frank  ruler  of  Austrasia,  who  cncournged  their 
labours  and  sent  Willibrord  to  Eomc  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  Pope 
Sergius  I.  After  further  successes,  Willibrord  went  to  Pome  again, 
and  Sergius  ordained  him  Archbishop  of  Utrecht,  by  the  name  of 
Clement  (G96).      He  laboured  with  success  till  his  death  in  739.^ 

Two  missionaries,  who  were  sent  out  meanwhile  from  the  same 
monastery  to  the  Old  Saxons,^  were  martyred  by  that  fierce  people ; 
and  other  efforts  by  the  companions  of  Willibrord  proved  unsuc- 
cessful, till  at  length  one  of  them,  Winfrid,  earned  the  fame  of  the 
"Apostle  of  Germany." 

§  2.  Winfrid,  better  known  as  St.  Boniface,  was  born  of  a  noble 
family  at  Crediton,  in  Devonshire,  about  G80,  and  was  placed  in  a 
monastery  at  the  age  of  seven.  There  he  became  famous  as  a  preacher 
and  expositor  of  Scripture.  Devoting  himself  to  labour  among  the 
heathen,  he  crossed  to  Frisia,  in  TIG  ;  but,  being  repulsed  by  the 
heathen  king  Radbod,  he  returned  to  his  monastery  in  Hampshire. 
With  the  approval  of  Daniel,  bishop  of  Winchester,  he  set  out  for 
Pome  to  obtain  the  support  of  Pope  Gregory  II.  (717).*  Passing 
through  Bavaria  and  Tburingia,  he  joined  Willibrord  in  Frisia, 
where  he  laboured  for  tlirce  years  (710-722).     Declining  the  offer 

*  He  afterwards  converted  the  community  of  lona  to  the  Roman  rule  of 
Easter.  -  Bede,  v.  10,  H  ;  Alcuin,   Vit.  Willibrord. 

^  By  this  name  the  English  writers  distinguished  the  Saxons  of  the 
Continent  from  those  of  Britain.  *  Pone  from  715  to  731. 


520       THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  GERMANS.     Chap,  XX. 

of  Willibrord  to  appoint  him  his  successor,  he  went  and  preached  to 
the  Hessians,  and  baptized  converts  by  thousands. 

He  was  now  summoned  to  Rome  by  Gregory,  who  ordained  him 
as  a  regionary  bishop,  at  the  same  time  binding  him  by  an  oath  to 
obey  the  Pope  as  the  vicar  of  St.  Peter,  and  to  preserve  the  unity 
of  the  Catholic  Church  (Nov.  723).  Our  space  prevents  the  de- 
tailed account  of  the  labours  of  Boniface  in  Hessia  and  Thuringia, 
where  he  baptized  100,000  converts.  In  732,  Pope  Geegory  III.^ 
sent  Boniface  the  .pall  of  an  archbishop,  and  received  him  with  the 
highest  honour  when  he  visited  Eome  in  738.  On  his  return  he 
laboured  for  three' years  in  Bavaria,  and  organized  the  Church  in 
that  country ;  but  he  was  soon  called  to  the  work  of  reforming  the 
Church  among  the  Franks. 

§  3.  The  disorders  of  the  Merovingian  kingdom  had  greatly 
weakened  the  connection  of  that  Church  with  Eome.  "  Such  dif- 
ferences as  arose  were  necessarily  decided  on  the  spot,  and  there  is 
hardly  any  trace  of  intercourse  with  the  Papal  See  between  the 
pontificates  of  the  first  and  second  Gregories."  ^  The  decay  of 
discipline  was  hastened  by  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the  Frank 
ecclesiastics,  and  by  the  increased  wealth  which  princes  bestowed 
iipon  the  clergy,  often  as  a  compromise  for  the  indiilgence  of  their 
vices.  We  must  leave  to  civil  historji-  the  process  by  which  the 
royal  powerwas  transferred  from  the  Merovingian  kings  to  the  "Mayors 
of  the  Palace,"  till  their  ascendency  was  made  complete  by  the 
victory  of  Charles  Martel  over  the  Saracens  in  the  Battle  of 
Tours,  Avhich  turned  back  the  tide  of  Mohammedan  conquest  in 
Euroi^e  (732).  To  meet  the  cost  of  this  mighty  eflbrt,  Charles 
seized  the  treasi;res  of  the  churches,  and  rewarded  his  warrior 
chiefs  with  the  temporalities  of  bishoprics  and  abbeys ;  and  Boniface 
found  himself  thwarted  alike  by  the  possessors  of  these  church 
revenues  and  by  the  disorderly  clergy. 

On  the  death  of  Charles  Martel  and  Gregory  III.  in  the  same 
year  (741),  the  new  Pope,  Zacharias,^  gave  Boniface  authority  to 
reform  the  whole  Frank  Church ;  and  he  was  sup})orted  in  this 
necessary  work  by  the  sons  of  Charles, — Carloman  in  Austrasia,  and 
Pepin  the  Short  in  Neustria.  He  held  a  series  of  councils  for 
the  reformation  of  the  Church  ;  but  these  councils  were  composed 
not  of  bishops  only,  but  were  full  assemblies  of  the  national  estates. 
Their  decrees  were  published  in  the  name  of  the  ])rinces ;  and  the 
ecclesiastical  appointments  made  by  the  Pope  were  confirmed  by 
the  civil  power.  Among  other  regulations,  they  enforced  celibacy 
on  the  clergy,  and  forbad  them  to  serve  in  war  (a  practice  which  had 

'  Pope  from  731  to  741.  *  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  64. 

"  He  was  a  Greek  liy  birth,  and  Pope  from  741  to  752. 


A.D.  742.  CAROLINGIAN  DYNASTY.  '   521 

become  common),  or  to  indulge  in  limiting  or  hawking.  Their 
decrees  for  the  suppression  of  heathen  practices  show  interesting 
signs  of  the  lingering  remnants  of  paganism.  The  attempt  to  re- 
cover any  part  of  the  alienated  benefices  seems  to  have  been  un- 
successful ;  and  the  Frank  clergy  resisted  the  plans  of  Boniface  for 
subjecting  the  bishops  to  the  metropolitans,  and  these  to  the  see  of 
Home.  Kow  too,  as  throughout  his  whole  career,  Boniface  was 
vexed  by  encounters  with  irregular  teachers,  especially  those  who 
had  been  sent  out  by  the  Irish  Church  ;  but,  amidst  all  the  charges 
of  vice  and  heresy  which  he  brings  against  them,  the  great  common 
offence  was  their  disparagement  of  saints,  relics,  pilgrimages  and 
other  observances,  and  of  the  authority  of  the  Roman  See.' 

The  authority  of  Boniface  in  the  Frank  Church  required  to  be 
sustained  by  a  higher  dignity  than  that  of  a  missionary  bishop. 
He  wished  to  fix  his  metropolitan  see  at  Cologne,  because  of  its 
proximity  to  Frisia ;  but  the  Frank  nobles  induced  him  to  accept 
the  bishopric  of  Mainz,-  which  ho  himself  had  caused  the  late 
bishop  to  resign  for  the  offence  of  killing  his  enemy  in  battle.  The 
Pope  subjected  to  the  new  metropolitan  all  the  German  nations  to 
whom  he  had  preached  (T4G). 

§  5.  In  752  the  great  change  was  consummated  by  which  Pepin 
the  Short,  having  reimited  the  governments  of  Neustria  and  Austrasia 
on  the  retirement  cf  his  brother  Carloman  to  a  monastery,  was  pro- 
claimed King  of  the  Franks  by  the  nobles  and  bishops  at  Soissons, 
with  the  sanction  of  Pope  Zacharias ;  and  the  Merovingian  dynasty 
was  superseded  by  that  of  the  Karlincjs  ^  or  Carolingians.  There  is 
much  doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  the  common  statement,  that  Pepin 
was  crowned  by  Boniface,  who  seems  rather  to  have  opposed  the 
revolution,  and  to  have  lost  some  of  the  influence  he  had  enjoyed 
while  Carloman  lived.  He  was  troubled  both  by  opposition  in  the 
Church,  and  by  pagan  incursions.  Having  obtained  permission 
from  Piome  and  the  new  king  to  name  a  successor  to  his  see  (753), 
he  returned  to  the  scene  of  his  early  labours  in  Frisia,  and  baptized 
thousands  of  new  converts. 

On  Whitsun  Eve  (June  5,  755)  he  had  gone  to  a  place  near 
Dockum  to  hold  a  confirmation,  when  his  tent  was  surrounded 
by  an  armed  band  of  Pagans,  who  massacred  the  whole  pai-ty, 
fifty-two  in  number,  Bonitace  forbidding  all  resistance.  The 
martyr's  body  was  carried  up  the  Rhine  to  Mainz,  and  buried  at 

•  For  the  conflicts  of  Boniface  with  Adebert,  Clement,  and  Virgil,  see 
Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  112-114. 

*  Also  called  Mentz,  and  iu  French  Mayence. 

s  Sons  of  Charles  (Jlartel).  The  form  CAv\o-vin<jians  is  a  mere  corrup- 
tion, by  fiilse  analogy,  from  an  assimilation  to  'McYo-vingians. 


622       THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  GERMANS.    Chap.  XX. 

the  monastery  of  Fulda,  which  he  had  foiindi'd,  in  742,^  as  a  centre 
of  missionary  effort  in  the  heart  of  Germany,  on  the  borders  of  the 
foiu"  nations  to  whom  he  had  preached. 

§  6.  The  part  taken  by  the  see  of  Rome  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Carolingian  dynasty  was  the  sequel  of  relations 
which  had  been  for  some  time  growing  closer  and  closer  with  the 
Franks,  and  of  the  assurance  of  their  support  against  the  Byzantine 
Emperor,  from  whom  the  Popes  had  become  more  and  more 
alienated.^  They  felt  also  the  urgent  need  of  help  against  the 
Lombards,  wlio  had  conquered  nearly  all  the  Exarchate  and  ad- 
vanced to  the  gates  of  Rome.  The  piteous  appeals  of  Gregory  III. 
to  Charles  Martel  had  been  favourably  received  Avhen,  as  already 
stated,  both  died  in  the  same  year  (741).  Gregory's  successor, 
Zacharias,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  Pope  who  was  installed, 
since  the  time  of  Odoacer,  without  any  confirmation  from  the 
civil  power  ;  a  fact  which  may  have  made  him  more  free  to  form 
a  closer  connection  with  the  Frank  ruler  whom  he  concurred  in 
making  king.^  Zacharias  died  about  the  time  of  Pepin's  election, 
and  his  successor,  Stephen  II.,*  was  soon  called  on  to  acknow- 
ledge the  sovereignty  of  the  Lombard  king  Astulphus  (Aistulf), 
who  had  in  the  same  year  put  an  end  to  the  Exarchate  by  taking 
Ravenna  (752). 

After  vain  appeals  to  the  Emperor  °  for  aid,  and  to  the  Lombards' 
forbearance,  Stephen  crossed  the  Alps,  and  Avas  received  with 
high  honour  by  Pepin,  who  was  again  crowned,  with  his  sons, 
at  St.  Denys,  by  the  Pope's  hands,  and  invested  with  the  title  of 
Patrician  of  Rome  (754).  The  Frank  king  led  an  army  into 
Italy,  and  forced  Astulphus  to  a  treaty  which  was  broken  as  soon 
as  Pepin  had  recrossed  the  Alps.  The  Pope  renewed  his  en- 
treaties by  letters,  one  of  them  being  written  in  the  name  of  St. 

'  The  spot  was  chosen  .iml  the  monastery  founded  by  a  party  or  monks 
sent  out  Ijy  Boniface,  under  Sturmi,  a  noble  Bavarian,  who  became  the 
first  abbot. 

-  For  the  causes  of  this,  see  the  following  chapter. 

^  There  is  no  foundation  for  the  assumption  made  by  Gregory  YII.  that 
Zacharias  exercised  a  right  of  his  oHice  in  deposing  Childeric,  the  last 
Merovingian.  That  act  was  performed  by  the  estates  of  the  Franks,  after 
they  had  obtained  the  Pope's  affirmative  answer  to  the  question  of 
casuistry,  whether  the  royal  state  and  title  ought  not  to  belong  to  him 
who  really  exercised  the  sovereign  power — ''  Certainly  (as  Hallam  says) 
the  Franks,  who  raised  the  king  of  their  choice  upon  their  shields,  never 
dreamt  that  a  foreign  priest  had  conferred  ujwn  him  the  right  of 
governing.'' 

*  Sometimes  called  Stephen  HI.,  as  another  Stephen  was  elected  before 
him,  but  died  without  being  consecrated.     He  was  Pope  from  752  to  757. 

*  Constantino  V.  Copronymus. 


A.D.  755.  THE  DONATION  OF  PEPIN.  523 

Peter  himself,  who,  by  his  own  authority  and  that  of  the  blessed 
Virgin,  assured  the  Frank  kinsj  of  eternal  salvation  as  the  reward 
of  his  aid!  This  letter  furnished  Pepin  with  an  answer  to  the 
Byzantine  envoys,  who,  when  he  had  again  forced  Astiilphus  to 
cede  large  territories,  claimed  the  restoration  of  the  Exarchate  to 
the  Emperor  : — "  It  is  ibr  St.  Peter  that  I  have  conquered,"  said 
Pepin ;  and  on  St.  Peter's  see  he  bestowed  the  territories  forming 
the  famous  Donation  of  Fqnn,  which  first  gave  the  Pope  the 
position  of  a  temporal  prince  (755).  It  seeius  clear  that  the  Popes 
were  to  hold  these  lands  under  the  Frank  king;  while  they  still 
owned  a  nominal  allegiance  to  the  Byzantine  Empire. 

§  7.  In  768  Pepin  was  succeeded  by  his  two  sons,  and  on  the 
death  of  Carloman  (771)  the  kingdom  was  reunited  imder  Charles, 
who  is  known  in  history  as  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Great.^ 
We  need  not  detail  the  train  of  alliauces  and  quarrels  between 
Charles,  the  Lombards,  and  the  Pope,  which  ended  in  the  capture 
of  Pavia  by  Charles  and  the  deposition  of  Desiderius,  the  last  king 
of  the  Lombards  (774).  The  conqueror  now  paid  his  first  visit  to 
Eome,  with  the  profoundest  marks  of  reve^'ence  for  St.  Peter  and 
his  vicar,  and  made  large  additions  to  the  Donation  cf  Pejtin.  The 
extent  of  these  is  doubtful,  and  the  Papal  territory,  or  "  States  of 
the  Church,"  may  be  described  as  corresponding  to  those  which 
formed  the  Exarchate  of  Pavenna,  as  limited  by  the  permanent 
conquests  of  the  Lombards.  Charles  visited  Rome  again  in  781, 
and  a  third  time  in  787,  the  year  after  he  had  become  master  of 
the  south  of  Italy  by  a  treaty  with  the  Lombard  Duke  of  Benevento. 
He  maintained  a  close  personal  friendship  with  Adrian  I.  (772- 
795),  till  the  Pope's  death ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  civil 
supremacy  of  Charles  had  yet  been  exercised  at  Rome. 

§  8.  The  question  was  formally  settled  by  the  new  Pope,  Leo 
III.  (795-815),  who,  in  announcing  his  election  to  Charles,  sent 
him  the  banner  of  Rome,  with  the  keys  of  St.  Peter's  tomb,  and 
offered  the  allegiance  of  the  Roman  citizens  to  the  Frank  crown. 
This  act  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  Charles  in  the  West.  The 
tie  with   the  Empire  seems  to  have  been  already  practically  dis- 

'  It  was  not  till  after  Charles's  death  that  the  title  was  added  which 
made  his  historic  name  Caroli'S  Magnus,  the  French  contraction  of 
which,  Charlcmacfne,  gives  the  false  impression  that  he  was  a  Frenchman 
and  king  of  France.  He  was  a  pure  German,  bearing  the  German  name  of 
Karl  dcr  Grossc,  king  of  the  German  Franks,  and  having  his  chief  residence 
,at  the  German  city  of  Aachen  (Ai.r-li(-Ch(ip(ik').  The  Latin  name  of  his 
kingdom,  /VaJiCiVf,  includes  a  large  jiart  of  Germany  (/'noiCi'a  Oricntalia), 
as  well  as  Gaul,  or  rather  that  non-(ierman  part  of  it  (Fr<tncia  Occi- 
ikntalis),  which  cannot  properly  be  called  France  till  its  separation  from 
the  Eastern  kingdom. 


524  THE  HOLY  ROxMAN  EMPIRE.  Chap.  XX.- 

solved  ;  and  it  only  remained  to  replace  it  by  the  revival  of  the 
Western  Empire,  as  a  civil  authority  co-ordinate  with,  and  fitted 
to  sustain,  the  spiritual  authority  of  Hume.  The  opportunity 
arrived,  a  few  years  later,  when  Charles  was  called  to  judge  in  a 
case  of  the  highest  importance  affecting  the  Pope.  Some  relatives 
of  the  late  Pope  attacked  Leo  and  tried  to  mutilate  him  of  his 
eyes  and  tongue  (799).  The  wounded  Pope  fled  to  Charles^  at 
Paderborn,  followed  by  envoys  from  Pome  with  serious  charges 
against  him,  which  Charles  iiromised  to  investigate  at  Rome. 
Meanwhile  he  sent  Leo  back  with  an  escort  of  high  ecclesiastics 
and  civil  officers,'  to  restore  him  to  his  see.  Charles  arrived  at 
Rome  about  the  end  of  November  800 ;  a  court  of  Church  digni- 
taries and  nobles  sat  to  hear  the  charges  against  Leo;  but  his 
accusers  did  not  appear.  The  Court  declared  that  the  Pope  was 
above  all  human  judgment,  and  Leo  took  a  solemn  oath  to  his 
innocence  of  the  charges  (Dec.  23). 

Two  days  later  ^  the  feast  of  Christmas  was  kept  with  the  usual 
solemnity  in  St.  Peter's  church.  As  Charles  knelt  at  mass  before 
the  high  altar,  Leo  suddenly  placed  a  splendid  crown  upon  his  head ; 
and  the  people  confirmed  the  act  with  acclamations — "  To  Charles, 
the  most  jmrns  Augustus,  crowned  by  God';  to  the  great,  the  pacific 
Empeeoh,  life  and  victory."  Leo  then  anointed  Charles  as  King  of 
Italy,  with  his  son  Pepin,  and  set  the  example  of  doing  homage 
to  the  new  Emperor.  This  great  transaction  severed  Rome  and  the 
states  of  Latin  Christendom  from  what  must  henceforth  be  called 
the  Eastern  Empire,  and  united  them  in  a  new  Empire  of  the  West, 
in  which  Rome  was  restored  to  its  old  rank  as  cajntal,  and  whose 
head  was  regarded  as  the  inheritor  of  the  ancient  Empire,  as  well  as 
the  supreme  sovereign  in  Western  Christendom.  The  indissoluble 
connection  of  this  sovereignty  with  the  Church  was  afterwards  denoted 
by  the  title  of  the  IMy  Roman  Empire,^  which  survived  in  form, 
amidst  all  changes  of  real  significance  and  power,  for  just  a  thousand 
years,  till  the  French  Emperor  Napoleon,  who  affected  to  be  the  suc- 
cessor of  Charles  the  Great  and  was  really  the  master  of  Germany, 
caused  its  abdication  by  Francis  IL  (iSOt)). 

The  new  Empire  was  acknowledged  after  a  few  years  by  the 

'  He  was  then-cn2;.i,s;cd  in  his  war  with  the  Saxons. 

*  According  to  the  reckoning  then  used  in  the  West,  the  year  began  on 
Christmas.  Day  ;  so  that  the  coronation  of  Charles  was  on  the  first  day  of 
the  ninth  century,  a.d.  801  ;  but,  according  to  the  usage  of  history,  it  is 
dated  in  A.D.  800. 

^  The  epitliet  "  Holy  "  was  first  added  by  Frederick  Barbarossa  (11. '>2), 
but  the  idea  expressed  by  it  was  an  essential  part  of  the  Empire  from  its 
beginning.  On  the  whole  subject,  see  Dr.  Bryce's  admirable  work,  The 
Holy  lioman  Umpire. 


A.D.  772-805.         CONVERSION  OF  THE  SAXONS.  625 

Eastern  Emijeror  Nicephonis  (812) ;  but  one  exception  to  its  ac- 
knowledgment in  the  West  deserves  special  notice.  In  this  sense 
Britain  still  claimed  to  be  "a  world  by  itself."  Egbert,  who  had 
recovered  the  throne  of  Wessex  in  this  very  year  (800),  seems  to 
have  been  guided  by  the  example  of  Charles  in  the  policy  of  uniting 
the  several  kingdoms  under  his  supremacy,  and  his  successors 
assumed  the  titles  used  by  both  the  Eastern  and  Western  Em])erors, 
Basileus  and  Imj)erator.  This  proclamation  of  independence  towards 
the  Eoraan  Empire  could  not  but  foster  the  remaining  elements  of 
independence  towards  the  Roman  Church ;  and  the  miion  of  the 
English  Church  by  Theodore  had  preceded  by  a  century  that  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  kingdom  by  Egbert. 

§  9.  The  main  events  of  Charles's  reign  of  forty-six  years,  before 
and  after  his  elevation  to  the  Empire  (7(38-814),  belong  to  civil 
history.  Among  those  within  our  province  arc  the  wars  by  which 
he  forced  Christianity  on  the  Saxons,  who  occupied  the  region  of 
Lower  Germany  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe  and  still  further 
to  the  East,  and  had  long  been  in  a  state  of  constant  war  with  the 
Franks.  The  eighteen  campaigns  of  Charles  against  this  confede- 
racy extended  over  thirty-three  years  (772-805).  In  the  first  he 
destroyed  the  great  national  idol  called  Irminsul,  which  stood  on  a 
wooded  mountain  (now  Stcidtbcrg)  near  Eresburg  ;  and  the  Saxons 
retaliated  by  destroying  the  churches  and  monasteries  as  far  as  the 
Rhine.  The  Avar  assumed  a  religious  character  :  the  Saxons,  when 
defeated,  were  compelled  to  submit  to  bajitism,  and  when  victorious 
they  returned  to  their  heathen  worship.  Laws  of  extreme  severity, 
extending  even  to  the  penalty  of  death  for  all  who  refused  baptism, 
and  requiring  the  compulsory  baptism  of  their  children,  wero  varied 
by  milder  measures,  gifts,  and  offers  of  alliance  with  the  Franks 
on  equal  terms.  Bishoprics  and  monasteries  were  founded  in  the 
conquered  districts,  and  the  towns  that  grew  up  round  them  became 
seats  of  civilization.  Young  Saxon  hostages  were  brought  up  in  the 
Christian  faith.  At  length  the  country  was  conquered  as  far  as  the 
Elbe ;  and,  as  a  final  measure,  ten  thousand  Saxons  were  removed 
into  the  Frank  territory  (804).  Similar  means  were  employed  to 
force  the  profession  of  Christianity  on  the  Frisians,  the  Wiltzes  (a 
Slavonic  people  beyond  the  Elbe),  the  Bavarians,  the  Avars  in 
Pannonia,  and  the  Bohemians.  But  in  all  cases  there  were  devoted 
missionaries  ready  to  bring  the  conquered  people  to  a  purer  faith; 
and  it  was  one  of  Alcuin's  great  services  that  he  urged  the 
sending  of  such  men  to  teach  the  nominal  converts,  while  he  pro- 
tested against  the  indiscriminate  administration  of  baptism  and  the 
exaction  of  tithes  as  a  condition  of  peace. 

§  10.  The  great  man  just  named,  who  has  been  called  the  intel- 
•24* 


526  THE  HOLY  ROMAN  EMPIRE.  Chap.  XX. 

lectual  prime  minister  of  Charles,  Avas,  as  we  have  seen,  an  Enghsh- 
man,  and  a  pujDil  and  teacher  in  Arclibishop  Egbert's  school  at 
York,  where  his  lectures  attracted  many  visitors  from  the  Continent. 
Being  sent  to  Eome  to  obtain  the  pall  for  Archbishop  Eanbald 
(780),  he  met  King  Charles  at  Parma,  and  accepted  his  invitation 
to  become  master  of  the  Palatine  school  for  the  education  of  the 
royal  and  noble  youths  of  the  Franks,  which  always  accompanied 
the  court.  Charles,  who  Avorked  hard  to  repair  the  defects  of  his 
education,  became  himself  one  of  Alcuin's  pupils,  and  soon  made 
him  his  chief  confidential  adviser  in  affairs  of  State,  and  the  director 
of  his  efforts  for- the  education  of  his  people,  both  clergy  and  laitj', 
for  the  learning  of  the  former  was  at  a  low  ebb.  AVhen  Alcuin 
wished  for  a  more  retired  life,  Charles  gave  him  the  abbacy  of  St. 
Martin  at  Tours  (796),  where  he  reformed  the  disorders  of  the 
monks,  enriched  the  library  with  books  from  England,  and  raised 
the  abbey  school  to  high  renown.  From  his  monastery  he  kept 
up  a  correspondence  with  Charles  on  learning,  religion,  and  state 
affairs  ;  and  he  took  part  in  the  controversies  of  the  time.  Alcuin 
did  not  long  survive  the  elevation  of  Charles  to  the  Empire,  dying 
in  804. 

Space  does  not  allow  a  full  account  of  Charles's  measures  for 
the  spread  of  education  and  the  regulation  of  the  Church,  which 
lie  aimed  to  bring  cverj'wh'ere  nearer  to  the  Eoman  model.  When 
the  Frank  clergy  appealed  to  him  in  a  liturgical  dispute  with  the 
Roman,  he  asked  them,  "  AVhich  is  purer — the  stream  or  the 
source?"  He  brought  into  the  Frank  Church  the  Roman  forms  of 
chanting  and  the  service  of  the  mass  established  by  Gregory  the 
Great.  His  ecclesiastical  legislation  was  made  by  his  own  authority, 
though  the  laws  were  discussed  and  promulgated  in  asscmbhes  of 
the  laity  and  clergy  in  spring  and  autumn.  Nearly  one-third  of 
his  Capitularies  (415  out  of  1126)  are  upon  ecclesiastical  matters. 
His  part  in  the  Iconoclast  controversy,  and  the  proceedings  of  tlie 
Council  of  Frankfort  (794),  belong  to  the  following  chapter.  He 
was  as  diligent  as  Constantine  in  his  attendance  at  the  services  of 
the  Church  ;  and  he  is  said  himself  to  have  composed  some  hymns. 
Among  the  churclies  built  by  Charles,  the  most  fomous  is  the 
cathedral  of  Aachen  (Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  Roman  Aqua3  Granis), 
Avhich  he  adorned  with  marble  pillars  from  Rome  and  Ravenna, 
the  two  Western  capitals.  At  this  city,  his  birthplace  and  favourite 
residence,  he  died  (Jan.  814),  and  was  buried  in  the  great  church 
which  he  had  built.  The  Emperor  was  heatified  by  the  antipope 
Paschal  HI.,  in  1165,  and  altars  are  dedicated  to  him  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  Frankfort,  and  Ziirich  ;  but  he  is  not  enrolled  as  a  saint 
in  the  Roman  calendar. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


THE    CONTROVERSY    ON 
ADOPTION  JSII. 

A  brief  notice  will  suffice  for  a  new 
phase  of  the  controversy  on  the  Sonship  of 
Christ,  which  broke  out  in  the  West  under 
Charles  the  Great. 

Felix,  bishop  of  Urgel  in  Catalonia 
(which  was  within  the  dominions  of 
Charles),  a  man  to  whose  piety  and  learn- 
ii)g  we  have  the  testimony  of  Alcuin — 
came  forward  as  the  chief  teacher  of  the 
doctrine  that  our  Lord,  in  respect  of  His 
humanity,  was  the  Son  of  God  hyaduptiun, 
not  by  partaking  of  the  Divine  substance. 
This  view  seemed  to  have  grown  out  of  the 
use  of  the  word  adoption  by  some  early 
writers,*  and  in  the  Spanish  Liturgy;  only 
in  the  sense  of  the  assumption  of  human 
nature  by  the  Son  of  God.  Uut  Felix  and 
his  followers  used  the  term  in  a  sense 
which  their  opjwnents  charged  with  being 
equivalent  to  the  Ncstorian  heresy.  They 
did  not  denj'  the  union  of  the  Divine  and 
human  natures  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
acd  they  even  accepted  the  title  of  Theiito- 
iios  or  /Mipara,  as  applied  to  the  mother  of 
His  humanity ;  but  they  held  it  to  be  a 
confusion  of  the  two  natures  to  say  that 
Christ  was  the  proper  and  real  Son  of  God, 
not  only  in  His  Godhead,  but  in  His  whole 
Person.  "  He  cannot  have  two  fathers  in 
the  same  nature ;  in  His  humanity  He  is 
naturally  the  Son  of  David,  and  by  adop- 
tion and  grace  the  Son  of  God.  Uy  nature 
He  is  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God ;  by 
adoption  and  grace  the  _/i«f  begotten.  In 
the  Son  God,  the  Son  of  Man  becomes  very 
Son  of  God  ;  but  it  is  only  in  a  nuncupative 
way ;  his  adoption  is  like  that  of  the 
saints,  although  it  is  after  a  far  more  ex- 
cellent fashion." 

Felix,  who  was  the  first  to  give  the 
doctrine  a  definite  form,  obtained  the  sup- 
port of  Elipandus,  bishop  of  Toledo  and 
primate  of  Spain  under  the  Mohammedan 
dominion  (a.d.  783);  and  the  latter  engaged 
in  violent  controversy,  mingled  with  coarse 

»  For  eiample.  in  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  Dc  Trini- 
Inlr,  ii.  27: — •' I'otfslatis  iliijnitas  iion  amitlitar 
limn  cnruis  liumilitas  mU'pt<Uur"  See  Roln-rtson, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  lea,  {.,  for  a  more  <letaile<l  iicconut  of 
tbc  AUuptioui:>t  doctriue. 


personal  invective,  against  the  Abbot  Bea- 
tus  and  Etherius,  bishop  of  Osma,  the  first 
public  opponents  of  the  new  heresy,  which 
Pope  Adrian  denounced  in  a  letter  to  the 
orthodox  bishops  of  Spain  (785).  Elipan- 
dus was  beyond  the  Jurisdiction  of  the  Frank 
king ;  but  Charles  summoned  Felix  before 
a  Council  at  Ii;»tisbon  (792)  ;  and,  though 
he  there  abjured  his  errors,  he  was  sent  in 
chains  to  Rome,  and  only  obtained  his 
liberty  by  making  a  most  solemn  profession 
of  the  orthodox  Faith.  But  as  soon  as  he 
returned  to  Urgel,  he  renewed  his  heretical 
teaching,  and  fled  into  the  filohammedan 
part  of  Spain. 

Alcuin  was  invited  from  England,  to 
support  the  orthodox  d.jctrine  at  the 
Council  of  Frankfort,  which  condemned 
Adoptionism  as  a  heresy  which  "ought 
to  be  utterly  rooted  out  of  the  Church  " 
(794).  A  friendly  controversy  ensued 
between  Alcuin  and  Felix,  the  former 
urging  the  latter  to  give  up  the  term 
adoption,  as  the  solo  point  which  made  his 
teaching  heretical.  A  defence,  which  Felix 
addressed  to  the  Frank  king,  was  answered 
at  the  request  of  Charles  by  AUuin'a 
'  Treatise,'  in  seven  books,  which  he  styled 
"these  five  loaves  and  two  little  fishes" 
{Opera,  tom.  i.  p.  788).  After  renewed 
condemnations  of  the  doctrine  by  councils 
at  Friuli  (79ti)  and  Rome  (799),  and  suc- 
cessful elTorts  made  by  Benedict  of  Aniane 
and  the  bishops  of  Lyon  and  Xarbonne  to 
reclaim  its  followers  in-  the  diocese  of 
Urgel,  Felix  was  induced  by  a  promise  of 
safety  to  appear  before  a  Council  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  (799).  Alcuin  left  his  retirement 
at  Tours  to  meet  him  in  argument,  and 
after  a  six  days'  discussion  Felix  declared 
himself  convinced ;  but  he  was  detained  at 
Lyon,  under  the  charge  of  Archbishop 
Leidrod  and  his  successor  Agobard,  till  his 
death  in  818.  It  was  then  found  that  he 
had  left  a  paper  reasserting  the  chief  points 
of  his  heresy,  of  which  Agobard  wrote  a 
refutation;  and  from  that  time  the  Adop- 
tionist  doctrine  re-appears  only  in  the 
writings  of  individuals,  not  as  a  heresy  of 
any  wide  influence. 


Second  Council  of  Nicaea.    From  a  MS.  in  the  Vatican. 

The  Emperor,  Constantine  VI.,  is  sitting  on  a  raised  seat  near  the  altar.    The  prostrate 

figure  represents  a  penitent  Iconoclast. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE    EASTERN    CHURCH. 

ESPECIALLY   THE   MOHAMMEDAN   CONQUEST   AND   THE    ICONOCLAST 
DISPUTES.      CENTURIES   VII.-IX. 

§  1.  Invasion  of  CHOSROiis  II.,  king  of  Persia — Victories  of  the  Emperor 
Heraclius — Religious  Character  of  the  War.  §  2.  Rise  of  Mohammed 
— Mohammedanism  and  Christianity — Proclamation  of  a  War  against 
Unbelievers.  §  3.  Arab  Conquest  of  Syria  and  Jerusalem — Of  Egypt, 
Persia,  North  Africa,  and  Spain — Victory  of  Charles  Martel  in  Gaul. 
§  4.  State  of  the  Eastern  Church — The  Emperor  Leo  III.  the  Isaurian 
— His  Edicts  against  Images — Beginning  of  the  Iconoclast  Disputes.  §  5. 
Resistance  to  Leo — John  of  Damascus — His  Arguments  for  Image- 
worship — Opposition  of  Popes  Gregory  II.  and  Gregory  III. — Separa- 
tion of  Greece  and  Illyricuni  from  Rome.  §  6.  The  Emperor  Constan- 
tine V.  Copronymus — His  iconoclast  zeal — Persecution  of  the  Patriarch 
Anastasius — Council  at  Constantinople  in  754 :  its  Decrees  against  Images — 
Persecution  of  the  Monks — Fate  of  the  Patriarch  Constantine.  §7.  Leo  IV., 
Constantine  VI.,  and  Irene — The  Patriarchs  Paul  and  Tarasius — The 
Second  Council  of  Niccca — Restoration  of  Image-worship.  §  8.  Opposition 
to  Image-worship  in  the  Frank  Church — Limit  to  the  use  of  Images — 
Council  of  Gentilly — Charles  the  Great,  Alcuin,  and  the  Caroline  Books— 
The  Council  of  Frankfort.  §  9.  The  Emperor  Leo  V.  the  Armenian  renews 
the  attempt  to  put  down  Image-worship — The  Patriarch  Nicephorus  and 
Theodore  the  Studite — Iconoclast  Council  of  814 — Opposition  of  Pope 
Paschal  I. — Murder  of  Leo  the  Armenian.  §  10.  The  Emi)eror 
Michael  II.  Baluus  disappoints  the  Image-worshii>pers — Banishment 


A.D.  610.  THl'  kmpehor  iikracuus.  529 

and  Death  of  Theodore  the  Studito— Letter  of  ]Miehael  to  the  Western 
Emperor,  Louis  the  I'lous.  §  11.  The  Emperor  Theopuilus  and  the 
Patriarch  John  the  Grammarian — Iconoclast  Synod  of  832 — Persecution 
of  Ima^e-worshippers — The  Emjiress  TiiEODOUA  and  her  son  MiCiiAEL 
III. — The  Patriarch  Methodius— Kestoration  of  Image-worship  by  the 
Council  of  842— The  Feast  of  Orthodoxy.  §  12.  Influence  ..f  Bardas— 
Vices  of  Michael  III.— Banishment  of  the  Patriarch  Ignatius,  and 
appointment  of  PiiOTiUS — His  literary  eminence.  §  13.  Part  taken  by 
Pope  Nicolas  I.  in  the  "  First  and  Second  "  Council  at  Constantinople — 
The  Pope  condemns  Photius.  §  14.  Conversion  of  the  Bulijarians ;  a 
new  cause  of  dispute  between  Rome  and  Constantinople — Pope  Nicolas 
anathematized  by  a  Byzantine  Synod — Photius  on  the  "  pernicious 
novelties"  of  Rome.  §  15.  Basil  I.  the  Macedonian  deposes  Pho- 
tius and  restores  Ignatius — The  Eighth  General  Council  (in  the  Bonuxn 
reckoning)  condemns  Photius,  and  confirms  Image-worship.  §  16. 
Death  of  Ignatius,  and  restoration  of  Photius — The  Eighth  General 
Coiaicil  (in  the  Greek  reckoning) — Photius  again  condemned  by  Pope 
John  VIII.,  and  deposed  by  the  Emperor  Leo  VI. — His  Death  in  exile. 
§  17.  Sequel  of  the  Image-controversy  in  the  Western  Empire — The 
Council  of  Paris  condemns  both  the  destruction  of  Images  and  their 
superstitious  use — Embassies  of  Louis  the  Pious  to  Rome  and  Constanti- 
nople to  attempt  an  agreement.  §  18.  Opposition  to  Images  by  Agobard 
of  Lyon,  Claudius  of  Turin,  and  Hincmar  of  Rheims— Gradual  approach 
of  the  Frank  Church  to  the  Roman  view.  §  19.  Dispute  raised  by  the 
fourth  marriage  of  Leo  VI.  §  20.  Spread  of  Christianity  in  the  East 
during  the  Ninth  Century. 

§  1.  Whilk  "Western  Christendom  was  extended  and  consolidated, 
whether  for  good  or  evil,  under  one  spiritual  head  and  the  revived 
Empire,  the  Eastern  Empire  and  Church  were  assailed  by  terrible 
foes  and  torn  by  fresh  disputes,  wliich  made  the  breach  with  the 
West  irreparable.  Tlie  Empire  had  always  a  rivalry  witli  the  kings 
of  Persia,  wlio,  in  their  alternations  of  strengtli  or  weakness, 
chiefly  from  intestine  factions,  were  formidable  foes  or  friends  and 
even  suppliants  to  tlie  Byzantine  monarcli.  Thus  Chosroes  II. 
(590-G28),  driven  out  by  a  usurper  at  the  beginning  of  liis  reign, 
took  refuge  with  the  Emperor  Maurice,  who  restored  him  to  his 
throne.  On  the  murder  of  Maurice  by  Pliocas  (G02),'  Chosroes 
undertook  a  war  of  vengeance,  and  was  still  overrunning  province 
after  province,  when  Heraclius  I.,  son  of  the  Exarch  of  Africa, 
dethroned  and  slew  Phoca.s,  and  obtained  the  purple  ((j10-G41). 
The  new  Emperor  sued  in  vain  for  a  humiliating  peace,  and 
Chosroes  advanced  to  Chalcedon,  where  the  Persian  camp  stood  for 
•  ten  years  in   sight  of  Constantinople.     At  length  Heraclius  took 

>  .See  Chaii.  XIX.,  §  .''.. 


530  THE  EASTERN  CHUKCH.  Chap.  XXI. 

'the  bold  resolution  of  invading  Persia  (C21) ;  and  in  six  brilliant 
campaigns  he  utterly  overjwwered  Chosroiis,  whose  deposition  and 
death  at  the  hands  of  his  son  was  followed  by  a  peace  (628). 

This  war  demands  our  notice  for  the  religious  character  which  it 
assumed.  When  the  Persian  king  took  Jerusalem,  aided  by  a  force 
of  26,000  Jews,  the  holy  places  were  defiled  and  plundered  of  the 
treasures  offered  by  pilgrims  during  three  centuries,  and  the  "  True 
Cross,"  discovered  by  Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine,  was  carried 
off  to  Persia.  When  Heraclius  became  the  invader  in  his  turn,  he 
destroyed  the  Persian  temples,  quenched  the  sacred  fire,  and  brought 
back  the  Cross.^  The  Jews  were  punished  by  the  renewal  of 
Hadrian's  edict,  forbidding  them  to  approach  the  Holy  City. 

§  2.  The  year  in  which  Heraclius  made  his  first  fcampaign  in 
Persia  is  memorable  in  civil  and  religious  history  as  the  Epoch  of 
the  Hegira  or  Flight  of  Mohammed  from  Mecca  to  Medina  (622). 
This  is  not  the  place  to  tell  the  story  of  the  new  Prophet,  or  to 
describe  the  character  of  his  religion.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the 
revelations  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  furnished  many  of  its 
elements  f  that  much  of*  their  religious  and  moral  teaching  was 
adopted ;  the  prophets  were  honoured  as  sent  by  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  greatest  of  them  all,  till  he  was  eclipsed  by  Mohammed 
himself.  Thus  to  speculative  minds,  and  to  those  dissatisfied  with 
the  discords  and  corruptions  of  the  existing  Christianity,  the  new 
religion  offered  the  tempting  bait  of  progress.  It  appealed,  like  the 
Christian  faith,  to  the  deep  sense  of  entire  dependence  upon  God, 
in  the  principle  which  gave  it  its  very  name,  Islam,  that  is,  sub- 
mission or  resignation.^  Above  all,  it  recalled  to  the  idolatrous 
Arabians,  and  to  the  Christians  who  were  becoming  scarcely  less 
idolaters  in  their  reverence  for  forms  and  rites,  saints  and  relics, 

*  The  festival  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Cross  (Sept.  14)  was  observed 
especially  in  memory  of  its  restoration  by  Heraclius ;  but  it  appears  to 
have  been  instituted  much  earlier.  (See  Did.  of  Christ.  Antiqq.,  Art. 
Cross,  Exaltation  of.) 

*  The  statement  that  Mohammed  learned  something  of  Christianity 
from  Xestoiian  missionaries  has  already  been  noticed ;  and,  at  all  events, 
it  is  certain  that  some  of  the  Arab  tribes  had  embraced  Judaism,  and  that 
Christianity  had  been  spread  among  them,  both  by  orthodox  missionaries 
and  bv  heretical  refugees  from  persecution  in  the  Empire,  such  as  Gnostics 
in  the  earlier  times,  and  Nestorians  and  Monophysites  more  recently. 

'  This  name  expressed  also  the  subjection  which  Mohammed  required  to 
his  mission  as  the  sole  condition  of  peace.  It  is  derived  from  salni,  "  peace" 
(the  same  word  as  the  Hebrew  salon),  of  which  Islam  is  the  verbal  noun 
or  infinitive,  and  Moslim  (the  ai)i)ellation  of  believers)  the  participle  of 
the  causative  form,  which  has  been  corrupted  into  Mussulman.  The  exact  ■ 
sicniticance  of  Islmn  is  to  make  pciicc,  or  to  obtain  iminimiti/,  by  submission 
to  a  superior. 


A.l>.  622.  THE  MOHAMMEDAN  CONQUESTS,  631 

pictures  and  images,  the  first  great  truth,  common  to  the  religion  of 
Arabs,  Hebrews,  and  Christians,  There  is  one  God ;  and  there  was 
enough  discontent  with  existing  teaching  to  promise  a  wide  response 
to  the  addition,  Mohammed  is  His  Prophet.  It  was  not,  however, 
as  in  the  case  of  Christianity,  by  the  res2ionse  of  the  mind  and 
licart,  that  the  new  religion  was  spread,  but  by  tlio  martial 
fanaticism  of  the  wild  Arab  tribes.  "When  Mohammed  was  rejected 
and  sentenced  to  death  by  the  Koreishites  of  Mecca,  there  was  a 
band  of  disciples  at  Medina  who  welcomed  the  fugitive  as  their 
I)rince  and  prophet;  and  he  now  proclaimed  that  the  season  of 
lorbuarance  and  persuasion  was  past,  that  he  had  received  the  com- 
mand to  si)read  his  religion  by  the  sword,  to  destroy  all  monu- 
ments of  idolatry,  and  to  wage  a  holy  war  with  unbelievers  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  The  simjjle  choice  between  the  Koran  or  death 
was  offered  to  all  idolaters;  but  an  unresisting  submission  to  tribute 
might  purchase  for  Jews  and  Christians  a  limited  toleration. 

§  3.  Having  subdued  his  enemies  the  Koreish,  and  taken  the 
sacred  city  of  Mecca,  a  conquest  which  secured  the  devotion  of  all 
the  Arab  tribes,  Mohammed  sent  envoys  to  the  Emperor,  the  King 
of  Persia,  and  other  princes  of  the  East,  announcing  his  mission  as 
the  Apostle  of  God,  and  demanding  their  obedience  to  the  faith 
of  Islam.  'J'he  attack  on  the  Eoman  Empire  was  begun  by  the 
invasion  of  Palestine  ;  and  Syria  was  overrun  by  Kaled,  "  the  sword 
of  God,"  before  the  prophet's  death  at  the  age  of  sixty-three,  in  632. 
Jerusalem,  esteemed  by  IMohammed  as  a  sacred  city,  next  after 
Mecca  and  Medina,  was  taken  in  637  by  \he  Caliph^  Omar,  who 
built  on  the  site  of  the  Temple  the  mosque  which  bears  liis  name. 
The  conquest  of  Syria  was  completed  in  639  ,  two  years  more 
eflected  that  of  Egypt  (641).2 

In  the  same  year  died  the  Emperor  Heraclius,  reduced  by  i^ro- 
longed  illness  to  be  the  inactive  spectator  of  the  loss  of  the  pro- 
vinces which  he  had  recovered  from  Persia,  and  of  the  fall  of  that 
rival  Empire  (636-651).  The  conquest  of  North  Africa,  delayed 
by  the  resistance  of  tlie  barbarian  tribes,  as  well  as  by  dissensions 
among  the  successors  of  the  Prophet,  occupied  more  than  half  a 
century.  Carthage  was  taken  and  destroj-ed  and  the  last  traces  of 
the  imperial  rule  driven  out,  in  698,  and  Mauretania  was  finally  sub- 
dued by  Musa  in  709. 

Two  years  later  the  Arab  conquerors,  now  known  to  Christendom 
by  the  name  of  the  conquered  Moors,  invited  into  Spain  by  the 

'  Kali/eh,  i.e.  successor  to  the  Prophet. 

-  The  story  of  the  burning  of  the  Alexandrian  library  by  the  order  of 
Omar  to  Amrou,  who  wished  to  preserve  it,  is  far  too  doubtful  to  be 
recorded  as  a  fact. 


532  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XXI. 

treachery  of  Julian,  the  governor  of  Ceuta,  crossed  the  straits  which 
still  bear  the  name  of  their  victorious  general.^  King  Eoderick, 
"  the  last  of  the  Goths,"  was  defeated  in  a  battle  near  Xeres,  and 
perished  in  the  Guadalquivir;  and  the  conquest  of  Spain  was 
eifected  in  two  years  (711-713).  Crossing  the  Pyrenees,  they 
established  themselves  in  the  south  of  Gaul;  and  they  had  overrun 
Aquitaine  to  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  when  the  great  victory  won 
by  Charles  Martel  put  an  end  to  their  conquering  career  in  Europe 
(732),  and  they  were  driven  back  beyond  the  Pyrenees.  From 
that  chain  round  to  "the  bordering  flood  of  old  Euphrates"  all 
the  provinces  of  the  old  Roman  Empire  were  now  subject  to  the 
Moslem  rule,  which  extended  also  over  the  old  Persian  Empire  to 
the  banks  of  the  Oxus  and  the  Indus.  Meanwhile  Asia  Minor 
had  been  overrun,  and  Constantinople  twice  besieged,  first  during 
seven  years,  in  the  reign  of  Constantine  IV.  Pogonatus^  (668- 
675)  ;  and  again  for  thirteen  months  (717-718)  by  a  vast  fleet  and 
army,  in  the  reign  of  Leo  the  Isaurian.  But  the  strength  of  the 
walls,  the  power  of  the  famous  Qreek  fire,  and  the  ravages  of 
disease  among  the  besiegers,  defeated  both  attempts ;  and,  in  the 
second  siege,  a  hired  force  of  Bulgarians  inflicted  an  immense 
slaughter  on  the  Moslems. 

§  4.  These  conquests  reduced  the  Eastern  Church  to  the  narrowed 
limits  left  to  the  Empire,  besides  the  remnant  of  Christians  who  were 
tolerated  in  the  conquered  provinces.  In  Syria  and  Egypt,  in  par- 
ticular, the  oppressed  Nestorians  and  Monophj^sites,  who  had  been 
disposed  to  welcome  th?  invaders,  enjoyed  their  protection  for  a  time, 
while  the  orthodox  Greeks  were  driven  out  of  Egj^pt.  The  patri- 
archates of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem,  with  a  great  number 
of  bishoprics,  now  became  little  more  than  titular ;  but  their  bearers 
still  held  the  authority  due  to  them  in  the  Councils  of  the  Church, 
at  which  however  their  attendance  was  seldom  practicable.^ 

We  have  already  noticed,  as  a  stage  in  the  long  series  of  "Chris- 
tological "  disputes,  the  Monothelite  controversy,  which  sprang  up 
in  the  reign  of  Heraclius,  exactly  at  the  epoch  of  Mohammed's  rise, 
and  was  decided  by  the  Sixth  General  Council  of  Constantinople 
(681).*  The  smouldering  embers  of  that  dispute  were  soon  over- 
powered in  the  new  conflagration  raised  by  the  impolitic  zeal  of 
Leo  III.  THE  Isaurian,®  a  soldier  of  barbarian  race,  whose  ability 

*  Gibraltar  is  a  contraction  o{  Jcbcl-cl- Tar ik,  the  "Mount  of  Tarik," 
who  led  the  Arabs  into  Si)ain.  -  Emperor  from  6G8  to  G85. 

^  For  the  strange  fiction  by  which  they  were  represented  at  the  Second 
Council  of  Nicea,  see  below,  §  7.  ■•  Cha]).  XVI.  §§  13-15. 

*  Supported  by  the  army,  Leo  founded  a  new  dynasty  by  overthrowing 
the  usurper,  Theodosius  III.,  and  reigned  twenty- four  years  (717-741). 


A.D.  717.  LEO  III.  THE  ISAURIAN.  633 

and  energy  won  tlie  Empire  of  the  East,  Avhicli  he  was  immediately 
called  to  defend  (as  we  have  seen)  against  the  Arabs.  Whether 
moved  by  his  own  zeal,  or  by  his  ecclesiastical  counsellors,  Leo  put 
into  practice  the  religious  authority  which  had  long  been  claimed 
by  tlie  Emperors.  An  edict  for  the  forcible  baptism  of  Jews  and 
Montanists  (723)  was  followed  by  another  forbidding  the  worship  of 
images  or  pictures  ^  (724).^  The  only  change  made  at  iirst  seems  to 
have  been  to  move  the  pictures  from  low  positions  on  the  walls,  where 
they  were  touched  and  kissed  ;  a  change  which  (as  Leo  explained 
when  he  found  the  offence  he  had  given)  preserved  them  from  pro- 
fanation. The  immediate  motive  of  this  reform  may  be  traced,  in 
part  at  least,  to  the  rapid  and  easy  progress  of  the  Mohammedan 
conquest.  The  reverence  for  images  and  pictures,  which  had  now 
grown  to  a  great  height,  especially  in  the  Eastern  Church,  provoked 
the  charge  of  idolatry  from  the  Mohammedans  f  and  the  miraculous 
virtues  for  which  they  w'ere  reverenced,  rather  than  for  the  suggestive 
and  elevating  influences  of  "  religious  art,"  had  proved  as  helpless 
against  the  conquerors  as  the  idols  of  the  heathen  Saxons  which  a 
missionary  or  a  converted  priest  had  dared  to  insult  and  break  in 
pieces.*  But  Leo  soon  learned  the  mistake  of  attempting  to  i;proot 
by  force  of  law  a  superstition,  the  long  use  of  which  had  over- 
powered its  only  true  antielote,  the  feeling  of  spiritual  worship. 
To  the  remonstrance,  "What  aileth  thee?" — the  old  answer 
was  ready,  "  Ye  have  taken  away  my  gods."  ^  In  the  Greek  archi- 
pelago, where  numbers  of  the  fanatical  monks  ®  had  found  a  refuge 
from  the  Arabs,  the  excitement  broke  out  into  rebellion ;  and  a 
pretender  to  the  Empire  appeared  with  a  fleet  before  Constantin- 

*  The  proper  sense  of  the  word  Image  (elKcip,  imago)  is  any  likeness; 
but  whereas  the  English  word  is  commonly  nsed  for  a  figure  modelled, 
carved,  or  cast,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  "  images  "  of  sacred 
objects  in  the  early  Church  were  chiefly  pictures,  mosaics,  or  other  repre- 
sentations on  a  flat  surface  ;  and  in  the  Eastern  Church  they  were  solelv 
of  this  kind,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  works  of  sculpture,  and  are  so  to  the 
present  day  in  the  Greek  Church.  "  The  appearance  of  irlicf  is,  however, 
given  to  many  of  them  by  the  covers  of  silver  or  other  metal  in  which 
they  are  enshrined — the  nimbi  (or  glories)  and  the  dresses  being  wrought 
in  the  metal,  which  has  openings  for  displaying  the  faces  and  hands  of  the 
pictures."  (Robertson,  vol.  i.  p.  158.)  For  a  full  account  of  the  progress  of 
image-worship,  and  the  Iconoclast  controversy,  see  the  Diet,  of  Christian 
Antiqs.,  Art.  Images.  *  There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  date. 

*  In  the  year  715  the  Mohammedan  prince  Jesid,  son  of  Omar,  had 
ordered  the  images  to  be  removed  from  the  Christian  churches  in  his 
dominions.     (Theophanes,  Chronographia,  6215  A.M.) 

*  See  Bede's  beautiful  story  of  the  priest  Coifi  in  Xorthumbria,  and 
many  like  cases,  as  well  as  the  older  example  of  the  colossal  image  of 
Serapis  (Chap.  XI.  §  14).  =  Judges  .xviii.  23,  24. 

°  Besides  being  the  most  strenuous  advocates  of  image-worship,  the 
monks  were  the  chief  manufacturers  of  the  images  and  pictures. 


534  THE  ICONOCLAST  DISPUTES.  Chap.  XXI, 

ople.^  The  ill-equipped  force  Avas  dispersed  by  the  Greek  fire,  and 
the  leaders  were  punished;  but  the  attempt  provoked  a  severer 
edict,  ordering  the  destruction  of  all  images  that  could  be  taken 
down  from  the  churches,  and  that  the  paintings  on  the  walls  should 
be  covered  with  a  coating  of  smooth  plaster. 

§  5.  The  venerable  patriarch  Germanus,  who  had  always  hitherto 
shown  a  pliant  temper,  resisted  all  the  efforts  of  Leo  to  make  him 
take  part  in  or  sanction  these  measures,  and  was  deprived  of  his  see 
at  the  age  of  ninety-five  (730).  His  successor  Anastasius  had  a 
narrow  escape  from  the  popular  fury  at  the  taking  down  of  an  image 
of  the  Saviour,  called  the  Surety,^  from  over  the  Brazen  Gate  of  the 
imperial  palace ;  and  for  this  riot  many,  especially  of  the  monks, 
were  scourged,  mutilated,  or  banished.  Such  was  the  beginning  of 
the  great  Iconoclast^  agitation,  which  disturbed  the  Church  for 
above  a  century,  in  both  divisions  of  the  Empire,  and  proved  one  of 
the  chief  causes  of  the  final  severance  between  the  East  and  West. 

The  ablest  Eastern  defender  of  image-worship  was  John  of 
Damascus,  a  civil  officer  in  the  service  of  the  CaliiDh.*  He  wrote 
three  Orations,  in  which  all  the  arguments  that  can  be  urged  on 
that  side  may  be  found.  The  prohibition  to  the  Jews  was  a  special 
safeguard  against  their  falling  into  the  idolatry  around  them ;  and 
to  them  God  was  revealed  only  as  the  invisible  Spirit.  But  the 
incarnation  had  shown  God  visible  in  the  flesh  ;  and  the  images  and 
pictures  were  a  fit  means  of  presenting  the  incarnate  Deity  to  the 
eyes  of  those  of  later  times,  in  the  likeness  which  liis  first  disciples 
saw.  Images  are  for  the  unlearned  what  books  are  for  those  who 
can  read  ;  they  are  to  the  sight  what  speech  is  to  the  ears.  True, 
images  are  material,  like  other  sacred  objects  ;  but,  says  John,  "  I 
do  not  adore  the  matter,  but  the  Author  of  matter,  who  for  my  sake 
became  material,  that  by  matter  he  might  work  out  my  salvation." 
There  is  a  worship  reserved  for  God  alone,  different  from  that  which 

*  Tklr.  Finlay  (vol.  ii.  p.  43)  thinks  that  this  insurrection  was  provoked 
by  heavy  taxation,  and  that  the  question  of  images  was  added  to  the 
grievance.     Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  90. 

-  'AvTicpufrtT-f)!.  "This  name  was  derived  from  a  tale  of  its  having 
miraculously  become  security  for  a  pious  sailor  who  had  occasion  to 
borrow  money  (Hefele,  vol.  iii.  p.  348)."     Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  90. 

*  The  opponents  of  the  images  were  properly  called  Icononomachi 
((iKOfoiJ.dxoi),  but  they  were  invidiously  styled  Iconoclasts  (flKovoKXatrrai, 
from  elKwv,  iinaijc,  and  kAooi,  break  in  pieces). 

*  John  retired  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Sabbas,  near  Jerusalem,  and  was 
afterwards  ordained  a  presbyter.  He  was  the  most  famous  theologian  of 
his  tmie ;  and  his  '  Correct  Exposition  of  the  Orthodox  Faith  '  was  long 
the  standard  manual  of  systematic  theology  in  the  Eastern  Church.  By 
its  translation  into  Latin  in  the  twelfth  century,  this  work  became  a  chief 
source  of  the  scholastic  theology. 


A.D.  741.  CONSTANTINE  V.  COPRONYMUS.  535 

is  given  for  His  sake  to  His  angels  and  saints,  and  to  consecrated 
things.  He  puts  the  images  of  the  saints  on  the  same  ground  as 
the  festivals  held  in  their  honour  and  the  dedication  of  churches  to 
them,  all  being  alike  memoriah,  by  which  we  pay  due  honour  to 
their  memory,  and  recal  their  example  to  ours.  John  quotes  the 
Scriptures  and  the  Fathers  with  the  licence  common  to  controver- 
sialists in  that  age.  Finally,  he  denies  the  right  of  the  Emperor  to 
legislate  at  all  on  such  a  subject,  broadly  announcing  the  principle 
that  "  the  well-being  of  the  State  pertains  to  princes,  but  the 
ordering  of  the  Church  to  pastors  and  teachers."  ^ 

The  like  arguments  were  urged  by  Pope  Gregory  II.  in  a  letter 
to  Leo,  full  of  reproach  and  even  defiance.  The  edicts  produced 
violent  disturbances  in  Italy,  which  cost  the  life  of  an  Exarch, 
brought  the  Lombards  to  the  gates  of  Rome,  and  nearly  severed  the 
now  feeble  union  with  the  Empire.^  Gregory  III.  (731),  a  Syrian 
by  birth,  took  a  still  more  decided  course,  and  held  a  council  which 
anathematized  the  iconoclasts,  though  without  naming  the  Emperor. 
Leo  confiscated  the  papal  revenues  in  the  parts  within  his  power, 
especially  Calabria  and  Sicily,  and  transferred  Greece  and  lUyricum 
to  the  patriarchate  of  Constantinople  (733).  Thus  the  ecclesias- 
tical boundary  between  the  East  and  West  was  again  made  to 
coincide  with  the  old  civil  division  of  the  two  empires,  just  before 
their  final  severance. 

§  G.  AVe  have  seen  how  that  severance  was  virtually  made  by 
Pope  Zacharias,  who  succeeded  Gregory  HI.  in  the  same  year  in 
which  Leo  III.  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Constantine  V.  Copkon- 
YMUS  (741-775).  The  character  of  this  prince  has  been  blackened 
by  the  animosity  of  ecclesiastical  writers,  and  is  stained  with  cruelty ; 
but  his  ability  and  energy  are  beyond  dispute.  His  brother-in-law, 
Artavasdus,  in  iear  for  his  own  safety,  claimed  the  purple,  and, 
liaving  been  crowned  by  the  patriarch  Anastasius,  began  the 
restoration  of  the  images.  The  pretonder  was  put  down  after  three 
years,  and  Anastasius  was  blinded  and  exposed  to  public  ignominy ; 
but  lie  was  restored  to  the  patriarchate,  in  order,  as  it  seems,  to 
mark  the  Emperor's  contempt  for  the  clergy. 

Throughout  the  controversy,  the  supporters  of  images  had  pro- 
tested against  the  Emperor's  proceeding  witlnuit  a  General  Council, 
which  Leo  had  also  declared  his  intention  of  convening.  Constan- 
tine now  summoned  a  council  to  meet  at  Constantinople,  which  was 
attended  by  no  less  than  338  bishops  from  the  Emperor's  dominions, 

»   Robertson,  vol.  i.  pp.  92.  93. 

-  There  is,  however,  no  sufficient  authority  for  the  alleged  excommuni- 
cation of  the  Emperor  by  Gregory,  which  extreme  Romanists  cite  as  a 
precedent  for  later  papal  pretensions.     (See  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  96.) 


536  THE  ICONOCLAST  DISPUTES.  Chap.  XXI. 

but  all  the  patriarchs  were  absent,  and  the  AVcst  was  unrepresented 
(754).^  It  utterly  condemned  all  images  and  pictures,  made  for 
religious  purposes,  as  idolatious  ;  and  ordered  their  removal,  and  the 
deposition  and  excommunication  of  those  who  should  worship  or 
even  keep  them ;  but  it  declared  the  lawfulness  of  invoking  the 
Virgin  and  the  Saints.  All  sup^wrters  of  image-worship  were 
anathematized,  including,  by  name,  Germanus,  John  of  Damascus, 
and  other  leaders  in  the  late  disputes.  The  Emperor  required  all 
the  clergy  and  the  best  known  monks  to  subscribe  the  decrees, 
and  all  his  subjects  to  take  an  oath  against  images.  In  re- 
moving the  images  from  the  churches  he  tried  to  gratify  the 
popular  taste  for  decoration  by  substituting  for  the  wall-j)aintings 
pictures  of  birds  and  fruits,  and  even  scenes  from  the  chase,  the 
circus,  and  the  theatre,  an  expedient  which  was  natui'ally  resented  as 
a  profanation.  Many  relics  of  saints  also  were  defiled  and  thrown 
away.  The  monks  who  showed  a  resolute  spirit  of  opposition 
were  forced  to  break  their  vows,  and  were  subjected  to  indignities 
and  cruelties  which  it  would  be  tedious  to  relate,  and  even  to  death, 
which  they  often  provoked  by  their  acts  of  defiant  outrage.  The 
new  patriarch,  Constantine,  besides  being  required  publicly  to 
forswear  images,  was  comjoelled  (if  we  may  believe  the  ecclesiastical 
writers)  to  violate  his  vows  by  taking  part  in  the  intemperate  and 
indecent  banquets  and  music  of  the  palace.  After  all  these  com- 
pliances, he  was  banished  to  an  island  on  a  charge  of  treason  ;  and  the 
Emperor,  who  had  contemptuously  restored  the  blind  Anastasius, 
now  ventured  on  the  insult  of  raising  a  Slavonian  eunuch,  Kicetas, 
to  the  patriarchal  throne.  Within  two  years  Constantine  was 
brought  to  the  capital  to  be  publicly  excommunicated,  with  a  succes- 
sion of  insults  and  tortures  ;  and  at  last,  when,  hoping  to  appease  his 
persecutor,  he  consented  to  declare  his  approval  of  the  decisions  of 
the  Council  and  the  Emperor's  orthodoxy,  he  was  immediately 
beheaded  in  prison,  and  buried  in  the  ])lace  assigned  to  criminals 
and  excommunicated  persons  (767).  The  iconoclast  ix;rsecution 
was  kept  up  till  the  emperor's  death  (775). 

§  7.  Leo  IV.  (775-780),  the  mild  and  feeble  son  of  Constantine, 
was  mated  with  a  wife  who  fills  the  chief  place  in  the  remaining 
history  of  this  age.  Irene,  an  Athenian,  was  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  images,  though  she  was  obliged  to  act  with  caution  during  her 
husband's  reign.  The  banished  monks  were  allowed  to  return,  and 
were  welcomed  by  the  people  as  confessors ;  and  several  supporters 

'  Anastasius  had  iiist  died  ;  and  Pojio  Stephen  refusot  to  obey  the 
citation.  The  Council  called  itself  the  Seventh  (JCciimenicul,  but  this  title 
was  set  aside  in  favour  of  the  Second  >iiccne  Countil,  which  reversed  its 
decrees. 


A.D.  787.  THE  SECOND  COUNCIL  OF  NIC^A.  537 

of  image-worship  were  raised  to  bishoprics,  though  obliged  to 
dissemble  their  opinious.  Within  five  years,  however,  the  death  of 
Leo  left  Irene  sole  guardian  of  their  son,  Coxstantine  VI.  (780- 
797),  a  boy  of  ten  years  old.  She  issued  an  edict  for  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  numbers  more  of  the  monks  returned  to  inflame  the 
popular  zeal.  But  a  large  party  of  the  laity  were  iconoclasts,  and 
the  decisions  of  a  general  council  and  the  imperial  edicts  could 
not  be  at  once  reversed,  especially  as  the  army  was  faithful  to  the 
memory  of  Constantine  V. 

In  784,  the  patriarch  Paul  retired  to  a  monastery,  declaring  to  the 
Empress  that  he  was  moved  by  rei)entauce  for  having  accepted  the 
see  on  condition  of  supporting  the  iconoclast  decrees,  and  that  the 
only  way  to  restore  the  Church  to  the  unity  of  Christendom  was 
their  reversal  by  a  General  Council.  He  died  soon  after  ;  and  the 
acclamations  of  the  people,  perhaps  prompted  by  the  court,  called 
for  the  election  of  Tarasius,  the  imperial  secretar}',  a  consular  of 
noble  birth  and  high  character,  who,  with  seeming  reluctance, 
accepted  the  office  on  the  condition  that  a  general  council  should  be 
summoned.  Pope  Adrian  I.  recognized  the  election  of  Tarasius,  and 
consented  to  send  legates  to  the  Council,  which  was  convened  at 
Constantinople  in  August  78G.  But  its  opening  was  interrupted 
by  a  mutiny  of  the  iconoclast  soldiery,  and  the  Emi)ress  jirudently 
adjourned  the  meeting,  only  to  invest  it  with  greater  dignity,  as  well 
as  safety,  by  re-assembling  it  at  the  city  where  Constantine  had  held 
the  First  Council. 

The  Seventh  (Ecumenical  Council,^  the  Second  of  Niccea,  met  on 
September  24th,  787,  and  held  its  eighth  and  last  session  at 
Constantinople  on  October  23rd.  It  was  attended  by  about  350 
bishops  and  some  civil  dignitaries,  under  the  presidency  of  Tarasius, 
who,  however,  gave  the  first  seats  of  dignity  to  the  Koman 
envoys.  The  three  Eastern  patriarchs  had  a  fictitious  representa- 
tion by  two  monks.^  The  purpose  of  the  Council  was  a  fore- 
gone conclusion,  and  it  proceeded  at  once  to  receive  the  penitent 
iconoclast  bishops  to  communion,  not  without  protests  from  the 
monks,  who  declared  that  opposition  to  image-worship  was  worse 
than  the  worst  heresies,  because  it  denied  the  incarnation  of  the 
Lord.    The  Coimcil  proceeded,  according  to  precedent,  to  the  reading 

'  According  to  the  reckoning  accepted  by  the  Greek  and  Roman 
Churches,  though  not  without  dispute. 

-  The  Knipire  being"  at  i)eace  with  the  Saracens,  invitations  had  been 
sent  to  the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem  ;  but  the 
envoys  were  intercepted  by  some  monks,  who  pleaded  so  urgently  the 
danger  of  giving  oti'ence  to  the  Mohammeilan  rulers,  that  they  prevailed 
on  the  imperial  officers  to  accept  two  of  their  own  number  as  representa- 
tives, in  the  assumed  character  of  secretaries  to  the  patriarchs. 


638  THE  ICONOCLAST  DISPUTES.  Chap.  XXI. 

of  authorities  from  the  Fathers  for  the  worship  of  images,  which  at 
most  testified  only  to  the  impression  made  upon  the  writers  by- 
portraits  of  saints  or  scenes  from  sacred  history ;  but  the  want  of 
ar2;umentwas  supplied  by  the  enthusiastic  comments  of  the  hearers.^ 
A  famous  story  of  a  venerable  monk  of  Olivet  was  cited,  as  it  had 
been  already  by  John  of  Damascus,  to  prove  how  far  reverence  for 
images  exceeded  the  duties  of  chastity  and  regard  for  oaths,  and 
hence  that  the  oaths  taken  against  image-worship  were  not  binding. 
On  the  proposal  of  the  papal  legates,  an  image  was  brought  in  and 
received  the  adoration  of  the  Council.  The  decrees  of  the  iconoclast 
synod  of  754  were  read,  with  a  refutation  which  was  declared  to 
have  been  dictated  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  final  decree  of  the  Council  was,  that  images  and  pictures 
of  the  Saviour  and  the  Virgin,  of  angels  and  saints,  were  to  be 
set  up  for  kissing  and  reverence  (npocrKvurjaiv),  but  not  for  that 
real  worship  (Xarpeiaj/)  Avhich  belongs  to  God  alone.^  They  were 
to  be  honoured,  like  the  cross,  the  Gospels,  and  other  holy  me- 
morials, with  incense  and  lights ;  "  forasmuch  as  the  honour  paid 
to  the  image  passes  on  to  the  original,  and  he  who  adores  an 
image  adores  in  it  the  person  of  him  whom  it  represents."  Ana- 
themas were  pronounced  against  the  opponents  of  images  and 
all  other  heretics;  and  when  the  young  Emperor  and  the  Em- 
press-mother signed  the  decrees,  they  were  hailed  with  acclama- 
tions as  another  Constantine  and  Helena.  It  is  worthy  of  notice 
that  the  sanction  of  this  Council  to  images  of  Christ  and  the 
Virgin,  angels  and  saints,  did  not  extend  to  ideal  representations 
of  the  Godhead,  either  as  the'Trinity,  or  in  the  separate  ^lersons  of 
the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  whole  defence  of  images 
of  Christ  was  rested  on  His  incarnation. 

Solemnly  as  the  question  seemed  to  be  now  settled,  there  was  a 
large  party  of  the  clergy,  and  a  larger  among  the  laity,  opposed  to 
the  worship  of  images;  and  the  strongest  element  of  the  opposition 
lay  in  the  army,  which  cherished  the  memory  of  the  warlike  icono- 
clast emperors,  Leo  the  Isamian  and  Constantine  V.  We  shall 
soon  see  how  by  the  rise  of  another  such  emperor,  avIio  renewed 

'  See,  for  example,  the  use  maile  of  the  Avceping;  of  Gregory  of  Nyssa  at 
the  sight  of  a  jiicture  of  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac.      (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  1.56.) 

*  The  mere  verbal  pretence  of  this  distinction,  so  often  repeated  as  if  it 
had  a  meaning,  is  betrayed  by  the  Council's  own  perversion  of  the  passage 
from  which  it  is  taken,  ^vhe^e  the  devil  asks  Christ  to  fall  doicn  mui 
worship  hiin  (npoaKwrta-ris),  and  our  Lcird  replies,  "It  is  written.  Thou 
shalt  worship  (irpoffKvvijffds)  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou 
serve  (Karpfvffets)  " — converting  a  Hebrew  parallelism  of  emphatic  re- 
duplication into  a  distinction.  (Matt.  iv.  10;  Luke  iv.  8;  comp.  Dcut.  vi. 
13,  X.  20.) 


A.D.  767.  OPPOSITION  OF  THE  FRANK  CHURCH.  539 

their  attempt  at  reform,  the  controversy  on  images  was  prolonged 
through  the  ninth  century.' 

§  8.  The  decision  of  the  Council  effected  for  the  time  a  reconci- 
liation between  the  Churches  of  Home  and  Constantinople,  though 
other  ix)ints  of  difference  remained  open.'*  But  the  churches  beyond 
the  Alps,  which  were  labouring  to  uproot  the  idols  of  their 
German  neighbours,  were  far  less  favourable  to  image-worship. 
Sacred  pictures  had  long  been  all(jwcd  in  their  churclics,^  but  under 
the  restrictions  which  were  defined  by  a  Council  of  the  Franks,  held 
by  Pepin  at  Gentilly,  at  which  legates  were  present  both  from 
Kome  and  Constantinople,  that  "images  of  saints  wrought^  or 
painted  for  the  ornament  and  heaiity  of  churches  might  be  endured, 
so  that  they  were  not  had  for  worship,  veneration,  and  adoration, 
which  idolaters  practise  "  (767). 

When  Pope  Adrian  sent  the  decrees  of  the  Kicene  Council  to 
Charles  the  Great,  a  protest  was  issued  in  the  king's  name,  in  the 
famous  '  Caroline  Books,' ^  the  authorship  of  which,  or  at  least  of 
the  treatise  which  formed  their  basis,  has  been  ascribed  to  Alcuin, 
as  the  voice  of  the  English  as  well  as  of  the  Frank  Church  (790)." 
This  masterly  treatise  refutes  the  arguments  urged  at  the  Council, 
exposes  the  perversions  of  {Scripture  and  of  the  language  of  the 
Fathers,  and  the  use  of  fabulous,  miraculous,  and  immoral  stories 
(condemning  especially  that  of  the  monk  of  Olivet),  and  draws  a 
clear  distinction  between  the  use  of  images  for  memorials  and  their 
abuse  for  worship.  Even  that  right  use  is  not  admitted  to  be 
necessary  in  order  to  remember  God  and  His  saints;  "for  those 
.  persons  must  have  faulty  memories  who  need  to  be  reminded  by  an 

1  It  belongs  to  civil  history  to  relate  the  dynastic  revolutions,  which 
had  a  varying  influence  on  the  practice  of  image-worshij),  till  the  next 
great  iconoclast  attempt  of  Leo  the  Armenian. 

-  Adrian  I.  had  protested  against  the  title  of  "  (J-xumenical  Patriarch," 
assumed  hy  Tarasius,  and  he  had  demamled  the  restoration  of  all  that  the 
iconoclast  emperors  had  taken  from  St.  Peter. 

^  We  have  noticed  their  introduction  into  Britain  by  Benedict  Biscop, 
but  this  seems  to  have  been  direct  from  Kome. 

*  Fictiis,  i.e.  not  modelled,  but  wrought  in  mosaic. 

*  Libri  Carolini,  or  Capitnlarc  I'rolixuin.  a  treatise  in  four  books,  against 
the  abuses  sanctioned  by  the  Second  Nicene  Council  and  the  Pope. 

*  The  English  chroniclers,  who  jdace  the  affair  in  792,  relate  that 
Charles,  king  of  the  Franks,  sent  into  Britain  a  synodal  book,  which  had 
been  forwarded  to  him  from  Constantino]ile,  in  which  were  fouml  nianv 
things  contrary  to  the  faith,  and  chiefly  "  that  we  ought  to  adore  images, 
which  the  Church  of  God  altogether  execrates.  Against  which  Albinus 
(Alcuin)  wrote  an  epistle  admirably  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  the 
Divine  Scriptures,  and  presented  it,  with  the  said  book,  in  the  name  of  our 
bishops  and  princes,  to  the  king  "(Roger  Hoveden  ;  Simeon  of  Durham  ; 
Matthew  Paris,  Hist,  ^faj.).  Alcuin  was  at  thii  time  in  England,  and  returned 
to  Charles's  court  in  79.3. 


540  THE  ICONOCLAST  DISPUTES.  Chap.  XXI. 

image — who  arc  unable  to  raise  their  minds  above  the  material 
creation  except  by  the  help  of  a  material  and  created  object.'''  The 
plausible  argument,  that  images  present  to  the  eyes  of  the  unlearned 
the  lessons  which  the  learned  receive  through  letters,  is  clearly 
negatived  and  turned  into  a  decisive  objection :  for,  first,  the 
lessons  are  not  taught  by  the  images  themselves,  which  cannot 
represent  the  merits  of  the  saints,  for  those  merits  are  not  external ; 
and,  next,  the  imlearned  are  the  very  class  who,  unskilled  in  subtle  . 
distinctions,  Avill  surely  be  drawn  to  pay  divine  worship  to  these 
visible  objects.  The  arrogant  language  of  the  Byzantine  court  is 
condemned ;  and  the  synod  is  reproached  for  being  guided  by  a 
woman  (Irene),  whom  St.  Paul  does  not  suffer  to  speak  in  the 
church.  It  is  pronounced  madness  for  one  part  of  the  Church  to 
anathematize  other  parts  on  a  subject  on  which  no  law  has  been 
laid  down  by  the  Apostles  ;  above  all,  when  the  opinions  condemned 
are  those  of  the  Fathers  and  earlier  Councils.  The  authority  of 
Gregory  the  Great  ^  is  that  on  which  the  king  finally  takes  his  stand, 
as  agreeing  with  the  rule  of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  and  his  practical 
conclusion  is  that  "  images  are  to  be  allowed ;  the  worship  of  them 
is  not  to  be  enforced  ;  it  is  forbidden  to  break  or  destroy  them."* 

These  views  were  confirmed  by  the  Council  of  Frankfort,  at 
which,  besides  the  bishops  of  the  Frank  kingdom,  there  were  others 
from  Germany,  from  England,  and  from  Lombardy,  and  two  legates 
from  Home  (794).  Charles  himself  presided,  aided  by  the  learning 
of  Alcuin.  This  great  council  of  the  Teutonic  and  Gallic  Church 
practically  announced,  by  its  decision,  that  it  rejected  any  authority 
of  Kome  to  lay  down  rules  of  faitli  and  worship ;  it  contemptuously 
condemned  "the  late  synod  of  the  Greeks;"  and,  with  reference  to 
their  refined  distinction,  it  refused  "  both  adoration  and  service  of 
all  kinds"  to  images.  Thus  the  whole  Transalpine  Church  was 
placed  at  open  variance  with  that  of  the  East;  and  the  jjowerfiil  king 
of  the  West  was  the  more  prepared  to  assume  the  imperial  crown ; 
while  Rome,  in  spite  of  the  agreement  with  the  East  on  <he  image 
question,  Avas  still  more  alienated  bj^  the  withholding  of  her  rights 
and  revenues  in  Calabria  and  lUjTicum,  and  drawn  nearer  to  the 
kings  of  the  Franks  by  the  tics  of  interest  and  at  last  of  necessity. 
The  momentous  result  has  already  been  recorded. 

>  Lib.  Carol.,  vol.  ii.  p.  22  ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  163-4. 

*  We  have  already  noticed  tlie  two  very  interesting  letters,  in  which 
Gregory  blames  Serenus,  bishop  of  Massilia,  for  going  so  far  as  to  break 
some  images  which  wore  objects  of  worship,  while  he  ))raises  his  zeal 
against  the  appearance  of  idolatry.  He  pronounces  for  the  retention  of 
images  in  churclies  as 'means  of  instructing  the  unlearned,  but  care  should 
be  taken  to  guard  against  their  adoration  (Sec  Chap.  XVHI.  pp.  450-1^. 

^  Lib.  Ca)-o/.,-iv.Jin.',   Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  164. 


A.D.  813  f.        LEO  V.  AND  THEODORE  THE  STUDITE.  641 

§  9.  It  remains  to  relate  the  sequel  of  the  controversy,  and  other 
events  with  which  it  is  mixed  up  in  the  history  of  the  Eastern 
Church.  Just  a  century  alter  Leo  the  Isaurian,  another  new 
dynasty  was  founded  by  another  able  soldier,  Lko  V.  the  Armenian 
(813-820),  who  had  been  brought  up  iu  a  church  tliat  rejected  tlie 
worship  of  images.  'Jhe  orthodox  writers  have  branded  his  religious 
fickleness  with  the  nickname  of  Cliameleon,  perhajis  for  no  better 
reason  than  his  refusal  to  subscribe  to  the  confession  of  faith  pro- 
posed to  him  by  the  Patriarch  Kice])horus,  as  was  usual  at  an 
emperor's  coronation.  The  element  of  superstition  in  his  cliaracter 
had  been  fostered  by  a  prophecy  of  his  accession  to  the  jmrple :  from 
the  disasters  of  the  Empire,  and  the  fate  of  all  the  princes  who  had 
supported  image  worship,  he  inferred  a  manifest  divine  judgment; 
and  one  of  tlie  few  iconoclast  monks  i)romis(-d  him  the  like  fate, 
or  a  long  and  glorious  reign,  according  as  he  should  allow  or  destroy 
the  images. 

But  it  was  in  no  fanatic  spirit  that  Leo  prepared  to  take  his 
course.  He  asked  some  of  the  most  learned  churchmen  who  were 
opposed  to  image-worshii) — in  particular,  Anthony,  bishoj)  of 
Sylajum,  in  ram})hylia,  and  John  the  Grammarian — to  abridge  the 
acts  of  Constantiue  V.'s  iconoclastic  synod  for  his  information, 
and  to  collect  authorities  from  the  Fathers  against  the  worship  of 
images.  He  then  proposed  to  Nicephorus  the  same  moderate  course 
which  had  been  taken  at  first  by  Leo  the  Lsaurian,  namely  to  re- 
move those  pictures  wliich  were  placed  so  low  as  to  be  within  the 
reach  of  touching  and  kissing.  When  the  Patriarch  declared 
against  all  interference,  however  moderate,  the  Emperor  asked  him 
to  produce  any  scriiitural  authority  for  image-worship.  Nicephorus 
replied  that  the  practice  rested  on  apostolical  tradition ;  and  he 
refused  to  discuss  it  with  Antony  and  John,  because  all  communi- 
cation with  heretics  was  unlawful. 

The  Emperor,  hearing  that  Niceiihorus  and  his  supjwrters  held 
nightly  meetings  in  the  cathedral,  where  they  took  oaths  to  ]ier- 
severe  in  resistance,  sent  for  the  Patriarch  in  the  dead  of  night,  and, 
after  some  discussion,  Nice])horus  obtained  leave  to  introduce  his 
companions.  The  cliief  part  in  the  ensuing  conference  was  bonie  by 
the  Abbot  Theodore,  surnamed  the  iSTuniTE,'  who  not  only  argued 
vehemently  for  images,  but  denied  that  the  Emj)eror  had  any 
authority  in  matters  of  religion.  The  violence  of  Theodore's  sjieech 
and   writings,**  at  and   after   the   conference,   made  the  Emperor's 

'  This  e])ithet  was  derived  from  his  monastery  at  Constantinople,  which 
was  founded  by  a  noble  Roman  named  Studius,  and  which  Theodore  had 
increased  from  about  12  monks  to  nearly  1000. 

-  These  writings  were  both  in  prose  and  verse.     The  chief  of  them  were 
three  tracts,  entitled  *  Antirrhetics.' 
25 


542  THE  ICONOCLAST  DISPUTES.  Chap.  XXI. 

moderate  policj^  more  difficult,  and  exasperated  the  soldiers,  who 
made  a  riotous  assault  on  the  "  Surety  "  over  the  brazen  gate.*  Leo 
took  down  the  image  on  the  plea  of  protecting  it  from  profanation, 
and  ordered  a  general  removal  of  all  images  where  it  could  be  safely 
done (814), 

Nicephorus  was  deposed  from  the  patriarchate  ;  and  his  successor, 
Theo<lotus  Cassiteras,  presided  over  a  council  which  confirmed  the 
acts  of  the  iconoclast  synod  of  754,  and  annulled  those  of  the  Second 
Council  of  Nicaja.  The  summonses  addressed  to  the  other  party 
were  refused  in  ,a  violent  letter  by  Theodore ;  and  his  defiance 
of  an  edict  against  the  public  exhibition  of  images,  on  the  next 
Palm  Sunday,  at  length  brought  on  him  the  persecution  to  which  the 
Emperor  had  declared  that  he  would  not  be  provoked.  Theodore 
was  sent  to  one  place  of  banishment  after  another ;  he  was  often 
scourgetl  so  severely  as  to  endanger  his  life,  imprisoned  for  three 
years  in  a  subterranean  dungeon,  and  continually  threatened  with 
death.  The  more  he  suffered  the  more  did  he  persevere  in 
writing  renewed  denunciations  of  the  Emperor,  and,  among  the 
rest,  he  sent  letters  to  the  Pope  and  the  three  Eastern  Patriarchs. 
Pope  Paschal  I.  (817-824)  took  part  strongly  with  the  votaries  of 
images  ;  and  the  clergy  of  that  party  went  from  the  East  to  Italy 
for  ordination,  while  the  laity  refused  the  ministrations  of  the  icono- 
clast priests.  'J'his  indomitable  resistance  provoked  Leo  to  an  utter 
extermination  of  the  images  and  a  furious  persecution  of  their 
worshippers,  which  cost  his  own  life  by  the  conspiracy  of  his 
former  comrade,  Michael  II,,  surnamed  Balbus,  i.e.  the  stammerer 
(820-829).'' 

§  10.  Michael  was  a  rude  Phrygian  soldier,  utterly  ignorant  of 
letters,  and  accused  of  holding  strange  heretical  opinions.  He  at 
once  put  an  end  to  the  persecution,  and  recalled  Theodore  and  the 
other  exiles.  But  they  were  comj'letely  disappointed  of  the  hope  of 
regaining  ascendency,  when  the  appointment  of  Antony  of  Sylanmi 
to  the  patriarchate  of  Constantinople  was  followed  by  an  edict 
forbidding  all  changes  in  religion  and  all  discussion  of  the 
question,  though  both  parties  were  allowed  to  follow  their  own 
jtractice.  The  obstinacy  of  Theodore  at  length  provoked  the  Em- 
peror to  banish  him  again,  and  he  died  in  exile  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
nine  (820). 

In  824  Michael  Balbus  sent  an  embassy  to  Louis  the  Pious,  the 
.son  of  Charles  the  Great,  to  vindicate  his  foith,  and  to  request 
the  Western  Emperor's  aid  in  resisting  the  countenance  which  the 
image-worshippers  received  at  Rome.     The  letter  to  I-ouis  contains 

'  See  .ibovc,  §  5.     The  image  had  been  restored  by  Irene. 
*  For  the  ri'iiwiiitic  details,  see  the  Student's  Gihhun,  p.  411. 


A.D.  842.  THE  FEAST  OF  ORTHODOX V.  543 

some  remarkable  details  of  the  extremes  of  superstition  to  which 
some  of  the  image-worshippei-s  Ciirried  their  practices.  The  result 
of  this  letter  will  be  described  presently. 

§  11.  The  Emi^eror  Theopiiii.us,  who  succeeded  his  father 
Michael  iu  829,  had  been  trained  in  literature  and  theology  by  John 
the  Grammarian,  who  had  imbued  him  with  an  abhorrence  of 
images  and  their  worship,  John,  being  appointed  by  the  Kmperor 
to  succeed  Antony  as  patriarcli  (832),  held  a  synod  which  con- 
demned the  decrees  of  the  Second  Niccne  Council ;  and  Theophilus 
ordered  all  images  to  be  removed  from  tlie  churches  and  destroyed, 
and  forbad  tlic  painting  of  them.  Many  of  their  worshippers  wore 
banished  or  imprisoned;  and  the  more  ol)stinate  oiiponents  of  the 
I'hnpcror  were  cruelly  beaten.  But  their  cause  had  a  secret  friend 
iu  the  Empress  Tiieodoua,  who,  on  her  husband's  <leath  (842), 
governetl  in  the  name  of  her  infant  son,  IMichael  111.,  who  was 
only  five  years  old.  Theophilus  is  said  to  have  bound  her  by  an 
oath  to  make  no  changes  in  religion  ;  and  she  pleaded  the  engage- 
ment as  a  restraint  from  Ibllowiug  her  own  convictions.  But 
it  did  not  prevent  her  deposing  tlie  patriarch  John;  and  his 
successor  Methodius  convened  a  synod,  which  ])rononnced  in 
favour  of  iu)agcs.  In  her  anxiety  for  her  husband's  soul,  Theodora 
declared  (and  she  is  even  said  to  have  sworn)  that  Theophilus 
had  repented  on  his  death-bed,  and  had  devoutly  kissed  some 
images.  Being  uiwn  this  assureil  of  his  salvation  by  the  Patriarch, 
she  felt  herself  released  from  her  oath,  and  the  worship  of  images 
was  solemnly  restored  in  the  capital  on  the  First  Sunday  in  Lent 
(842),  which  is  still  celebrated  in  the  Grtek  Cliurch  as  the  Feast  of 
Orfhodoxy,  or  the  Sunday  of  Orthodoxy  (ly  KvpiaKi)  rf/j  6p6o8o^ias). 
This  was  virtually  the  final  triumph  of  images  in  the  East ;  though 
the  question  was  raised  again  in  the  course  of  a  coullict,  witli 
which,  however,  it  had  but  a  slight  connection.  It  is  convenient 
to  give  a  brief  account  of  these  events,  before  completing  the  history 
of  the  question  in  the  West. 

§  12.  'iMic  influence  of  Theodora  over  licr  son  was  gradually  lui- 
dermined  by  the  arts  of  her  brother  Bartlas,  who  pursued  the  jujlicv, 
not  unfrequent  at  the  Byzantine  court,  of  corrupting  his  nephew's 
chiiracter  in  order  to  make  him  the  tool  of  his  own  ambition. 
Wiien  Michael  claimed  tlie  government  on  reaching  tlie  age  of 
eighteen  (855),  Theodora  quietly  retired  ;  and  the  young  Emperor 
surpassed  the  vices  of  a  Nero  or  an  Elagabalus  by  adding  to  them 
the  outrageous  jirofanation  of  Christianity.  He  appointed  a  mock 
patriarch,  Theophilus,  called  Gryllus  (tlie  ".sucking-pig"),  with 
twelve  metropolitans,  of  whom  the  Emperor  himself  was  one.  They 
profaned  the  mysteries  of  religion,  and  with  ribald  songs  and  music 


544  THE  ICONOCLAST  DISPUTES.  Chap.  XXI. 

parodied  the  sacred  processions  in  the  public  streets ;  and  when  they 
met  the  venerable  patriarch  Ignatius  leading  a  procession,  they 
insulted  him  and  beat  his  clergy.  But  Ignatius  was  the  object  of 
more  serious  enmities.^  He  had  a  dispute  with  Gregory,  bishop  of 
Syracuse,  a  son  of  Leo  the  Armouian,  which  divided  Constantinople 
into  two  parties ;  and  Ignatius  incuiTcd  the  enmity  of  Bardas  by 
refusing  him  the  Eucharist  because  he  was  living  in  incest  (857). 
To  confirm  his  own  influence  over  the  Emperor,  Bardas  persuaded 
Michael  to  compel  his  mother,  Theodora,  and  her  daughters  to 
become  nuns ;  and,  on  the  refusal  of  Ignatius  to  officiate  at  their 
consecration,  he  was  banished  to  an  island  on  a  charge  of  treason. 
To  appease  the  discontent  of  the  people,  Bardas  chose  a  successor  of 
the  highest  dignity  and  learning,  though  a  layman. 

Photius,  the  grand-nephew  of  the  patriarch  Tarasius,  now  secre- 
tary of  state  and  captain  of  the  imperial  guards,  has  acquired  lasting 
fame  in  literature  by  the  work  which,  by  giving  a  summary  of  280 
books  that  he  had  read,^  preserves  the  condensed  substance  of  many 
a  lost  treasure  of  secular  and  ecclesiastical  learning.  The  character 
of  Photius  has  been  drawn  by  his  adversaries  only,  and  in  the 
blackest  colours.  His  letters  betray  the  violence  of  his  temper,  and 
his  conduct  certainly  displays  no  high  principle.  He  was  probably 
neither  better  nor  worse  than  most  of  the  statesmen  and  ecclesiastics 
of  his  age.  Like  his  predecessor,  he  was  a  decided  supporter  of 
image-worship,  in  which  cause  his  parents  had  been  confessors.  He 
Avas  ordained  by  Gregory  of  Syracuse  through  all  the  degrees  of  the 
ministry  on  six  successive  days,  and  was  enthroned  as  patriarch  on 
Christmas-day,  857.  He  repeatedly  <leclares  that  the  dignity  was 
thrust  on  him  against  his  will,  and  he  was  certainly  no  party  to  the 
cruel  treatment  inflicted  on  Ignatius,  in  the  vain  attempt  to  extort 
his  resignation.  The  rival  parties  held  synods,  by  which  each 
patriarch  was  excommunicated. 

§  13.  Photius  announced  his  consecration  to  the  new  Pope, 
Nicolas  I.  (858-867),  and  requested  him  to  send  legates  to  a  new 
council  for  the  suppression  of  the  iconoclasts ;  and  the  Emperor  sent 
a  letter  to  Nicolas  with  splendid  presents.  The  Pope  seized  the 
opportimity  to  demand  again  the  restoration  of  the  provinces 
severed  from  the  Eoman  see,  and  of  its  revenues  in  Calabria  and 

'  This  prelate,  whose  proper  name  was  Nicetas,  was  the  son  of 
l^Iichael  I.  (llhangabe),  and  had  been  placed  in  a  cloister  when  his  father 
was  deposed  by  1-eo  the  Armenian.  On  the  death  of  Methodius,  he  was 
appointed  by  Theodora  to  the  patriarchate,  on  the  recommendation  of  a 
famous  hermit. 

*  Its  title  is  Miiriohihlon  or  Bihliothcca  (Mvpi6Pifi\oi'  ^  BijSAioflTi/c)?). 
There  are  some  other  important  theological  and  grammatical  works  by 
Photius  (see  the  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biog.  s.  v.  Photius). 


A.D.  860.  KICOLAS  I.  AND  PHOTIUS.  545 

Sicily ;  and,  in  a  tone  of  high  authority,  he  protested  against  the 
deposition  of  Ignatius  without  his  having  a  voice  in  the  decision. 
He  wrote  bricliy  to  Fhotius  that  his  acknowledgment  would  depend 
on  the  reix)rt  of  the  papal  legates  (860).  After  being  plied  lor  some 
time  with  threats  and  bribes,  the  legates  attended  a  council  ^  of  318 
bishops,  at  Constantinople,  which  deposed  Ignatius  on  the  pretence 
of  uncanonical  consecration  (801).  Photius  sent  an  able  letter  to 
Nicolas,  in-  a  tone  of  dfeep  deference,  defending  his  own  consecra- 
tion, asking  for  the  Pope's  confirmation  of  the  proceedings  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  Ignatian  refugees  from  Rome ;  and  the  party  of 
Ignatius  also  made  their  report,  Nicolas,  indignant  at  having  been 
betrayed  by  his  legates,^  replied  to  the  Emperor  and  the  Patriarch 
in  a  lofty  tone,  assuming  tlie  authority  of  the  Roman  Church  as 
"  the  head  of  all,  on  which  all  depend,"  At  a  synod  held  in  863, 
he  deprived  Photius  of  all  spiritual  office,  and  annulled  the  proceed- 
ings against  Ignatius.  A  violent  correspondence  ensued  between 
the  Emperor  and  the  Pope  ;  and,  among  other  high  assertions  of  the 
supreme  dignity  of  his  see,  Nicolas  proposed  that  the  rival  patriarchs 
should  come  to  Rome  for  the  trial  of  their  cause, 

§  14,  In  that  unhappy  age,  even  the  conversion  of  a  barbarian 
nation  aggravated  the  quarrel  between  Rome  and  Constantinople. 
The  fierce"  Bulgarians,  who  had  long  been  established  between  the 
Danube  and  the  Balkan,  had  been  converted  during  the  regency  of 
Theodora,  through  the  influence  of  their  king's  sister,  who  had 
embraced  Christianity  while  a  captive  at  Constantinople.  The 
patriarch  (probably  Photius)  ^  went  into  Bulgaria  to  baptize  the 
king  Bogoris,  for  whom  he  wrote  an  elaborate  treatise  on  his  new 
faith  and  his  duties  as  a  king.  Bogoris,  however,  soon  afterwards 
ai)plied  for  further  advice  to  Pope  Nicolas,  who  sent  two  bishops 
with  a  long  letter,  in  answer  to  the  king's  questions,  Bogoris  had 
asked  for  the  appointment  of  a  patriarch  for  Bulgaria ;  and  in  send- 
ing a  bishop,  with  the  promise  of  an  archbishop  when  the  Church 
should  be  important  enough,  Nicolas  denied  the  proper  patriarchal 

»  Called  by  the  Greeks  "  The  First  and  Second  Council,"  either  because 
its  sessions  were  interrupted  by  an  outbreak  of  the  Iconoclasts  and  again 
resumed,  or  because  its  proceedings  on  the  two  questions — the  contest  for 
the  Patriarchate  and  the  Iconoclast  troubles— were  recorded  separately  in 
two  tomes. 

2  It  is  said  that,  both  at  this  Council  and  at  that  which  restored 
Photius  in  879.  the  Pope's  letters  were  garbled  in  the  public  reading;  and 
the  possibilitv  of  this  strange  artifice,  in  the  i)resence  of  the  Koiuan 
legates,  is  explained  partly  by  their  corrupt  connivance  and  partly  by  then- 
ignorance  of  Greek. 

3  The  baptism  of  Bogoris  is  variously  jdaced  between  845  and  864  ;  but 
the  later  dates  (from  861  to  864)  seem  the  more  probable. 


546  THE  EASTERN  AND  ROMAN  CHURCHES.       Chap.  XXI. 

dignity  of  Constantinople,  as  its  Church  was  not  founded  by  an 
Apostle,  and  exhorted  the  Bulgarians  to  cleave  to  the  holy  Eomau 
Church. 

Indignant  at  this  intrusion,  Photius  summoned  a  council,  which 
pronounced  an  anathema  on  Nicolas  (8G7).  His  invitation  to  the 
three  Eastern  patriarchs  contains  an  interesting  though  exaggerated 
statement  of  the  differences  between  the  Churches.  "  Within  the 
last  two  years  (he  said)  men  from  the  Wcsf,  the  region  of  darkness, 
had  intruded  into  this  portion  of  his  fold,  corrupting  the  Gospel 
with  23ernicious  novelties.  They  taught  a  difference  of  usages  as  to 
fasting ;  they  forbad  the  clergy  to  marry ;  they  denied  the  right  of 
presbyters  to  confirm.  But,  above  all,  they  adulterated  the  Creed 
with  spurious  additions,  aftirming  that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from 
the  Son."^  The  last  doctrine  he  describes  as  blasphemy  against 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  and,  in  language  more  familiar  to  later  ages,  he 
denounces  the  Romans  as  apostate  and  servants  of  Antichrist. 

§  15.  In  the  same  year,  however,  the  influence  of  Photius  was 
overthrown  by  a  new  dynastic  revolution,  in  which  Michael  III. 
was  murdered  by  Basil  I.  the  Macedonian  (867-886).^  Photius, 
though  formerly  a  friend  of  the  new  Emperor,  was  deposed  two  days 
after  his  accession  ;  Ignatius  was  reinstated;  and  Basil  sent  a  letter 
to  the  new  Pope,  Adrian  II.  (867-872),  containing  such  an 
acknowledgment  of  his  authority  as  had  never  yet  proceeded  from 
Constantinojile.  Another  Eomau  synod  renewed  the  condemnation 
of  Photius,  and  the  acts  of  the  late  Bj^zantine  Council  were  ordered 
to  be  burnt  both  at  Rome  and  Constantinoi)le. 

These  proceedings  were  confirmed  by  a  council  at  Constantinople, 
which  is  reckoned  by  the  Boman  Church  as  the  Eighth  General 
Council  (869).  The  Pope  sent  two  bishops  and  a  deacon  as  his 
legates;  and  there  were  representatives  of  the  patriarchs  of  Antioch, 
Jerusalem,  and  Alexandria.  Photius,  when  summoned  before  the 
council,  firmly  maintained  silence,  saying  only,  "Mj'  justifications 
are  not  in  this  world."  He  was  treated  with  personal  insult,  and 
was  anathematized,  with  his  adherents,  in  the  most  violent  language. 
Among  other  decisions  of  less  importance,  the  renewed  condemna- 
tion of  the  Iconoclasts  by  this  council  marks  the  final  ratification  of 
image-worship  in  the  East.  The  Council  declared  that  pictures 
were  useful  for  the  instruction  of  the  people,  and  that  "  we  ought  to 
worship  them  with  the  same  honour  as  the  books  of  the  Holy 
Gospels." 

'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  3G8. 

*  Basil,  who  was  a  native  of  Adriaiiojilo,  and  probably  of  Slavonic  race, 
derived  his  surname  from  the  Hattery  which  traced  his  descent  to 
Alexander  the  Great.   . 


A.D.  891.  DEATH  OF  PHOTIUS.  547 

On  the  question  of  Bulgaria,  liowevcr,  the  Emperor  and  the 
Patriarch  were  as  lirm  as  Pliutius  himself.  The  Bulgarian  king  had 
transferred  his  spiritual  allegiance  back  to  Constantinople ;  Ignatius 
consecrated  an  archbishop  for  the  country ;  the  Latin  clergy 
were  soon  exi)elled;  and,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  Popk 
John  VIII.  (872-882),  Bulgaria  was  finally  united  to  the  Greek 
Church. 

§  16.  Photius,  though  treated  at  first  with  much  severity,  re- 
gained the  favour  of  Basil,  who  ajjpointed  him  tutor  to  his  son  Leo  ; 
and  the  young  jtrince  so  far  profited  by  his  teaching  as  to  earn  the 
surname  of  the  Wise.  Photius  was  also  reconciled  to  Ignatius,  on 
whose  death  Basil  restored  him  to  the  patriarchate  (878).  As  on 
his  first  elevation,  Photius  made  the  announcement  to  the  Pope, 
with  the  request  tliat  he  would  send  legates  to  a  general  council,  to 
compose  the  late  schisms.  John  treated  the  application  as  an 
acknowledgment  that  the  title  of  Photius  dependeil  on  the  confir- 
mation of  Rome,  which  was  offered  only  on  the  condition  that 
Photius  should  confess  his  past  errors,  throw  himself  on  the  mercy 
of  the  synod,  and  resign  the  pretensions  of  his  jiatriarchate  in 
Bulgaria. 

Whatever  accpiicscencc  to  these  terms  might  seem  to  have  been 
given  or  implied  by  Photius,  he  firmly  asserted  his  independence  of 
Rome  at  the  meeting  of  the  synod  at  Constantinople,  which  the  Greeks 
reckon  the  Eiyhth  General  Council  (879).  It  numbered  no  less  than 
380  bishops  from  the  Eastern  Empire,  with  three  legates  from  Rome, 
and  representatives  of  the  three  Eastern  patriarchs,  who  produced 
letters  disavowing  the  delegates  who  had  taken  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  former  council  against  Photius.  Instead  of  granting  the 
place  of  honour  to  the  Roman  legates,  Phutius  at  once  assumed  the 
presidency  ;  the  Greek  bishops  supi)orted  him  in  ignoring  the  Pope's 
authority,  and  even  the  Papal  legates  j(jined  in  anathematizing  the 
Council  of  8G9.^  The  Pope  himself,  imperfectly  informed  of  the 
decisions  of  the  Council,  gave  at  first  a  consent  to  the  restoration  of 
Photius,  but  he  afterwards  anathematized  all  who  regarded  him  as 
the  true  jiatriarch.  The  condemnation  of  Photius  was  renewed  by 
John's  three  successors.  Photius  was  again  deposed  by  his  former 
pupil,  Lko  VI.  THK  Wise  (886-911),  on  some  uncertain  canse  of 
suspicion ;  and  though  no  evidence  was  found  against  him,  he  died 
in  exile  five  years  later  (891).      After  a   time,   communion  was 

'  Hence  the  rejection  of  that  assembly  from  the  Greek  list  of  (Ecumeni- 
cal Councils,  while  the  Council  of  879,  thouirh  having  all  the  marks  of  an 
iKcumenical  character,  is  stigmatized  by  Romanists  as  a  "  Photian  con- 
venticle ; "  and  some  have  even  made  the  absurd  charge  that  its  acts  were 
forged  by  Photius. 


548  THE  EASTERN  CHUKCH.  Chap.  XXI. 

restored  between  the  two  Churches,  and  the  patriarchate  of  Photius 
was  recognized  at  Kome  ;  but  the  final  breach  between  the  Greek 
and  Latin  Churches  was  only  postponed. 

§  17.  It  remains  to  notice  the  sequel  of  the  controversy  on 
images  in  the  Western  Empire.  Charles  the  Great  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Louis  the  Pious  (814-840),  a  weak  prince, 
who  endeavoured  to  maintain  the  decision  of  the  Council  of 
Frankfort,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to  preserve  the  highest 
deference  for  the  Papacy.  On  receiving  the  letter  of  the  Em- 
peror Micliael  Balbus,^  Louis  summoned  a  council  at  Paris,  which 
declared  that  as,'  on  the  one  hand,  the  Pope  had  justly  reproved 
those  who  had  broken  the  images,  so,  on  the  other,  "  he  is  known 
to  have  acted  indiscreetly,  in  that  he  commanded  to  give  them 
superstitious  worship"  (825).^  The  Emperor  sent  a  letter  to  Pope 
EuGEXius  IL,^  requesting  him  to  mediate  between  the  extreme 
parties  in  the  East,  and  the  bearers  of  the  letter  were  to  accompany 
any  envoys  whom  the  Pope  miglit  send  to  Constantinople.  All  we 
know  of  the  result  is,  that  the  Frank  envoys  were  well  received  by 
Michael,  who  was  not  a  violent  iconoclast. 

§  18.  The  growing  tendency  to  compromise  was  resisted  by  some 
eminent  theologians  of  the  West,  as  by  Agobard,  archbishop  of  Lyon, 
in  his  book  'On  Pictures  and  Images.'*  He  maintains  that  the 
aiicient  use  of  pictures  and  images  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles  was 
onl}'  for  remembrance,  laments  the  later  practice  as  approaching  very 
near  to  idolatry,  and  approves  the  decision  of  the  Spanish  Council 
of  Eliberis  {Elvira,  about  324),  that  pictures  ought  not  to  be  in 
the  churches.  He  argues  that,  as  an  image  represents  the  body 
only,  the  worship,  if  reasonable  at  all,  should  rather  be  jiaid  to 
saints  while  alive,  in  the  perfect  union  of  bodj'  and  soul. 

An  earlier  and  more  active  opponent  was  Claudius,  a  Spaniard,  who, 
being  made  Bishop  of  Turin  by  Louis  in  order  to  refonn  the  clergy 
of  that  diocese,  not  only  removed  from  the  churches  all  pictures, 
but  even  crosses  and  relics,  and  opposed  the  invocation  of  saints  and 
the  dedication  of  churches  by  their  names,  and  also  pilgrimages. 

These  extreme  views  were  disavow-ed  by  the  Frank  clergy  in 
general,  were  condemned  by  the  Emperor  and  his  council,  and  gave 
rise  to  a  violent  controversy.  The  Apology  and  other  writings  of 
Claudius  were  answered  by  Dungal,  amonk  of  Scottish  birth  (about 
827),  and  by  Jonas,  bishop  of  Orleans,  one  of  Louis's  envoys  to 
Rome  and  Constantinople.'     Tlie  famous  Ilincmar,  archbishop  of 

>  See  §  10. 

*  Constiiut.  frnper.,  torn.  i.  p.  154.  »  Pope  from  824  to  827. 

♦  De  J'kturis  ct  rmatjinibus,  written  about  840. 

'  His   work,   Aclcersns   ClauiUi   Tuurincnsis  Apologcticum,  dedicated   to 


A.D.  905  f.       LEO  VI.  AND  THE  PATRIARCH  NICOLAS.  540 

Rheims  (845),  of  whom  we  have  to  say  more  presently,  wrote  a 
treatise  to  explain  "  in  what  manner  the  images  of  our  Lord  and  his 
saints  are  to  be  reverenced  "  (yenerandce).  The  work  is  lost ;  but  the 
limits  of  the  "  reverence "  enjoined  by  Hincmar  may  be  inferred 
from  his  stigmatizing  the  Greek  and  Eoman  practice  as  "  doU- 
Avorship."  ^  These  are  among  the  latest  notes  of  decided  opposition 
in  the  Frank  Church,  which  kept  its  middle  course  till  the  end  of 
the  ninth  century,  and  which,  without  ever  breaking  off  communion 
with  Rome,  derived  from  its  long  opposition  on  this  question  mucli 
of  its  general  spirit  of  independence. 

§  19.  The  history  of  tlie  Eastern  Churcli  for  some  time  after 
Photius  is  so  uneventful,  that  it  may  be  dis}X)scd  of  here  in  a  few 
lines.  A  new  dispute  arose  from  the  fourth  marriage  of  Leo  the 
Wise  with  his  concubine  Zoe,  the  mother  of  Coxstantine  VIL, 
who  was  surnamed  Pouphyrogexitus,  from  his  being  the  first 
prince  who  Avas  born  in  the  chamber  of  the  palace,  lined  with  por- 
phyry, which  was  set  apart  for  imperial  births^  (i)05).  The  Byzan- 
tine historians  state  that  the  marriage  ceremony  was  performed 
before  the  birth  of  Constantine ;  but  the  imtriarch  Nicolas  declares, 
in  a  letter  still  extant,*  that  no  marriage  took  place  before  the  birth, 
and  he  only  consented  to  baptize  the  child  on  the  condition,  to 
which  Leo  bound  himself  by  oath,  that  he  would  separate  from  Zeo. 
In  either  case  the  marriage,  and  the  public  recognition  of  Zoe  as 
Empress,  constituted  a  grave  scandal.  The  Greek  Church  tolerated 
a  second  marriage,  and  treated  a  tliird  as  a  ground  of  censure,  but  a 
fourth  was  hitherto  unknown.  The  Patriarch  refused  the  offices  of 
religion  to  the  imperial  pair ;  but  the  marriage  was  countenanced  by 
papal  legates  who  came  to  Constantinople  ;  and  Leo  banished  Nicolas 
to  an  island.*  Nicolas  was  restored  on  the  death  of  Leo  (911)  ;  and 
the  disputed  question  was  settled,  in  920,  by  an  edict  allowing 
third  marriages  xmder  certain  restrictions,  but  prohibiting  fourth 
marriages  on  pain  of  excommunication.  Tliis  was  another  cause 
of  discord  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  allowed  fourth  mar- 
riages. 

§  20.  The  further  difl'usion  of  Christianity  in  the  Eastern  Empire 

Charles  the  Bald,  soa  of  Louis,  is  in  three  books,  in  defence  of  inuiges,  the 
cross,  and  pilgrimages.  It  contains  all  that  we  know  abo»it  the  writings 
anil  opinions  of  Claudius. 

'  Pnpurum  Cultus  (Opusc.  Iv.  adv.  Hincmar.     Laud.  c.  xx.). 

-  This  is  the  Latin  form  of  the  title :  the  proper  Greek  is  Porphyrogen- 
mtus  (Tvop<pvpoyivv7}Tos).  Porphyry  (irop<pvpios  \i9os)  is  so  called  from  its 
colour  (<pop(pvpa,  purple)  ;  and  the  epithet  is  commonly  translated  "  born 
in  the  purple."  ^  Epist.  ad  Atuistas.  lioman. 

*  For  the  ensuing  changes  in  the  government,  see  the  Student's  Gibbon, 
j.p.  414,  415. 


550 


THE  EASTERN  CHURCH. 


Chap.  XXI. 


during  the  ninth  century  demands  only  a  few  words.  The  conver- 
sion of  the  Bulgarians  led  to  that  of  the  Slavonic  settlers  in  Greece ; 
and  the  victories  of  Basil  in  Servia  were  followed  by  the  labours  of 
Greek  missionaries  (about  870),  while  missionaries  from  Eome 
preached  the  Gospel  among  the  Croats.  The  other  missions  of  this 
age  belong  to  the  history  of  the  Western  Church.' 

»  See  Chapter  XXIV. 


The  Iconostasis  or  Image-Stand  of  a  Greek  Church,  jiear  Kostroma,  in  East  Russia. 


iteT^^ 


i  ■.         M> 


Presentation  of  a  Bible  to  Charles  the  Bald. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  WESTERN  CHURCH  UNDER  THE  SUCCESSORS  OP 
CHARLES  THE  GREAT. 


THE   NINTH   CENTURY. 

§  1.  Louis  the  Pious,  Emperor — Popes  Leo  IIL,  Stephen  IV.,  and 
Paschal  L — Confirmation  of  Papal  elections.  §  2.  Church  Picforms  of 
Louis — Opposition  of  Adelhard,  Wala,  and  Bernard — ^Monasteries  re- 
formed bv  Benedict  of  Aniane.  §  3.  Lothair  I.  associated  in  the 
Empire — Quarrels  in  the  Imperial  Family — Penance  of  Louis  at  Attigny 
—  Lothair  and  Pope  EuGEXius  IL  §  4.  Louis  marries  Judith — His  son 
Charles  the  Bald— Civil  War— Pope  Gregory  IV.  in  the  rebel  camp — 


552  SUCCESSORS  OF  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.        Chap.  XXH. 

Deposition,  Restoration,  and  Death  of  Louis  the  Pious.  §  5.  Disputes  of 
his  Sons — Battle  of  Fontenailles — French  and  German  nationalities — 
Partition  of  the  Frank  Monarchy  at  Verdun — The  Kingdoms  of  Ger- 
many, France,  and  Lotharingia — Louis  IL,  Emperor — Kings  Lothair  IL, 
Louis  the  German,  and  Charles  the  Bald — Charles  the  Bald,  Emperor 
— Union  of  the  Frank  kingdoms  under  Charles  the  Fat — His  Deposi- 
tion, and  the  final  Division  of  the  kingdoms  of  France,  Germany,  and 
Italy — Extinction  of  the  Carolingian  line  in  Germany  and  in  France. 
§  6.  Incursions  of  the  Northmen — Their  Settlements  and  Civilization — 
Cession  of  Normandy,  and  Baptism  of  Rolf — Incursions  of  the  Saracens 
— ^Leo  IV.  builds  the  Leonine  City  at  Rome.  §  7.  Increased  power  of 
the  ClejTgy — Episcopal  Jurisdiction — Hincmar  of  Rheims.  §  8.  Growth 
of  the  Papacy— Nicolas  I. — Adrian  II. — John  VIII. — Concessions 
made  to  him  by  Charles  the  Bald — Deaths  of  John  and  Hincmar.  §  9. 
The  Psexulo-Isidorian  Decretals — Proofs  of  the  Forgery — Sources  of  the 
Compilation — Its  Frank  origin  and  its  date.  §  10.  Professed  and  real  pur- 
pose of  the  work — E.Kaltation  of  the  Clergy  and  Bishops  at  the  expense 
of  the  Metropolitans — Power  ascribed  to  the  Pope.  §  11.  General  reception 
of  the  Decretals  as  Ecclesiastical  Law — The  Vecretum  of  Gratian — Their 
Influence  surviving  the  confession  of  their  Spuriousness.  §  12.  The  Eucha- 
ristic  Controversy  in  the  Frank  Church — Paschasius  Radbert  teaches 
the  Real  Presence  and  Transubstantiatiou.  §  13.  Ratramn's  doctrine 
of  a  spiritual  and  figurative  Presence — Teaching  of  Johannes  ScOTtJS — 
Final  prevalence  of  the  doctrine  of  Radbert.  §  14.  The  Fredestinarian 
Controversy  raised  by  Gottschalk — His  early  Life  and  Character.  §  15. 
His  Doctrine  of  a  Twofold  Predestination — His  two  "  Confessions." 
§  16.  Opposition  of  Raban  Maur  and  Hincmar — Council  of  Quiercy — Ill- 
treatment  and  Imprisonment  of  Gottschalk — His  supporters,  Prudentius, 
Lupus,  and  Ratramn.  §  17.  Writings  of  Johannes  Scotus  against  Gott- 
schalk— His  doctrine  of  Predestination — His  alleged  Heresies.  §  18. 
Second  Council  of  Quiercy — Its  four  Decrees — Counter-articles  of  Pru- 
dentius— Councils  of  Valence,  Savonnieres,  and  Toucy — Last  Writings 
of  Hincmar  on  Predestination.  §  19.  Gottschalk's  attack  on  Hincmar 
about  the  Trina  Deltas — Death  of  Gottschalk. 

§  1.  Splendid  as  was  the  name  aiul  idea  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  its  reality  as  a  single  and  strong  government  over  the 
Christian  lands  of  Western  Europe,  ended,  as  it  had  begun,  with 
Charles  the  Great.  The  weakness  and  quaiTels  of  his  successors, 
and  the  consequent  division  of  the  Empire  into  separate  kingdoms, 
tended  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  spiritual  power,  which  had  still 
its  one  head  at  Rome. 

Louis  THE  Pious  (814-840),  the  only  surviving  legitimate  son  of 
Charles  the  Great,  had  many  virtues  and  no  little  ability,  but  all 
marred  by  weakness  and  superstition.  His  efforts  to  reform  abuses 
in  the  Church  made  him  powerful  enemies  among  the  nobility  and 
ecclesiastics ;  his  family  relations  were  a  constant  source  of  faction 


A.n.  814  f.  LOUIS  THE  PIOUS.  553 

and  trouble;  and  the  Popes  used  every  opportunity  to  enhance  their 
power  at  his  expense.  It  was  tlieir  great  object  to  assert  the  right 
of  conferring  the  imperial  crown,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  Emperor's 
right  to  confirm  their  own  election.  Leo  III.  (795-81G)  showed 
his  resentment  at  not  having  been  asked  to  crown  Louis  by  omitting 
to  congratulate  him  on  his  acccssit)n ;  and  liis  successor,  Stephen 
IV.  (810-817),  was  hastily  elected  without  any  reference  to  the 
Emperor.  But  Stephen  felt  it  necessary  to  apologize  for  the  omis- 
sion on  the  ground  of  the  state  of  Rome,  which  was  then  disturbed 
by  the  most  violent  factions.  He  carried  his  own  excuses  to  Louis, 
who  came  to  meet  him  outside  Kheinis,  cast  himself  at  the 
Pope's  feet,  and  was  crowned  by  him  anew.  Stephen  published  an 
edict,  that  the  consecration  of  Popes  should  take  place  in  the  pre- 
sence of  imperial  commissioners.  But  the  disorders  of  the  city 
caused  another  hasty  election  of  his  successor.  Paschal  I.  (817- 
824),  who  sent  legates  to  apologize  for  the  irregularity. 

§  2.  Louis  undertook  a  complete  reformation  both  in  Church  and 
State.  Beginning  with  the  court,  which  was  infected  by  the  licen- 
tious example  of  Charles  the  Great,  Louis  banished  his  own  sisters 
with  their  paramours,  and  some  of  his  father's  chief  statesmen. 
The  three  powerful  brothers — the  Abbot  Adelhard,  Count  Wala,  and 
Bernard — were  thus  made  lasting  enemies  to  Louis.  The  reforma- 
tion of  the  Chnrch  was  carried  out  by  councils  held  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  in  81G  and  817,  in  which  the  Frank  prelates  and  nobles 
acted  under  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Emperor,  without  re- 
ference to  the  Pope.  In  the  monasteries,  a  complete  visitation 
and  reform,  on  the  basis  of  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  of  Nursia,  was 
carried  out  by  Benedict  ob'  Aniane,  the  great  ecclesiastical  adviser 
of  Louis.  This  second  founder  of  the  Benedictine  order  was  the  son 
of  a  Visigoth  count ;  and,  under  his  proper  name  of  Witiza,  had 
distinguished  himself  in  the  wars  of  Charles  the  Great.  Adopting 
the  monastic  life,  he  founded  the  cloister  of  Aniane  on  the  river 
Anianus  in  Languedoc ;  and  Louis,  in  order  to  have  Benedict 
always  near  him,  founded  for  him  the  monastery  of  Inda  near 
Aix-la-Chapelle.     He  died  in  821.» 

§  3.  At  the  diet  held  at  Aix,  in  817,  Louis  associated  his  eldest 
son,  LoTHAiR  I.,  in  the  empire,  with  the  reversion  of  the  crowns  of 
the  West  Frank  kingdom  and  Italy ;  his  younger  sons,  Pepin  and 
Louis,  being  made  under-kings  of  Aquitaine  and  the  East  Frank 
kingdom.  Lothair,  like  Louis  himself,  was  crowned  by  his  ftither ; 
a  vindication  of  the  principle  that  the  imperial  dignity  did   not 

'  Benedict  of  Aniane  composed  two  works,  containing  all  previous 
monastic  rules,  together  with  those  m.ide  by  himself,  a  Codex  Retiidarum 
and  a  Concordia  Rcqularum. 


554  SUCCESSORS  OF  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.      Chap.  XXH. 

depend  on  the  sanction  of  the  Church.  This  attempt  to  secure  an 
orderly  succession  involved  a  long  series  of  feuds,  to  relate  which 
belongs  to  the  civil  history  of  the  age.  The  cruel  fate  of  his 
nephew  Bernard  (the  natural  son  of  his  brother  Pepin),  who  had 
rebelled  in  Italy,  and  the  severities  exercised  on  Bernard's  sup- 
porters, so  affected  Louis,  that  he  performed  a  public  penance  at 
the  diet  of  Attigny  (828).  Lothair,  who  received  the  kingdom  of 
Italy  on  the  death  of  Bernard,  on  visiting  Kome  in  823,  accepted 
a  new  coronation  from  Paschal,  who  thereby  took  one  more  step 
towards  establishing  the  Pope's  authority  to  confer  sovereign  power. 
But  on  Paschal'a  death  in  the  following  year  a  contest  for  the 
pajiacy  gave  Lothair  the  opportunity  of  asserting  his  prerogative  by 
deciding  in  favour  of  Eugenius  IL  (824-827);^  and,  while  con- 
firming the  right  of  the  Eomans  to  the  free  election  of  their 
bishop,  he  bound  them  to  an  engagement  that  no  Pope  should  be 
consecrated  till  he  had  sworn  allegiance  in  presence  of  an  imperial 
commissioner.  Lothair  exacted  from  every  Pioman  an  oath  of  fealty 
to  the  emiiire,  saving  their  faith  to  the  Pope ;  he  restored  to  their 
rightful  owners  lands  which  had  been  seized  by  the  Popes ;  and  he 
arranged,  "  according  to  ancient  custom,"  stated  visitations  of  im- 
perial commissioners  for  the  administration  of  justice  at  Eome.  All 
these  measures  maintained  the  principle  that,-"Avhile  the  Pope  was 
the  immediate  lord  of  Rome,  his  power  was  held  under  the  Em- 
peror, to  whom  the  supreme  control  of  the  administration  be- 
longed."^ They  also  tended  to  secure  for  Lothair  a  power  in  Italy 
and  over  the  Church,  whieh  he  soon  used  against  his  father. 

§  4.  The  source  of  these  new  discords  was  the  second  marriage  of 
Louis  to  Judith,  daughter  of  Welf,  count  of  Bavaria  (819),  a  lady 
of  great  beauty  and  unusual  learning  and  accomplishments.  The 
birth  of  a  son,  known  in  history  as  Charles  the  Bald  (823),  for 
whom  Louis  showed  great  partiality,  inflamed  anew  the  rebellious 
spirit  of  his  elder  sons,  who,  with  the  nobles  and  ecclesiastics  of 
their  party,  pursued  Judith  with  relentless  animosity.^  The 
authority  of  the  Church,  which  both  parties  used  as  far  as  possible, 
became  most  prominent  when  Pope  Gregory  IV.  (827-844)  crossed 
the  Alps,  and  appeared  in  the  camp  of  the  rebels  who  were  in  arms 
against  Louis  (832).  The  bishops  of  the  Emperor's  party  threatened 
to  depose  and  excommunicate  the  Pope  if  he  excommunicated  them. 
This  remarkable  position  gave  rise  to  an  interesting  controversy  as 
to  the  Pope's  right  to  judge  all  causes  and  to  be  himself  above  all 
human  judgment,  in  which  Agobard,  of  Lyon,*  wrote  on  the  side  of 

'  The  Antipope  was  Zosimus.  -  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  257. 

*  For  the  details,  see  the  Stvdcnt's  France,  chap.  v. 

■•  The  same  who  wrote  against  image-worship.     (See  Chap.  XXI.  §  18.) 


A.D.  840.  THE  SONS  OF  LOUIS.  555 

ecclesiastical  supremacy.  Though  really  a  partisan,  Gregory  passed 
from  camp  to  camp  in  the  character  of  supreme  incdiator ;  till 
bribes,  threats,  and  influence  of  various  kinds  seduced  the  followers 
of  Louis,  and  left  the  deserted  Emperor  to  yield  himself  a  prisoner 
to  his  sons.  Gregory  is  said  to  have  gone  home  in  deep  shame  for 
his  part  in  this  transaction,  the  scene  of  which  is  known  in  history 
as  the  Field  of  Lies.  The  rebel  bishops,  assembled  in  a  diet  held 
by  Lothair  at  Compiegne,  drew  up  a  number  of  charges  of  mis- 
conduct against  Louis,  and  took  upon  themselves  to  pronounce  on 
him  a  sentence  of  deposition  and  public  penance,  which  was  executed 
in  the  cathedral  of  Soissons  in  presence  of  Lothair,  the  Emperor 
performing  liis  part  with  the  deepest  show  of  penitence.  But  this 
excess  of  degradation  roused  sympathy  for  Louis,  whose  cause  was 
now  taken  up  by  his  sons  Pepin  and  Louis,  surnamed  in  history 
the  German.  Lothair  fled  before  the  rising  tide  of  indignation ; 
Louis  the  Pious  was  solemnly  reinstated  at  the  abbey  church  of 
St.  Denys ;  and  a  council  of  ecclesiastics  at  Thionville  condetaned 
the  bishops  who  had  taken  part  against  him  (835).  But  his 
troubles  from  his  sons  lasted  till  his  death  in  June  840. 

§  5.  With  him  ended  even  the  nominal  union  of  his  father's 
empire,  which  he  had  so  feebly  tried  to  hold  together,  while  really 
destroying  it  by  successive  partitions  among  his  sons.  The  last 
of  these  partitions  had  been  made  after  the  death  of  Pepin  in  838, 
when,  Judith  having  been  reconciled  to  Lothair,  the  whole  empire 
(except  Bavaria)  was  divided  between  Lothair  and  Charles,  to  the 
exclusion  of  Louis  the  German,  who  went  to  war  to  maintain  his 
rights  (839).  But  when,  on  their  father's  death,  Lothair  claimed  to 
be  sole  Emperor,  Louis  and  Charles  united  to  resist  him,  and  they 
were  victorious  in  the  decisive  battle  of  Fontenailles  (Fontenay), 
June  25th,  841.  The  loss  of  the  vanquished  is  said  to  have  been 
40,000,  and  that  of  the  victors  not  much  less ;  and,  what  was  of 
vastly  greater  consequence  than  the  numbers,  among  the  latter  were 
the  flower  of  the  Frank  nation,  the  descendants  of  the  warriors  of 
Clovis.  This  event  contributed  to  the  final  prevalence  of  those 
elements  which  formed  the  nationality  of  modern  France. 

But  the  loss  of  the  Franks  at  Fontenailles  was  only  a  makeweight 
in  the  scale.  The  native  populations — Gallic  north  of  the  Loire, 
and  Aquitanian  south  of  that  river — were  far  too  numerous,  and  the 
Eoman  civilization  and  language  had  been  much  too  completely 
established  among  them,  to  be  overpowered  by  the  race  and  language 
of  the  German  conquerors;  and  these  also  had  been  imbued  with  the 
Latin  forms  of  Christianity  and  the  ecclesiastical  use  of  Latin.  The 
Romance  dialect,  which  is  the  basis  of  modern  French,  first  appears 
in  history  on  the  occasion  of  the  meeting  of  Louis  and  Charles  at 


656  SUCCESSORS  OF  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.       Chap.  XXH. 

Strassburg,  to  ratify  their  league,  in  the  oath  taken  by  Louis  the 
German  in  this  tongue,  in  order  to  be  understood  by  the  Neustrian 
and  Aquitanian  troops  of  Charles  the  Bald.  The  establishment  of 
the  separate  French  and  German  nationalities  maybe  dated  from  the 
settlement  of  the  conflict  between  the  three  brothers  by  the  Treaty 
of  Verdun  (843). 

Louis  the  German  received  (with  an  exception  to  be  stated  pre- 
sently) the  purely  German  part  of  the  Empire,  answering  to  the  old 
use  of  the  name  Germany,  east  of  the  Ehine,  with  the  districts  on 
the  left  bank  which  were  great  seats  of  the  German  Church ;  namely, 
the  metropolitan  diocese  of  Mainz,  and  those  of  ^Yorms  and  Spires. 
The  kingdom  of  Charles  the  Bald,  which  may  now  be  properly 
called  France^  contained  the  w^hole  of  Northern  Gaul  west  of  the 
Mouse,  the  Saone,  and  the  Ehone,  with  its  capital  at  Laon.^  Between 
these  two  kingdoms,  a  long  narrow  strip  of  territory,  from  the 
German  Ocean  to  the  Mediterranean,  was  allotted  to  Lothaiu  L, 
from  whom  it  was  called  Lotharingia,  a  name  which  still  survives 
in  Lothringen  or  Lorraine.  This  arrangement  secured  to  Lothair, 
who  was  recognized  as  Emperor,  the  imperial  capital  at  Aix ;  and 
he  retained  that  of  Rome  with  the  kingdom  of  Italy. 

On  the  death  of  Lothair  L  (855)  his  eldest  son  Louis  IL  (855- 
875)  succeeded  him  as  Emperor  and  King  of  Italy  ;  while  Lothar- 
ingia was  divided,  its  northern  part  (Lotharingia  in  the  narrower 
sense)  forming  the  kingdom  of  his  second  son,  Lothair  II.  ;  and  its 
southern  part.  Burgundy  and  Provence,  the  kingdom  of  his  youngest 
son,  Charles.  On  the  death  of  the  younger,  Lothair,  in  869,  his 
uncles,  Louis  the  German  and  Charles  the  Bald,  divided  his  domi- 
nions by  the  convention  of  Mersen  (870).  A  new  contest  between 
the  two  brothers  ensued  on. the  death  of  the  Emperor  Louis  II. 
(875) ;  but  the  energy  of  Charles  the  Bald  secured  the  imperial 
crown,  which  Avas  placed  on  his  head  by  Pope  John  VIII.  at  Eome, 
on  Christmas  Day,  875.  The  resistance  of  Louis  the  German  was 
ended  by  his  death  in  the  next  year;  and  Charles  only  survived  him 

•  The  name  Francia  was,  however,  still  used  in  the  twofold  sense  of 
Francia  Orientalis  and  Francia  Occidcntalis,  and  the  different  kingdoms 
were  considered  as  Frank  kingdoms  till  the  end  of  the  Carolingian  dynasty. 
The  use  of  France  in  the  modern  sense  was  only  fully  settled  from  the  acces- 
sion of  Hugh  Cajiet  in  987.  The  kingdom  of  Charles  the  Bald  was  called 
CaroUni/ia,  just  as  that  of  Lothair  was  called  Lotharingia  ;  but  the  former 
name  died  out. 

*  Paris  was  held  by  its  Cortnts,  who  became  afterwards  Flukes  of  the 
French,  and  finally  kings  of  France.  Large  portions  of  Caul  were  still 
really  independent  of  Charles,  who  was  involved  in  frequ-ent  wars  to 
obtain  their  submission,  namely,  Aquitaine,  the  kingdom  of  Pepin  H.  ; 
Septiiiiania,  or  Languedoc,  under  its  duke,  Bernhard  ;  and  Brittany,  under 
its  native  princes. 


Cent.  IX.  PARTITIONS  OF  THE  EMPIRE.  557 

a  year  longer  (877).  It  is  needless  to  follow  the  rapid  changes  by 
which  all  the  Frank  kingdoms  (except  Burgundy)  were  united 
under  Charles  THE  Fat,  the  younger  son  of  Louis  the  German,  and 
divided  again  on  his  deposition  in  887,  which  was  followed  by  his 
death  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  year.  This  is  the  epoch  of  the 
fiual  division  of  the  empire  of  Charles  the  Great  into  the  three 
great  states  of  France,  Germany,  and  Italy.^ 

It  was  also  the  virtual  end  of  the  Carolingian  dynasty,  which  was 
only  perpetuated  in  Germany  by  Arnulf,^  an  illegitimate  son  of 
Carloman  (the  eldest  son  of  Louis  the  German),  and  ended  thei-e  with 
the  death  of  his  son,  Louis  the  Child  (911).^  In  France,  the 
Carolingian  line  lasted  for  a  century,  in  rivalry  with  or  tutelage  to 
the  more  powerful  lamily  of  the  Counts  of  Paris  and  Dukes  of 
France,  till  the  last  Carling,  Louis  V.  le  Faineant,  died  without 
issue,  and  the  Count  of  Paris,  Hugh  Capet,  was  elected  by  the 
nobles  and  clergy,  and  crowned  at  Kheims  on  the  1st  of  July,  987. 
The  steps  in  this  century  of  decline  belong  to  the  civil  history  of 
France.* 

§  6.  Amidst  these  changes  other  powers  were  gaining  ground,  to 
influence  the  condition  of  the  Church.  From  the  time  of  Charles 
the  Great,  the  piratical  incursions  of  the  Northmen,  not  only  on  the 
coasts,  but  up  the  great  rivers  into  the  heart  of  the  Continent,  kept 
the  Frank  kingdoms  in  perpetual  alarm.  Ilieir  heathen  zeal  against 
Christianity  was  inflamed  by  the  revengeful  spirit  of  exiles  who 
had  suftercd  from  attempts  at  forcible  conversions.  Their  rapacity 
was  attracted  by  the  wealth  of  the  churches  and  monasteries  ;  and 
such  was  the  terror  they  inspired,  that  a  petition  was  added  to  the 
Galilean  litanies  for  deliverance  "  from  the  fury  of  the  Northmen." 
The  character  in  which  these  invaders  were  regarded  in  England  is 
attested  by  the  name  of  "  the  heathen,"  by  which  tlicy  are  usually 
described  in  our  native  Chronicles. 

But  even  this  fierce  element  was  gradually  assimilated  by  the 
force  of  Christian  civilization,  and  became  a  source  of  new  life  and 
vigour.  The  system  of  pacifying  the  great  vikings  with  grants  of 
land  caused  the  new  settlers  to  intermarry  with  the  people  round 
them,  and  to  adopt  their  civilization  and  religion.  Two  great 
examples  of  new  Christian  states  formed  in  this  way  are  presented 

'  For  further  details  as  to  the  kingdoms,  principalities,  and  duchies, 
included  under  these  three  divisions,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  histories 
of  Europe  and  of  the  respective  countries. 

-  Arnulf  was  emperor  as  well  as  king  of  Germany. 

^  Louis  was  only  seven  years  old  at  his  father's  death  in  899  ;  and  the 
government  of  Germany  was  administered  by  Hatto,  bishop  of  Mainz. 

*  See  the  Student's  Fnmce,  chap.  vi. 


658  SUCCESSORS  OF  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.      Chap.  XXH. 

by  tlie  baptism  of  Guthorm  and  bis  followers,  whea  Alfred  the 
Great  made  his  treaty  of  partition  with  them  at  Wedmore  (878), 
and  by  the  baptism  of  Kolf  the  Ganger,  when  King  Charles  the 
Simple  and  Robert,  duke  of  France,  ceded  to  him  the  territory  of 
Normandy  (911),  which  became  conspicuous  among  the  provinces 
of  France  for  religious  and  literary  culture. 

On  the  East,  the  Frank  Empire  suffered  from  the  pressure  of  the 
Slavonians ;  and  on  the  south,  the  Saracens  gained  ground,  at  the 
expense  of  both  empires.  In  the  course  of  the  ninth  century  they 
became  masters  of  Crete,  Cyprus,  Corsica,  and  Sicily,  and  ravaged 
the  coasts  of  Italy  and  Gaul.  Their  incursions  up  the  Tiber  warned 
the  Popes  to  take  new  measures  of  defence.  Gregory  IV.  rebuilt 
and  fortiBed  the  port  of  Ostia.  Leo  IV.  not  only  fortified  Portus 
and  repaired  the  walls  of  Rome ;  but,  with  the  a[iproval  and  aid  of 
the  Emperor  Lothair,  he  built  a  wall  to  enclose  the  suburb  beyond 
the  Tiber  which  contained  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter,  and  which  was 
henceforth  called  the  Leonine  City  (852).  How  would  he  have 
been  surprised  by  a  prophecy,  that  a  thousand  years  woidd  see  the 
temporal  power  of  his  successor  confined  within  those  limits,  where 
the  Vicar  of  St.  Peter  calls  himself  the  prisoner  of  a  king  of 
Italy !  Perhaps  his  surprise  would  have  been  greater  still  to  learn 
that  a  council  of  the  Roman  Church,  calling  itself  Oecumenical,  had 
declared  that  the  Popes  are  and  always  have  been  infallible  on 
matters  of  doctrine. 

§  7.  The  diminution  of  the  royal  power  among  the  IVauks,  and 
the  incessant  quarrels  of  the  Caroliugian  princes,  added  vastly  to 
the  ix)wer  of  the  clergy  and  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Pojjes. 
At  the  Sixth  Council  of  Paris  (829)  the  bishops  asserted  their  right 
to  judge  kings':  they  exercised  it,  as  we  have  seen,  against  Louis 
the  Pious  at  Compiegue :  he  admitted  the  claim  in  accepting  his 
restoration  by  the  authority  of  a  council ;  and  the  like  admission 
was  made  by  Charles  the  Raid  at  the  council  of  Savonniisres  (859). 
The  bishops  claimed  to  be  the  sole  judges  in  all  matters  affecting 
the  clergy,  and  to  be  themselves  exempt  from  secular  control.  But 
the  Frank  clergy  maintained  these  rights  as  inherent  in  their 
spiritual  office,  not  as  derived  from  the  authority  of  Rome;  and 
their  ablest  leader,  Hincmak,  archbishop  of  Rheims  (845-884), 
while  firmly  upholding  the  cause  of  the  Church  against  the  nobles, 
and  even  against  the  kings  to  whom  he  preserved  a  stedfast  loyalty, 
was  equally  conspicuous  as  the  champion  of  the  national  church 
and  the  royal  authority  against  papal  encroachments. 

§  8.  How  those  encroachments  were  aided  through  the  weak- 
ness and  dissensions  of  the  Camlingians,  we  have  already  seen  by 
some  examples.     The  partition  of  the  Frank  monarchy  left  the  Pope 


Cent.  IX.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  PAPACY.  559 

responsible  only  to  that  one  of  the  princes  who  held  the  imperial 
authority  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  but  was  not  always  the  most 
IHjwerful ;  while  he  played  the  part  of  an  arbiter  among  them  all. 
The  most  conspicuous  assertor  of  the  papal  authority  during  the 
four  centuries  and  a  half  between  Gregory  the  Great  and  Gregory 
Vll.,  was  Nicolas  I.  (858-867).  We  have  his  character  drawn 
just  after  his  death  by  Regino  of  Priim,  "as  surpassing  all  his  pre- 
decessors since  the  great  Gregory ;  as  giving  commands  to  kings 
and  tyrants,  and  ruling  over  them  as  if  lord  of  the  whole  world ;  as 
full  of  meekness  and  gentleness  in  his  dealings  with  bishops  and 
clergy  who  were  worthy  of  their  calling,  but  terrible  and  austere 
towards  the  careless  and  refractory ;  as  another  Elias  in  sjurit  and 
iu  iwwer."  ^  He  was  the  first  To\w  who  assumed  the  majesty  of  an 
earthly  sovereign  by  the  ceremony  of  coronation ;  and  when  he 
visited  the  camp  of  Louis  11.,  to  whose  presence  at  Kome  he  is  said 
to  have  owed  his  election,  the  Emjx;ror  held  the  Pope's  bridle  and 
walked  by  the  side  of  his  horse.  The  conspicuous  assertion  of 
authority  by  Nicolas  in  the  relations  of  Lothair  II.  to  his  two  wives, 
Theutberga  and  Waldrada,  is  a  story  too  long  and  complicated  to 
be  told  here."  In  the  course  of  this  dispute  Nicolas  took  "  the 
unexampled  steps  of  deposing  foreign  metroiK)litans  and  of  annulling 
the  decisions  of  a  Frankish  national  council  by  the  vote  of  a  Roman 
synotl.  He  neglected  all  the  old  canonical  formalities  which  stood 
in  the  way  of  his  exercising  an  immediate  jurisdiction  throughout 
the  Western  Church."^  His  jiower  to  do  all  this  with  general  ap- 
probation, because  of  the  badness  of  Lothair's  case  and  the  subser- 
vience of  the  clergy  of  LoiTaine,  furnishes  a  striking  example  of  the 
aid  which  the  vices  of  princes  gave  to  the  advance  of  papal  power. 

Auui.\N  II.  (8G7-872),  elected  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  to  the 
chair  which  he  had  twice  refused,  carried  on  the  policy  of  his  pre- 
decessor with  equal  zeal  but  less  skill ;  and  he  was  worsted  by 
Hincmar  and  the  Frank  bishops  in  his  attempt  to  command  them 
to  opi)osc,the  seizure  of  Lotharingia  by  Charles  the  Bald  (869).* 

John  VIII.  (872-882)  apjx-ars  to  have  belonged  to  the  Frank 
party  among  the  clergy.  It  was  by  his  invitation  that  Charles  the 
Bald  went  to  Rome  on  the  death  of  Louis  II.,  and  was  crowned 
emperor  by  the  Pope  on  Christmas-day,  875.  In  recomjiense  for 
this  decision  in  his  favour,  against  the  better  hereditary  claim  of 

•  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  302. 

-  For  a  full  account  of  the  matter,  as  well  as  of  the  conflicts  of 
Hincmar  with  Nicolas  and  Adrian  II.,  as  to  the  rights  of  Frank  bishops, 
see  Robertson,  Book  iv.  chap.  ii. 

'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  328. 

*  For  the  details  of  this  aflair,  and  that  of  Hincmar  of  Laon,  see  Robertson, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  340-347. 


560  PROGRESS  OF  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  XXII. 

his  brother  Louis,  Charles  is  said  to  have  given  up  the  imperial 
control  of  papal  elections,  to  have  released  the  Pojw  from  homnge, 
and  to  have  withdrawn  the  resident  commissioners,  leaving  the 
government  of  Korae  in  the  Pope's  hands.  The  mode  of  con- 
ferring the  crown  was  held  to  be  a  divine  election  to  the  empire 
through  the  Vicar  of  St,  Peter  and  St.  Paul ;  and  it  was  made  a 
precedent  for  the  election  of  Charles  as  king  of  Italy  by  the  estates 
of  Lombardy  at  Pavia  (876),  and  for  the  like  election  by  the  clergy 
and  nobles  of  Neustria  at  the  Council  of  Pontj^on  a  few  months 
later.  This  chai^ge  from  an  hereditary  to  an  elective  succession 
favoured  the  jiretensions  of  the  Pope  to  dispose  of  the  imperial  and 
royal  crowns ;  lut  the  attempt  of  John,  through  his  legate  at  the 
same  council,  to  impose  the  supremacy  of  Piome  on  the  national 
Church,  though  supported  by  Charles,  was  foiled  by  the  firm  oppo- 
sition of  Ilincmar  and  the  Frank  bishops.  It  was  John's  constant 
policy,  which  Hincmar  as  firmly  opposed,  to  depress  the  power  of 
the  metropolitans  over  their  suffragans,  and  to  cause  appeals  to  be 
carried  to  Rome.  John  was  murdered  by  some  of  his  relations  in 
December  882,  and  the  great  champion  of  the  Frank  Church,  Hinc- 
mar, died  in  the  same  month.^  We  have  already  had  to  relate  how 
John,  while  occupied  with  these  attempts  to  bring  the  Frank  Church 
under  subjection,  and  hardly  able  to  maintain  himself  against  the 
Saracens  in  Italy,  was  engaged  in  a  conflict  with  the  Eastern  Empire 
about  the  affair  of  Photius. 

§  9.  In  the  controversies  concerning  episcopal  and  papal  au- 
thority, in  the  ninth  and  following  centuries,  constant  appeals  were 
made  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable  forgeries  in  the  whole  compass 
of  ecclesiastical  literature,  the  falsely  called  Jsidorian  Decretals. 
They  present  the  strange  phenomenon  of  fabricated  dicta  of  Poman 
bishops  being  adopted  as  the  law  of  the  Western  Church,  and  cited 
as  such  by  all  i)arties  for  centuries  ;  nay,  appealed  to  indirectly,  by 
the  assertion  of  princii)lcs  for  which  they  form  the  sole  authority, 
long  after  their  spuriousness  has  been  on  all  hands  confessed  ;  and 
that  even  to  our  own  day. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  authority  which  was  gradu- 
ally ascribed  to  the  Decretal  Epistles  of  Popes,  as  co-ordinate  with  the 
decisions  of  Councils,  till  the  collection  of  those  Decretals  by  Dionysius 
Exiguus  ^  prepared  the  way  for  their  reception  as  part  of  the  law 
of  the  Church.  The  earliest  document  in  that  collection  was  the 
letter  of  Pope  Siricius  to  Himerius,  written  in  385.     In  tlie  seventh 

'  To  Hincmar  are  ascribed  the  Annals  of  Berlin,  extending  from  8G1  to 
within  a  month  of  his  death,  and  forming  the  most  valuable  record  of  that 
period. 

»  See  Chai).  XVH.  §  15. 


Cent.  IX.  THE  PSEUDO-ISIDOKIAN  DECRETALS.  561 

century  anotlicr  collection  of  Decretals,  bearing  a  general  resemblance 
to  that  of  Dionysius,  but  containing  some  additional  documents, 
was  current  in  Sjjain  under  the  famous  name  of  Isidore,  bishop  of 
Seville,*  and  was  introduced  into  the  Frank  Cliurcli. 

The  venerable  name  of  Isidore  was  assumed,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  ninth  century,  by  the  liibricator  of  a  third  collection,  which 
professed  to  give  nearly  a  hundred  decretal  letters  written  by  the 
earlier  bishops  of  Kome  from  the  very  time  of  the  Apostles,  as  well 
as  letters  written  to  them  and  acts  of  councils  hitherto  unknown.- 
"  Tlic  spuriousness  of  these  pieces  is  established  by  gross  ana- 
chronisms, and  by  other  instances  of  ignorance  and  clumsiness ; 

as,  that  persons  who  lived  centuries  apart  arc  represented  as  corre- 
sponding with  each  other  ;3  that  the  early  bishops  of  Rome  quote 
the  Scriptures  according  to  St.  Jerome's  version ;  and  that  some  of 
them,  who  lived  Avhile  Kome  was  yet  heathen,  complain  of  the 
invasion  of  church-property  by  laymen  in  terms  which  evidently 
betray  a  writer  of  the  Carolingian  period."  •»  The  work  includes 
forgeries  of  earlier  ages,  such  as  the  "  Donation  of  Constantine," 
as  well  as  materials,  authentic  and  legendary,  quoted  from  genuine 
sources— the  Scriptures,  the  Latin  Fathers,  the  service-books,  the 
genuine  canons  and  decretals,  and  the  Pontifical  Books*— all  pieced 
together  so  as  to  suit  the  writer's  purpose,  and  as  being  ail  alike 
binding  upon  the  Churcli. 

The  work  bears  internal  evidence  of  its  source  and  date.  Cer- 
tain peculiarities  of  language  are  held  to  fix  it  to  the  Frank  Church 
of  the  Carolingian  age,  in  which  it  was  first  cited  as  an  authority.* 

*  "  This  collection  is  supposed  to  have  been  formed  between  the  date  of 
the  Fourth  Council  of  Toledo  (which  is  the  latest  council  included  in  the 
original  form  of  the  code)  and  the  death  of  Isidore,  by  whom  it  was  used, 
although  his  personal  share  in  the  formation  of  it  is  doubtful,  i.e.  between 
(J33  and  G36."     (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  284.) 

*  Besides  this  mass  of  pretended  early  documents,  there  are  some 
forgeries  in  the  names  of  writers  later  than  Siricius. 

'  Thus  Victor  (A.D.  100-202)  writes  to  Theophilus  of  Alexandria 
(a.d.  400).  *  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  285. 

*  This  work  is  a  set  of  legendary  lives  of  Roman  bishops,  continued  by 
Anastasius,  "  the  Librarian,"  and  usually  cited  under  his  name. 

"  Some  of  the  best  authorities  trace  the  origin  of  the  Decretals  to  Xeustria 
where  they  were  first  used  ;  but  the  general  opinion  assigns  them  to  Mainz' 
and  their  authorship  is  ascribed  to  Benedict,  a  "  Levite  "  (or  deacon)  of 
that  see,  who  between  840  and  847  addeil  to  the  capitularies  of  Charles 
the  Great  and  Louis  the  Pious  three  spurious  books,  which  have  much 
in  common  with  the  pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals.  But  the  work  is  more  likely 
to  have  grown  during  a  serirs  of  years  and  under  various  hands,  as  occasion 
tempted  the  fabrication,  and  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  elements  of  the 
forgery  were  used  by  Wala  at  the  "  Field  of  Lies  "  in  833.  (Gforer,  Karo- 
linger,  cited  by  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  250,  285.) 


662  SUCCESSORS  OF  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.      Chap.  XXH. 

It  was  first  so  cited  by  Charles  the  Bald  at  the  Council  of  Quiercy, 
in  857  ;  and  as  the  compiler  borrows  from  the  proceedings  of  the 
Sixth  Council  of  Paris,  in  829,  these  two  dates  are  the  limits  within 
which  the  composition  (at  least  in  its  existing  form)  must  be 
placed.  The  professed  design  of  the  author  was  to  supply  a  digest 
of  the  existing  ecclesiastical  laws,  for  the  advancement  of  religion 
and  morality ;  an  assertion  which  can  only  be  credited  on  the  sup- 
]X)sition  that  he  regarded  the  cause  of  religion  and  morality  as 
dependent  on  the  authority  and  temporal  interests  of  the  clergy, 
and  especially  of  the  l)isho])S.  This  view  is  as  much  in  accord  with 
the  spirit  of  the  age  as  the  means  which  he  took  to  give  effect 
to  it.  Ecclesiastical  writers  had  long  since  yielded  to  the  tempta- 
tion of  using  not  only  confessed  fiction  to  appeal  to  the  devout 
imagination,  as  in  the  legends  of  saints,  but  positive  falsehood  and 
imposture  to  serve  the  purposes  of  controversy.  The  pseudo- 
Isidorian  Decretals  are  distinguished  from  other  forgeries  chiefly  by 
the  great  scale  of  the  imposture  and  the  vast  importance  of  its 
results. 

§  10.  As  those  results  have  been  principally  in  favour  of  the  Papacy, 
it  has  been  assumed  that  this  was  the  primary  purpose  of  the  fabrica- 
tion. But  that  purpose  may  be  more  correctly  inferred  from  the  work 
itself,  and  from  the  condition  and  controversies  of  the  Frank  Church. 
The  clergy  were  suffering  from  the  invasions  of  secular  power  and 
the  alienation  of  benefices  to  the  use  of  lay  persons;  and  they, 
and  especially  the  bishops,  were  contending  against  the  jurisdiction 
assigned  by  the  Frank  system  to  the  metropolitans,  against  whose 
judgment  on  a  bishop  an  appeal  lay  only  to  the  sovereign.  The 
Decretals  exalt  the  power  of  the  clergy  ;  place  bishops  almost  above 
all  secular  judgment,  and  only  allow  charges  to  be  brought  against 
them  in  extreme  cases  and  under  the  most  rigorous  conditions. 
The  metropolitan  has  no  power  without  the  concurrence  of  his 
suffragans,  whom  he  cannot  even  assemble  without  the  Pope's  per- 
mission ;  and  the  ultimate  decision  in  such  cases  belongs  to  the 
Pope  alone.  "  The  power  of  the  Pope  is  extended  beyond  anything 
that  had  yet  been  known.  All  causes  may  be  carried  to  him  by 
appeal;  he  alone  is  to  decide  all  weighty  and  difficult  causes; 
without  his  leave,  not  even  provincial  councils  may  be  called,  nor 
have  their  judgments  any  validity." '  The  most  probable  view  of 
the  compiler's  purix)sc  is,  "  that  the  decretals  were  fabricated  for  tlie 
benefit  of  the  clergy,  and  more  especially  of  the  bishops;  that  they 
were  designed  to  protect  the  property  of  the  Chiirch  against  inva- 
sion, and  to  fix  the  privileges  of  tlie  hierarchy  on  abasis  indei)endent 
of  secular  authority  ;  that  the  metrojiolitans  were  especially  assailed 
'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  y.  286. 


Cknt.  IX.  TIIK  FORGED  DECRETALS.  563 

because  they  had  been  the  cliief  instruments  by  wliich  the  Caro- 
liiii^ian  princes  had  been  able  to  govern  the  bishops,  to  depose  such 
of  tliera  as  were  obnoxious,  and  to  sway  tlie  decisions  of  synods. 
The  Popes  wore  eventually  the  principal  gainers  by  the  forgery  ;  but 
this  appears  to  have  been  a  result  beyond  the  contemplation  of  those 
who  planned  or  who  executed  it."' 

§  11.  Kot  the  least  remnrkuble  feature  in  the  history  of  this 
imposture  is  the  f;\cility  with  which  the  pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals 
were  accepted  by  all  jtarties,  first  in  that  very  Frank  Church  which 
made  such  a  stand  against  the  jurisdiction  of  Home,  and  soon  after- 
wards throughout  the  West,  "  Published  in  an  uncritical  age,  they 
bespoke  a  favourable  reception  by  holding  out  to  various  classes 
redress  of  their  grievances  and  increase  of  their  privileges ;  even  those 
who  were  galled  by  them  in  one  respect  were  glad,  like  Hincmar 
of  Rheims,  to  make  use  of  tlicm  where  it  was  convenient  to  do  so. 
They  were  therefore  admitted  without  any  expressed  doubt  of 
their  genuineness,  although  some  questions  were  raised  as  to  their 
application  or  obligatory  power.  In  the  next  century,  they  were 
cited  in  a  collection  of  Canons  by  Pegino,  abbot  of  Priim  ;  and  they 
continued  to  be  used  by  the  compilers  of  similar  works,  until,  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  Gratian  made  them  the  foundation  of  his 
'  Decretam,'  the  great  law-book  of  the  Church  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  accommodated  to  their  principles  all  the  more  genuine 
matter  which  he  admitted.  Although  sometimes  called  in  ipies- 
tion  during  the  long  interval  before  the  Peformation,  they  yet 
maintained  their  public  credit ;  and,  while  the  foundation  has  long 
been  given  up,  even  by  the  extreme  writers  of  the  Roman  Church, 
the  superstructure  yet  remains."^ 

§  12.  During  the  ninth  century  the  Frank  Church  was  divided 
by  two  great  doctrinal  controversies,  which  have  lasted  ever  since; 
on  the  Jieal  Presence  in  the  Eucharist,  and  on  rredestination. 
In  these,  as  in  other  theological  disputes,  it  is  interesting  to 
sec  how  early  the  leading  principles  and  arguments  on  both 
sides  were  brought  forward,  to  be  repeated  again  and  again  in  a 
later  age. 

In  the  writings  of  some  of  the  earliest  Fathers  there  is  a  strength 
of  language  respecting  the  reception  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
in  the  Eucharist,  which — as  the  Romanists  say  of  our  Lord's  own 
words,  "This  is  my  body,"  "This  is  my  blood" — might  seem  to 
have  a  material  significance,  had  we  not  other  proofs  that  they  were 
meant  in  a  figurative  and  spiritual  sense.  For  such  a  sense  the 
Western  Church  had  the  great  authority  of  Augustine,  who  dis- 

•   Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  288.  •  -  Ihi<l.,  p.  290. 


564  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  Chap.  XXII. 

tinctly  taught  that  our  Lord's  words  as  to  eating  his  body  are  a 
figure.  But,  as  the  Church  decUned  both  in  theological  learning 
and  still  more  in  spiritual  life,  there  was  a  growing  tendency  to  put 
a  literal  sense  on  the  mystic  and  rhetorical  language  of  early  writers, 
and  also  to  ascribe  the  efficacy  of  the  sacraments  to  the  form  and  act 
rather  than  to  the  spiritual  grace ;  to  rely  on  the  opus  operatum,  and 
to  ascribe  to  it  a  power  little  less  than  magical. 

A  distinctly  materialist  view  of  the  eucharistic  presence  seems  to 
have  been  first  clearly  taught  by  Paschasius  Radbert,  who  was 
master  of  the  monastic  school  at  Corbie,  and  afterwards  abbot  of 
the  monastery  (844-851),  where,  having  retired  to  the  degree  of  a 
simple  monk,  he  died  in  8G5.  In  a  work  first  written  for  the 
instruction  of  monks  (831),  and  afterwards  presented  to  Charles  the 
Bald,*  Paschasius  taught  a  view  of  the  Eucharist  equivalent  to 
the  Piomish  doctrine  of  Transuhstantiation?  "  Paschasius  lays  it 
down,  that  although,  after  the  consecration,  the  appearance  of  bread 
and  wine  remain,  yet  we  must  not  believe  anything  else  to  be  really 
present  than  the  body  and  the  blood  of  the  Saviour — tlie  same  flesh 
in  which  he  was  born  of  the  Blessed  Virgin — the  same  in  which  he 
suffered  on  the  cross  and  rose  from  the  dead."^  This  miraculous 
production  of  (K\x  Lord's  body  in  the  Eucharist  is  likened  to  His 
miraculous  conception.  The  fact,  that  the  elements  remain  un- 
changed to  all  the  senses,  is  explained  as  an  exercise  of  faith  ;* 
while,  with  manifest  inconsistency,  stories  are  told  of  the  conviction 
of  unbelievers  by  the  miraculous  conversion  of  the  elements  into 
visible  flesh  and  blood ;  though  what  is  seen  can  no  longer  be  an 
object  of  pure  faith,  and  the  mystery  is  then  dissolved. 

§  13.  Though  Radbert  put  forth  these  views,  not  as  his  own 
ideas,  but  as  the  received  doctrine  of  the  Church,  they  were  de- 
nounced as  novel  and  erroneous  by  the  most  eminent  Frank  church- 
men.*    The  chief  writer  on  the  other  side  was  another  monk  of 

'  De  Corpore  et  Sanguine  Domini,  in  the  Biblioth.  Fatrum,  Lugd.  xiv., 
anil  the  Patrologia,  cxx. 

-  Paschasius,  however,  insists  on  the  necessity  of  the  reception  of  the 
wine  as  well  as  the  bread  by  all  communicants. 

*  Robertson,  ii.  p.  304.  "  It  seems  to  be  chiefly  in  thus  maintaining  the 
identity  of  the  body  that  Paschasius  goes  beyond  John  of  Damascus." 

■•  The  controversialist  who  affirms  this  as  an  assumption  has,  of  course, 
passed  beyond  the  limits  of  argument :  in  the  famous  phrase  of  Herodotus 
— a  touchstone  for  whole  classes  of  explanations  based  on  no  evidence — 

*  But  they  were  supported  by  some  high  authorities,  as  Hincmar 
(0pp.  ii.  99-100),  and  Haymo,  bishop  of  Halberstadt  {De  Corp.  et  Sang. 
JDom.,  Patrolog.  cxviii.  81.5-818).  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether 
Hincmar's  rhetorical  language  was  meant  to  go  the  full  length  of  Rad- 
bert's  doctrine. 


Cent.  IX.  KADBERT  AXD  RATRAMN.  565 

Corbie,  Ratramn,  who,  at  the  desire  of  Charles  the  Bald,  examiocd 
and  answered  the  work  of  I'aschasius.* 

In  discussing  the  question,  whetlier  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
be  present  in  figure  or  in  truth,  Katramn  dtfiucs  yj^rure  to  mean  that 
the  reality  is  veiled  under  something  else ;  and  truth,  that  the  reality 
is  openly  displayed.  It  is  in  a  figurative  way  that  the  body  and 
blootl  of  Christ  arc  presented  in  the  elements,  not  to  the  bodily 
senses,  but  to  the  faithful  soul.  The  change  is  not  material,  but 
spiritual ;  just  as  the  baptismal  water  is  endued  with  a  spiritual 
power.  The  corruptible  elements  in  the  sacrament  can  only  be  a 
figure  of  the  incorruptible  body  and  blood  of  Christ  ;^  and  as  that 
which  is  visible  and  corruptible  feeds  the  body,  so  that  in  them 
which  is  matter  of  belief  is  immortal,  and  feeds  the  soul  to  ever- 
lasting life.  Ho  supports  his  argument  from  the  Liturgy,  which 
speaks  of  the  sacrament  as  a  pledy^,  an  image,  and  a  likeness.^ 

In  all  this  there  is  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  idea,  that  the  con- 
secrated elements  have  a  real,  though  purely  spiritual,  efficacy  ;  that 
(as  Katramn  says)  while,  in  one  respect,  they  continue  bread  and 
wine,  they  are,  in  another  respect,  by  spirit  and  potency,  tlie  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  which  are  really,  though  spiritually,  received  by 
the  believing  soul.  The  more  extreme  view,  which  makes  the 
Eucharist  a  mere  commemorative  ordinance,  appears  to  have  been 
held  by  the  great  Irish  divine,  Johannes  Scotus,  of  whom  we  have 
presently  to  say  more;''  and  this  view  was  denounced  as  heretical 
by  both  parties.  The  doctrine  of  Paschasius  gradually  prevailed 
in  the  ensuing  century, 

§  14.  In  the  controversies  which  had  sprung  from  the  conflict 
of  Augustine  with  Pelagianism,  the  question  of  Predestination  had 

*  Ratramn,  de  Corp.  et  Sang.  Domini,  Patrolog.  cxxi.  c.  1,  and  Oxon. 
1838.  This  book  is  of  special  interest  for  the  history  of  English  theology, 
as  it  converted  Bishop  Ridley  from  the  belief  in  transubstantiation,  and 
formed  a  model  for  the  doctrine  of  our  Reformed  Church.  (Ridley,  p.  159, 
ed.  Parker  Society ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  306.) 

*  The  idea,  common  to  the  doctrines  of  transubstantiation  and  consnb- 
stantiation,  that  a  jihysical  germ  of  incorruptibility  is  imparted  in  the 
sacrament,  seems  to  be  directly  contradicted  by  the  argument  (if  we  may 
not  rather  say,  the  axiom)  of  St.  Paul,  that  "y/t'sA  and  blood  cannot  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  neither  doth  corniption  inherit  incorniption" 
(1  Cor.  XV.  50).  The  change  necessary  for  this  must  be  complete,  and  it 
takes  place  only  at  the  resurrection  (vv.  51-54). 

'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  .306. 

*  The  work  which  Johannes  Scotus  is  said  to  have  written,  at  the 
request  of  Charles  the  Bald,  is  unfortunately  lost,  and  the  quotations  pro- 
fessedly made  from  it  by  early  writers  are  found  in  Ratramn's  book,  which, 
as  it  was  first  publisTied  anonymously,  may  have  been  confounded  with 
what  Scotus  wrote  or  was  supposed  to  have  written. 

26 


566  CONTROVERSY"  ON  PREDESTINATION.      Chap.  XXII. 

attracted  little  attention  in  comparison  with  the  p-oblems  relating 
to  Grace  and  Free  Will.  The  Synods  of  Orange  and  Valence  (529), 
which  had  given  the  last  decision  of  the  Western  Church  on  the 
Semipelagian  controversy,  had  fully  adopted  the  doctrines  of  Augus- 
tine on  Sin  and  Grace,  Faith  and  Worlds ;  but  they  had  mitigated 
the  predestination  of  the  reprobate  {reprohati)  into  mere  fore- 
knowledge, and  they  had  rejected  all  prc-ordination  of  evil  as  blas- 
phemous. Upon  the  whole,  the  great  authority  of  Augustine  had 
not  availed  to  secure  the  full  adoption  of  his  views;  and  the  doctrine 
prevalent  in  the  Western  Church  may  be  described  as  a  mild  Semi- 
pelagianism.  The  conflict  seems  deeply  seated  in  human  nature, 
between  the  consistent  adoption  of  the  Augustinian  theology  and  a 
shrinking  from  its  logical  consequences ;  till  we  have  learned  to 
confess  that,  in  the  present  narrow  limits  of  our  knowledge  and 
mental  power,  we  must  be  content  to  accept  co-ordinate  tmths, 
each  on  its  own  independent  evidence,  and  to  wait  for  the  solution 
of  &  paradox,  which  is  only  made  a  contradiction  by  our  impatient 
efforts  at  reconciliation.* 

The  rigidly  logical  mind,  combined  with  an  ardent  tempera- 
ment and  a  spirit  intolerant  of  opposition,  which  insists  on  the 
extremest  forms  of  supposed  truth,  were  found  in  Gottschalk,^ 
the  sou  of  a  Saxon  count,  who  had  placed  him  while  a  child 
in  the  famous  monastery  of  Fulda,  His  desire  to  obtain  a  release 
from  his  monastic  vows,  though  granted  by  a  synod  at  Mainz 
('829),  was  overruled  by  Louis  the  Pious  on  the  apjieal  of  liaban 
Maur,  the  Abbot  of  Corbie;^  but  he  removed  to  the  monastery 
of  Orbais,  in  the  diocese  of  Soissons.  There  his  abbot  (according  to 
'the  report  of  his  persistent  enemy,  Hincmar)  described  his  cha- 
racter as  "  restless,  changeable,  bent  on  perversities,  addicted  to 
argument,  and  apt  to  misrepresent  what  was  said  bj^  others  in  con- 
versation with  him ;  as  scorning  to  be  a  disciple  of  the  truth,  and 
preferring  to  be  a  master  of  error ;  as  eager  to  gain  an  influence,  by 
correspondence  and  otherwise,  over  persons  who  were  inclined  to 
novelty,  and  desired  notoriety  at  any  price,"'*     This  is,  doubtless, 

'  See  Bishop  Horsley's  famous  xixth  sermon  on  the  text,  Matt  xvi. 
21:  "From  that  time  forth  began  Jesus  to  shew  unto  his  disciples,  how 
that  he  must  go  to  Jerusalem  and  suflei-,"  &c. 

2  Schal/;,  in  old  German,  signified  a  servant,  although  its  meaning  has 
undergone  the  same  change  as  that  of  our  own  word  knave  ;  so  that  Gott- 
schalk  means  servant  of  God.  The  Epistle  to  Titus  begins,  in  the  Gothic 
version,  I'aulus,  skalks  Guths.     (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  j).  308.) 

^  This  great  teacher  was  the  pupil  of  Alcuin,  who  surnamed  him 
Maurus  after  St.  Maur,  a  famous  disciple  of  Benedict.  He  died  in  85G,  at 
the  age  of  seventy,  if  his  birth  is  rightly  placed  in  78<3.  (See  Kunstmann's 
J/rabtnus  Mapientius  Mavrus,  Mainz,  184:4.) 

*  Robei'tson,  vol.  ii.  p.  309. 


Cent.  IX.  DOCTRINES  OF  GOTTSCHALK.  567 

an  unfair  judgment ;  but  we  find  one  of  Gottschalk's  most  eminent 
friends,  Servatus  Lupus,  abbot  of  Fcrrieres,  charging  liim  with  an 
imnaoderate  fondness  for  speculation,  from  which  he  exhorts  him  to 
turn  to  more  practical  matters.^ 

§  15.  In  his  enforced  monastic  retirement,  Gottschalk  became  an 
ardent  student  of  Augustine  and  his  followers,  among  whom  his  chief 
favourite  was  Fulgentius.^  Predestination  was  tlie  doctrine  of  which 
Gottschalk  undertook  the  special  defence ;  and  he  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  who  distinctly  taught  a  "  double  pred  stination " 
(gemina  proidcutinatio)  to  salvation  and  damnation.^  His  opponents 
accused  him  of  teaching  what  they  regarded  as  the  necessary  in- 
ference, a  predestination  of  the  wicked  to  sin  as  well  as  to  its  punish- 
ment.* But  Gottschalk  denied  that  he  made  God  the  author  or 
ordainer  of  evil ;  his  "  double  predestination  was,  in  both  cases,  to 
good  ;  for  God's  just  judgments  arc  good,  as  well  as  the  blessings  of 
his  grace ;  and  to  those  judgments  the  wicked,  whether  angels  or 
men,  were  predestinate  because  their  perseverance  in  sin  was  fore- 
known." In  the  two  '  Confessions,'^  which  contain  his  own  state- 
ment of  his  doctrine,  he  maintains  that  the  twofold  predestination 
is  that  of  good  angels  and  men,  freely,  to  bliss,  and  that  of  the  evil, 
justly,  to  punishment,  on  foreknowledge  of  their  guilt.  He  held 
also  the  doctrine  of  what  is  now  called  particular  reden^ption, 
namely,  that  Christ  died  oply  for  the  elect. 

§  16.  With  a  view  (as  it  seems)  to  the  public  teaching  of  his 
opinions,  Gottschalk  obtained  ordination  as  a  presbyter  by  a  chore- 
jiiscopus  of  Ivheims,  while  that  see  was  vacant  after  the  deposition 
of  Ebba.*     It  was  during  a  visit  to  Italy  in  847  that  Gottschalk 

'  Servat.  Lup.  Epist.  xxx.  (^Patrolog.  cxix.). 

*  Fulgentius,  of  Uuspe,  one  of  the  African  bishops  exiled  to  Sardinia  by 
the  Vandal  persecution,  wrote,  at  the  request  of  a  synod  (523),  three 
books  I)e  Yeritate  I'rcedestinationts  ct  Gratia;  Dei,  in  defence  of  the 
Augustinian  doctrine. 

'  Augustine  had  described  the  finally  lost  as  rcprohati,  not,  however,  as 
being  distinctly  predestinated  to  destruction,  but  as  being  let  alone  and  left 
to  the  just  juilgnient  on  their  sins. 

■•  Though  no  argument  is  fairer  than  that  drawn  from  the  logical  conse- 
quences of  the  jiroposition  in  debate  (witness  F.uclid's  rcductio  ad  ab- 
surdum),  yet  no  dialectic  artilice  is  more  disingenuous  than  to  impute  the 
liolding  of"  such  consequences  to  the  opponent  who  disavows  them. 

*  Confessio  Brcvior  and  Confcssio  J'rolixior :  the  latter,  in  imitation  of 
Augustine,  is  in  the  form  of  an  address  to  God.  These,  and  the  other 
chief  works  on  the  controversy,  are  published  by  Mauguin,  Vcterum  Auc- 
toruin  qui  IX.  swculi  de  Prccdcstinatione  ct  Gratia  scripscrunt,  Opera  et 
Fragmenta,  Paris,  1G50.  See  also  Archbishop  Ussher's  Ilistoria  Goite- 
schalci,  Dublin,  1(331  ;  and  Cellot,  Iliatoria  Gottcsc/iaici,  Paris,  lGo5. 

*  "This  act  appears  to  have  been  a  token  of  disaffection  to  the  episcopal 
body,  with  which  the  chorepiscopi  were  then  on  very  unfriendly  terms; 


608  COxNTROVliKSY  ON  PKEDESTINATIOX.      Chap.  XXII. 

first  propounded  his  doctrine ;  and  his  former  abbot,  Eaban  Maur, 
now  archbishop  of  Mainz,  wrote  two  letters  strongly  condemning 
his  teaching.  In  the  following  year  Gottschalk  appeared  before  a 
Council  held  at  Mainz,  in  presence  of  Louis  the  German,  and 
defended  his  opinions  against  Kaban  Maur,  whom  he  charged  with 
Semipelagianism.  He  was  condemned  by  the  Council,  banished 
from  the  dominions  of  Louis,  and  sent  to  his  metropolitan,  Hincmar, 
to  be  dealt  with  as  incorrigible.  Hincmar  brought  him  before  a 
council  at  Quiercy,  by  which  he  was  again  condemned ;  he  was 
flogged  so  cruelly,  in  presence  of  King  Charles  the  Bald,  that  he 
had  hardly  strength  left  to  throw  his  book  into  the  fii'e  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  Council,  and  was  finally  sentenced  to  peiiietual  im- 
prisonment in  the  monastery  of  Hautvilliers.  Here  he  held  stedfastly 
to  his  opinions,  and  refused  to  sign  a  declaration,  which  Hincmar 
offered  as  the  condition  of  his  release,  admitting  that  there  might 
be  divine  foreknowledge  without  predestination.  He  continued  to 
write  in  defence  of  his  opinions,  and  it  was  now  that  he  put  forth 
his  two  '  Confessions.'  His  views  were  supported  by  some  eminent 
divines  ;  among  whom  were  Prudentius,  bishop  of  Troyes,  Servatus 
Lupus,  abbot  of  Ferrieres,  and  Eatramn,  who  wrote  on  the  subject 
at  the  request  of  Charles  the  Bald. 

§  17.  On  the  other  side,  Hincmar  obtained  a  powerful  advocate  in 
Johannes  Scotus,  that  is,  the  Irishmaii,^  whom  Charles  honoured 
above  most  of  the  men  of  learning  at  his  court,  as  a  miracle  of  wit 
and  knowledge.  Scotus  restored  the  reputation  of  the  Palatine  school. 
He  was  distinguished  above  the  Frankish  clergy  by  his  knowledge 
of  Greek,  and  he  translated  for  Charles  into  Latin  the  works 
ascribed  to  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  which  had  been  sent  by  the 
Emperor  Michael  Balbus,  in  827,  as  a  present  to  Louis  the  Pious. 
The  mysticism  of  that  work  was  congenial  to  the  speculative  mind 
of  Scotus — a  devoted  student  of  Plato  and  the  Neo-Platonic  phi- 
losophj"-,  which  he  mingled  with  his  Christian  theology  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  lay  him  open  to  various  charges  of  heresy. 

The  work  which  he  wrote  at  the  request  of  Hincmar,  *  On  Divine 
Predestination,'  treats  the  subject  chiefly  from  the  jihilosophical 
point  of  view,  and  starts  from  the  position  that  true  philosophy  and 
true  theology  are  one  and  the  same.  "It  is,  he  says,  an  impro- 
priety to  speak  of  predestination  or  /o/'eknowledge  in  God,  since  to 

it  was  also  censured  as  irregular,  inasmuch  as  Gottschalk  belonged  to  the 
diocese  of  Soissons,  and  as  the  chorepiscopus  had  no  authority  from  any 
superior  to  confer  the  priestly  ordination  at  all."  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p. 
309. 

'  The  p|)ith<'t  Eriijcna  (or,  in  the  oldest  form,  Icrngcnd)  was  afterwards 
nd(lcd  to  his  name. 


Cent.  IX.  JOHANNES  SCOTUS  AND  HINCMAR.  569 

Him  all  time  is  present;  but,  admitting  the  use  of  such  words,  he 
holds  that  predestination  is  eternal,  and  is  as  much  a  part  of  God 
himself  as  any  other  of  his  attributes.  It  can  therefore  only  be 
one ;  we  can  no  more  suppose  two  predestinations  in  God  than  two 
wisdoms  or  two  knowledges.  He  disallows  Gottschalk's  distinction 
of  one  two/old  predestination ;  the  Divine  predestination  must  be 
truly  one,  and  must  be  to  good  only :  and  such  (he  maintains)  is 
the  use  of  the  term,  not  only  in  Scripture,  but  in  Augustine's  own 
writings,  if  rightly  understood.  Yet  the  number  both  of  those  who 
shall  be  delivered  by  Christ  and  of  those  who  are  to  be  left  to  their 
wickedness  is  known,  and  may  be  said  to  be  predestined  ;  God  has 
circumscribed  the  wicked  by  his  law,  Avhich  brings  out  their  wicked- 
ness, while  it  acts  in  an  opposite  manner  on  the  good.  Scotus 
strongly  asserts  the  freedom  of  the  will  to  choose,  not  only  evil  (to 
which  Lupus  had  limited  it),  but  good ;  free-will  (he  says)  is  a  gift 
with  which  our  nature  is  endowed  by  God — a  good  gift,  although 
it  may  be  employed  for  evil ;  whereas  Gottschalk,  by  referring  all 
virtue  and  vice  to  predestination,  denies  both  the  freedom  of  the  will 
and  the  assistance  of  grace,  and  thus  falls  at  once  into  the  errors  of 
the  Pelagians  and  of  their  extreme  opponents."  *  Much  more  of  an 
interesting  and  ingenious  character  might  be  quoted  from  the  work 
of  Scotus ;  but,  though  it  convinced  King  Charles,  its  eflect  was,  on 
the  whole,  adverse  to  the  cause  which  it  defended,  from  its  philo- 
sophical subtlety  and  freedom  of  thought,  which  brought  upon 
Scotus  the  charges  of  Pelagianism,  Origenism,  and  other  heresies. 

§  18.  In  853  Ilincmar  held  another  council  at  Quiercy,  which 
jxissed  four  decrees,^  afiirming  that  "  man  fell  by  the  abuse  of  his 
free  will ;  that  Goil,  by  his  foreknowledge,  chose  some  whom  by  his 
grace  He  predestinated  to  life,  and  life  to  them :  but  as  for  those 
whom  He,  by  his  righteous  judgment,  left  in  their  lost  estate.  He 
did  not  predestinate  them  to  perish,  but  predestinated  punishment 
to  their  sin.  And  hereby  (it  is  said)  we  speak  of  only  one  i:)redesti- 
nation  of  God,  which  relates  either  to  the  gift  of  grace  or  to  the 
retribution  of  justice.  It  is  defined  that  our  free  will  was  lost  by 
the  Fall,  but  was  recovered  through  Christ ;  that  we  have  a  free  will 
to  good,  prevented  and  aided  by  grace ;  that  God  would  have  all 
men  to  be  saved,  and  that  Christ  suifcred  for  all ;  that  the  ruin  of 
those  who  perish  is  to  be  ascribed  to  their  own  desert."  ^ 

Though  Prudentius  of  Troyes  was  present  at  this  council  and 
signed  its  decrees,  he  afterwards  put  forth  four  counter-projwsitions ; 
and  Eemigius,  archbishoj)  of  Lyon,  who  was  a  subject  of  Lothair, 

•  Robertson,  vol.  li.  p.  r!ir>.  ^  Called  the  Capitula  Carisiaca. 

'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  317. 


570  CONTROVERSY  ON  PREDESTINATION.      Chap.  XXII. 

held  a  council  at  Valence,  which  condemned  the  opinions  of  John 
Scotus — contemjotuously  described  as  "porridge  of  the  Scots" — 
and  censured  the  four  articles  of  Quiercy  (855).  The  Frank  princes 
convened  a  large  council  at  Savonni^res,  a  suburb  of  Toul ;  but 
there  was  so  much  division  and  bitterness,  that  Eemigius  pro- 
posed, for  the  sake  of  peace,  the  adjournment  of  the  question  to 
another  council  (859).  The  result  was  that  no  final  decision  was 
come  to ;  but  a  council  held  at  Toucy,  near  Toul,  in  the  following 
year,  in  presence  of  Charles  the  Bald,  Lothair  II.,  and  Charles  of 
Provence,  approved  ,of  a  letter  drawn  up  by  Hincmar,  who  aftenvards^ 
spent  four  or  five  years  in  the  composition  of  a  great  work  on  the 
whole  controversy,  addressed  to  Charles  the  Bald.^ 

§  19.  Gottschalk,  deserted  by  his  own  friends,  who  regarded  his 
views  as  extreme,  remained  in  prison  twenty  years.  Pope  Nicolas  I. 
was  inclined  to  take  up  his  cause  ;  but  Hincmar  refused  to  appear  with 
him  before  the  synod  held  by  the  papal  legates  at  Metz  about  the 
marriage  of  Lothair  (863).  From  his  prison  he  continued  his 
charges  of  heresy  against  Hincmar,  who  had  changed  the  expression 
trina  Deltas,  in  a  hymn  of  the  Latin  Church,  into  sanda  Deitas, 
for  which  Gottschalk  accused  him  of  Sabcllianism,  and  Hincmar 
retorted  by  a  charge  of  Arianism.  In  this  controversy  also  Patramn 
and  Eaban  Maur  took  part,  the  former  opposing,  and  the  latter 
supporting  Hincmar;  and  the  result  was  that  the  "trina  Deitas" 
was  restored  in  the  liturgy  of  the  Gallican  Church.  According  to 
Hincmar,  Gottschalk  became  subject  to  strange  delusions ;  but, 
treated  as  he  was,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  he  applied  the  imagery  of 
the  Apocalypse  to  forebode  the  ruin  of  his  oppressor.  "When  his  end 
drew  near,  Hincmar  would  only  consent  to  his  receiving  the  last 
sacraments  if  he  would  sign  a  confession  of  the  truth  of  the  arch- 
bishop's doctrines  on  Predestination  and  the  Trinity.  This  Gotts- 
chalk vehemently  refused ;  and  he  died  without  the  sacraments, 
and  was  buried  in  unconsecrated  ground.^ 

•  Epistola  ad  Regem. 

^  "  The  Jesuits  are  stronj;  in  condemnation  of  him  ;  the  Jansenists  and 
Augustinian  Romanists  (as  the  authors  of  the  Jlid.  Litt.  iv.  '2(32),  with 
Protestant  writers  in  general,  are  favourable  to  his  orthodoxy,  and  sup- 
pose that  his  opinions  were  misunderstood.  (Gieseler,  II.  i.  138)."  Robert- 
son, vol.  ii.  p.  321. 


Chapel  of  St.  John  at  Poitiers,  probably  of  the  Tenth  Century. 


CHAPTEK  XXIII. 
THE  CHURCH  IN^  THE  TENTH  CENTURY. 

I  ROM    Tin:    DEATH    OF    POPE    JOHN    VIII.    TO    THE    DEATH    OF    POPE 

svLVi:sTEU  II.     A.D.  882 — 1003. 

§  1.  Chiiractfir  of  the  Tenth  Century  :  a  time  of  £;cneral  suflorinsj  and 
religious  decline — Invasion  of  the  Jjliu/i/ars  or  Ilim<]ariinis — State  of 
Italy.  §  2.  Fierce  contests  for  the  rai)al  chair — FORMOSCS — The  Em- 
peror Arnl'LF — Stephen  VI. — John  IX.  §  o.  Adalbert  of  Tuscany 
and  the  '•  Pornocracy  "  at  Rome — Popes  Sergus  111.  and  John  X. — 
The  Lmi)eror  Berengar.  §  4.  Pope  John  XI. — The  Patrician  Alberic 
— His  son  Octavian  becomes  Pope  Joiix  XII. — His  shameless  Character 
— Crowns  Otho  I.  Emperor — Restoration  of  the  Holy  Ronmn  Empire. 
§  5.  The  Emi)ire  and  the  Church — Increased  power  of  the  Church  in 
Ciermany — Motives  of  Otho.  §  0.  Weakened  hold  of  the  Empire  on 
Italy — Revolt  of  John  XII. — Council  held  by  Otho  at  Rome — Deposition 
of  John^Leo  YIII.  Pope.  §  7.  Return  and  Death  of  John  XII.— 
P>ENEDICT  V.  Antipo])e — Pope  John  XIII.  driven  out — Attempt  at  a 
Roman  Republic — Severity  of  Otho — Embassy  of  •  Liudprand  to  the 
Emperor   >'icephorl-s  II.  Piioc.vs — State  of  Constantinople,    §  8.  The 


572  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY.     Chap.  XXUI. 

Republican  party  under  Crescentius — Otiio  II.  at  Rome — His  defeat  by 
the  Saracens  and  death — Pope  JOHN  XV.  invites  the  aid  of  Otho  Hi. 
§  9.  Influence  of  Otho's  mother  Theophano  and  his  tutor,  Gqrbert — His 
absolutist  ideas,  and  dream  of  a  renovated  Rome — He  enters  Italy, 
and  ajjpoints  Bruno,  Gregory  V.,  the  first  German  Pope,  who  crowns 
him  Emperor — Revolt  of  Rome — Otho  puts  down  Crescentius  and  the 
Antipope.  §  10.  Death  of  Gregory  V. — Gerbert  made  Pope  —  His 
former  life;  his  learning  and  science.  §  11.  Gerbert's  visits  to  Italy, 
and  disgust  at  the  state  of  Rome — Case  of  Arnulf  of  Rheims — 
Council  of  St.  Basle — Contest  with  John  XV.  about  Papal  jurisdiction — 
Deposition  of  Arnulf — Gerbert  made  Archbishop  of  Rheims — Continued 
contest  with  .lohn  XV. —  Gerbert  goes  to  the  Court  of  Otho  III. — Restora- 
tion of  Arnulf — Pope  Gregory  V.  and  Robert  I.,  King  of  France — Vic- 
tories of  the  Papacy.  §  12.  Gerbert  made  Archbishop  of  Ravenna  and 
Pope  Sylvester  II. — Imperial  Designs  of  Otho  111. — His  early  death. 
§  13.  Millennary  epoch  of  Christianity — Expectation  of  the  end  of  the 
world.  §  14.  Imperial  reformation  of  the  Papacy — Pontificate  of  Syl- 
vester II. — His  suggestion  of  a  Crusade — His  death — Legends  about  his 
magical  arts.  §  15.  Summary  of  Eastern  history  during  the  Tenth 
Century. 

§  1.  The  successors  of  John  VIII.  brought  the  Papacy  to  the  lowest 
depth  of  degradation ;  and  indeed,  throughout  all  Christendom, 
the  tenth  century  is  one  of  the  darkest  periods  of  historj'.  The 
general  character  of  the  age  is  -well  described  by  Canon  Robert- 
son:^— "Never,  perhaps,  was  there  a  time  of  greater  misery  for 
most  of  the  European  nations ;  never  was  there  one  so  sad  and  dis- 
creditable for  religion.  The  immediate  necessities  which  pressed 
on  men  diverted  their  minds  from  study  and  speculation.  The 
clergy  in  general  sank  into  the  grossest  ignorance  and  disorder ;  the 
papacy  was  disgraced  by  infamies  of  which  there  had  been  no 
example  in  former  days." 

To  the  sufferings  inflicted  by  the  Northmen  and  Saracens  there 
was  now  added  the  inroad  of  a  new  swarm  of  fierce  barbarians,  the 
Magyars  or  Ihmgarians,  from  the  north  of  Asia,^  who  had  already 
established  themselves  on  the  Danube,  and  threatened  Constan- 
tinople. Invited  by  the  Emperor  Arnulf  to  aid  him  against  the 
Moravians,  tliey  poured  into  Germany,  Italy,  and  Provence,  de- 
stroying cities,  churches,  and  monasteries,'  and  causing   another 

«  Vol.  ii.  p.  401, 

*  The  Magyars  were  confounded  with  the  Huns,  like  whom  they  were 
nomad  horsemen  ;  but  they  belonged  to  the  Uijrian  race,  and  Hungary 
(which  they  conquered  in  889,  and  where  they  still  form  the  dominant 
population)  does  not  signify  the  land  of  the  Jluns,  but  of  the  Ugrians  or 
Urvjrinns  (in  German,  Ungarny. 

'  Among  the  cities  was  the  Lombard  capital  of  I'avia  ;  among  the 
monasteries,  that  of  St.  Gall. 


Cent.  X.  THK  PORNOCRACY  AT  ROME.  573 

l^raycr  to  be  added  to  the  Litany,  for  deliverance  "  from  the  arrows 
of  tlie  Huugariiius."  They  received  the  first  decisive  checks  from 
the  German  king,  Henry  the  Fowler  (924  and  933),  and  their 
power  was  broken  at  the  battle  of  Lechfeld  (955)  by  his  son, 
Utiio  I.,'  who  was  afterwards  the  great  restorer  of  the  empire 
(9G2-973).  Under  him,  and  his  followers  of  the  Saxon  line,  the 
kingdoms  of  Italy  and  Germany  were  again  united;  but,  while 
the  sovcreigQ  resided  in  Germany,  the  Italian  cities  had  to  care 
for  their  own  defence  against  the  tSaracen  and  Hungarian  invaders ; 
and  this  independent  action  gave  rise  to  the  famous  civic  republics 
of  lUily. 

§  2.  Throughout  this  century  the  papal  chair  was  the  object  of 
fierce  contests  or  shameful  patronage ;  and  the  Popes  who  lilled  it 
in  rapid  succession  were  oiten  removed  by  secret  practice  or  ojien 
violence.  Home  of  these  "  infallible  "  vicars  of  Christ  were  condemned 
by  their  successors  or  by  councils,  or  are  more  deeply  branded  by 
the  surer  verdict  of  history.  These  factious  of  Itomc  were  closely 
connected  with  the  rivalry  of  candidates  for  the  Empire.  For 
example.  Tope  Fokmosus  (891-896)  called'in  Amulf  to  his  aid 
against  the  lioman  factions,  and  crowned  him  Emperor.  Soon  after 
the  death  of  Formosus,  Stephen  Y1.'-  (896-7)  caused  his  body  to  be 
disinterred,  and  placed  in  the  full  pontifical  robe  in  the  papal  chair; 
and,  after  the  show  of  a  trial,  the  deceased  Pojic  was  condemned  for 
violations  of  canonical  rule,  his  body  was  stripped  of  its  vestments, 
dragged  through  the  streets  of  the  city,  and  thrown  into  the  Tiber. 
But  the  river  refused  to  receive  the  corpse,  and  other  miracles  (for 
in  that  age  miracles  were  always  ready  to  support  one  side  or  both) 
attested  the  innocence  of  Formosus,  when  his  body  was  carried  back 
to  St.  Peter's  after  the  murder  of  Stejjhen  (897),  whose  proceed- 
ings were  condemned  by  a  council  held  iu  the  following  year  by 
John  IX.    (Pope  from  898-900.) 

§  3.  On  the  departure  of  Arnulf  from  Italy,  the  factions  again 
broke  loose,  the  anti-German  party  recovered  the  ascendency  at 
Home,  aud  Adalbert,  Marquis  of  Tuscany,  became  master  of  the 
city.  During  the  lirst  half  of  the  tenth  century  the  government  of 
the  city  and  the  elections  to  the  papacy  were  in  the  hands  of  a  party 
significantly  called  the  "  iwrnocracy."  Adalbert's  mistress,  Theo- 
dora, a  wealthy  IJoman  widow,  with  her  two  daughters,  Tlieodora 
and  Marozia  (or  Mary),  as  beautiful  and  profligate  as  herself,  were 
enabled  to  fill  the  papal  chair  with  their  paramours,  their  children, 

•  The  proper  German  name  is  Orro,  but  historians  naturally  use  the 
Latin  form  (Jtho. 

*  Betweee  Formosus  and  Stephen,  liONlFACE  VI.  held  the  Papacy  for 
only  fifteen  days,  in  May  and  June  896. 

20* 


574  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY.      Chap,  XXHL 

and  their  grandchildren.'  The  first  of  this  vile  succession  was 
Sergius  hi.  (904-911),  the  paramour  of  JMarozia.  The  shameless 
elevation  of  John,  the  young  archbishop  of  Eavenna  and  paramour 
of  Theodora,  as  John  X.  (914-928),  was  followed  by  a  display  of 
energy  which  breaks  through  the  foul  darkness  of  this  age.  Having 
crowned  Berengar  emperor  (915),  in  order,  as  it  seems,  to  break 
the  power  of  the  Italian  nobles,  John  led  his  trooi)s  against  the 
Saracens  on  the  Garigliano,  and  drove  them  from  the  camp  whence 
they  had  long  ravaged  the  coasts  and  harassed  Eome.  But  when 
he  attempted  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  jwrnocracy,  the  partisans 
of  Marozia's  husband — Guy,  duke  of  Tuscany — seized  John  in  the 
Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  he  was  i)ut  to  death  in  prison. 

§  4.  John  XL  (931-930),  the  reputed  son  of  Marozia  and 
Sergius  II I.,^  was  restricted  to  the  functions  which  were  still  by 
unconscious  irony  called  spiritual,  while  the  government  of  Rome 
was  assumed  by  Marozia's  third  husband,  Hugh  the  Great,  king  of 
Aries.  But  after  a  short  time  her  son  Albcric  expelled  his  stepfather, 
shut  up  his  mother  and  the  Pope  in  prison,  and  held  a  tyrannical 
sway  over  Eome  for  above  twenty  j'ears,^  filling  the  papal  chair 
with  his  own  creatures.*  Albcric  was  succeeded  (954)  by  his  son 
Octavian,  a  youth  of  sixteen,  but  already  in  holy  orders,  who,  on  the 
death  of  Agapetus  II.,  assumed  the  papacy  by  the  title  of  John  XII. 
(955-963).« 

In  this  youth  of  eighteen  the  degradation  of  the  first  bishopric  of 
Christendom,  not  to  say  of  human  nature,  reached  a  depth  which  it 
remained  for  some  of  his  successors  to  prove  not  past  equalling.  One 
great  event  marks  his  pontificate — the  second  revival  of  the  Empire 
in  its  permanent  union  with  the  GeiTnau  kingdom,  and  iu  the  full 
character  of  the  Holy  Uoman  Empire." 

Since  his  accession  in  93G,  King  Otho  I.  had  made  Germany 
the  one  great  powerful  kingdom  of  Europe ;  while  Italy  was  torn 
by  factions  and  oppressed  bj^  the  Emperor  Berengar.  At  length, 
in  962,  the  Vo\)e  and  many  of  the  leading  churchmen  and  laity  of 

'  The  great  Roman  Catholic  annalist,  Baronius,  describes  this  series  of 
Popes  as  "  homines  monstruosi,  vita  turpissimi,  moribus  perditissimi, 
usquequaquc  fccdissimi." 

-  Some  make  him  the  son  of  Marozia  by  her  first  husband,  Alberic, 
Marquis  of  Camcrino,  father  of  Alberic,  the  Consul  of  Rome. 

^  Ills  title  is  variously  given  as  Senator,  Consul,  Patrician,  or  Prince  of 
the  Romans,  *  See  the  List  of  Poj)es. 

'  This  is  the  first  example  of  that  assumption  of  a  new  name  by  the 
Pope  on  his  consecration,  which  afterwards  became  the  constant  usage. 
The  civil  government  was  still  carricil  on  in  the  name  of  Octavian. 

"  The  best  exposition  of  this  whole  subject  is  given  in  Mr.  Bryce's  work 
already  roCerred  to.  'On  the  \\\A\  Koinan  Emiiire.' 


A.D.  962.  OTHO  I.  CROWNED  EMPEROR.  575 

Italy  invited  Otho  to  their  deliverance.  He  crossed  the  Alps  with 
a  powerful  army  of  his  Saxons.  At  Pavia  he  received  the  iron 
crown  of  Italy  ;  and  having,  on  his  way  to  Rome,  sworn  to  uphold 
the  privileges  of  the  Pope,  to  defend  the  jiatrimony  of  St.  Peter, 
and  to  respect  the  liberties  of  the  city,  he  was  crowned  by  John  at 
the  Feast  of  Candlemas,  by  the  title  of  Impeuator  Augustus, 
amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  whole  Roman  people,  whicli  were 
echoed  (says  an  annalist)  by  those  of  almost  the  whole  of  Europe.' 
(February  2nd,  9G2.) 

*'  The  details  of  his  election  and  coronation  are  unfortunately  still 
more  scanty  than  in  the  case  of  his  great  predecessor.  Most  of  our 
authorities  represent  the  act  as  of  the  Pope's  favour ;  yet  it  is  plain 
that  the  consent  of  the  people  was  still  thought  an  essential  jiart  of 
the  ceremony,  and  that  Otto  rested  after  all  on  his  host  of  conquer- 
ing Saxons.  Be  this  as  it  may,  there  was  neither  question  raised  nor 
opposition  made  in  Pome ;  the  usual  courtesies  and  promises  were 
made  between  Emperor  and  Pope,  the  latter  owning  himself  a  sub- 
ject, and  the  citizens  swore  for  the  future  to  elect  no  pontifl"  witliout 
Otto's  consent."^  Otho  appears  to  have  made  a  formal  confirmation 
of  the  donations  of  Pepin  and  Charles  to  the  sec  of  iiome.  The 
temporal  and  ecclesiastical  powers  jmt  each  its  own  construction  on 
the  whole  matter ;  and  while  the  imi^erial  authority  was  maintained 
for  the  present,  a  new  opening  was  made  for  pajial  claims  by  the 
circumstances  of  Otho's  coronation,  "  for  it  was  a  Pope  who  sum- 
moned him  to  Pome,  and  a  Pope  who  received  from  him  an  oath 
of  fidelity  and  aid."  * 

§  5.  By  the  coronation  of  Otho,  Germany  and  Italy  were  imited 
under  a  rule  which  was  even  more  distinctly  imperial  than  that 
of  Charles  the  Great,  and  a  closer  union  was  proclaimed  between 
Church  and  State,  under  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the  Pope  and 
the  secular  government  of  the  Emperor.  "  As  lord  of  the  world, 
Otto  was  Emiwror  north  as  well  as  south  of  the  Alps.  When  ho 
issued  an  edict,  he  claimed  the  ol)cdience  of  his  Teutonic  subjects  in 
both  capacities;  when  as  Emperor  he  led  the  armies  of  the  Gospel 
against  the  heathen,  it  was  the  standard  of  their  feudal  superior  that 
his  armed  vassals  followed  ;  when  he  founded  churches  and  appointed 
bishops,  he  acted  partly  as  suzerain  of  feudal  lands,  partly  as  pro- 

'  AntKjl.  Quedlinh.,  ann.  9'5'2.  Wr.  Bryoo  points  out  the  evident  desire 
implied  in  the  title  assumed  by  Otho,  to  merge  the  Kint;  in  tlio  Emjjeror 
through  all  his  dominions,  in  contrast  with  the  prominence  which  Charles 
gave  to  his  title  of  King  of  the  Franks.  "Charles,  son  of  the  Kipuarian 
allies  of  Probus,  had  been  a  Prankish  chieftain  on  the  Rhine  ;  Otto  the 
Saxon,  successor  of  the  Cheruscan  Arminius,  would  rule  his  native  Elbe 
with  a  power  borrowed  from  the  Tiber."    (P.  141.) 

«  Bryce,  pp.  95,  9(j.  »  Ibid.,  p.  170. 


67G  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY.      Chap.  XXHI. 

tcctor  of  the  faith,  charged  to  guide  the  Church  in  matters  temporal. 
Thus  the  assumption  of  the  imperial  crown  brought  to  Otho  as  its 
first  result  an  apparent  increase  of  domestic  peace ;  it  made  his 
position  by  its  historical  associations  more  dignified,  by  its  religious 
more  hallowed ;  it  raised  him  higher  above  his  vassals  and  above 
other  sovereigns ;  it  enlarged  his  prerogative  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
and  by  necessary  consequence  gave  to  ecclesiastics  a  more  important 
place  at  court  and  in  the  administration  of  government  than  they 
had  enjoyed  before.  Great  as  was  the  i)Ower  of  the  bishops  and 
abbots  in  all  the  feudal  kingdoms,  it  stood  nowhere  so  high  as  in 
Germany.  There  the  Emj^ieror's  double  position,  as  head  both  of 
Church  and  State,  required  the  two  organizations  to  be  exactly 
parallel.  In  the  eleventh  century  a  full  half  of  the  land  and  wealth 
of  the  country,  and  no  small  part  of  its  military  strength,  was  in  the 
hands  of  Churchmen :  their  influence  predominat-ed  in  the  diet ;  the  . 
Arch-chancellorship  of  the  Empire,  highest  of  all  oftices,  belonged  of 
right  to  the  Archbishop  of  Mentz,  as  primate  of  Germany.  It  was 
by  Otto,  who  in  resuming  the  attitude  must  repeat  the  policy  of 
Charles,  that  the  greatness  of  the  clergy  was  thus  advanced.  He  is 
commonly  aaid  to  have  wished  to  weaken  the  aristocracy  by  raising' 
up  rivals  to  them  in  the  hierarchy.  It  may  have  been  so,  and  the 
measure  was  at  any  rate  a  disastrous  one,  for  the  clergy  soon  approved 
themselves  not  less  rebellious  than  those  whom  they  were  to  restrain. 
But,  in  accusing  Otto's  judgment,  historians  have  often  forgotten  in 
what  position  he  stood  to  the  Church,  and  how  it  behoved  him, 
according  to  the  doctrine  received,  to  establish  in  her  an  order  like 
in  all  things  to  that  which  he  found  already  subsisting  in  the 
State."! 

§  6.  The  revived  Empire  was,  in  its  conception,  distinctly  Roman  ; 
but  this  grand  idea  became  the  source  of  its  greatest  troubles.  A 
Ca;sar  witii  his  scat  in  Germany  had  but  a  feeble  hold  of  Italy  ;  and 
at  Rome  itself  an  ever-present  Pope  had  a  manifest  advantage  over 
an  absent  Emperor;  besides  the  more  powerful  aj^jwal  which  a 
spiritual  authority  made  to  the  minds  of  men  throughout  all 
Christendom.  Otho  had  a  foretaste  of  these  difficulties  immediately 
after  his  coronation.  No  sooner  had  he  left  Rome  than  Jolm,  dis- 
gusted probably  at  finding  that  he  had  obtained  a  master  instead  of 
an  obedient  helper,  joined  the  party  of  the  rival  Emperor  Bcrengar 
and  his  son  Adalbert,  and  invited  the  heathen  Magyars  to  invade 
Germany.  With  the  news  of  these  plots,  complaints  were  carried  to 
Otho  of  the  Pope's  shameless  profligacy  and  contempt  for  all  the 
duties  and  even  decencies  of  his  sacred  office — nay,  for  Christianity 
itself.  Supported  by  the  anti-German  l)arty,  John-Octavian  resumed 
»  Bryce,  jip.  130,  140. 


A.D.  963.  POPE  JOHN  XII.  DEPOSED.  577 

his  claims  as  governor  of  independent  Rome,  and  shut  the  gates 
against  the  Emperor.  But,  not  bold  enough  to  stand  a  siege,  he 
fled  to  Adalbert  in  the  Campagaa ;  and  Otho,  as  temporal  head  of 
the  Church,  convened  a  synod  at  fSt.  Peter's  to  inquire  into  the 
charges  against  the  Poixj, 

We  have  a  graphic  account  of  the  proceedings  by  Jjiudprand,' 
bishop  of  Cremornc,  who  took  part  iu  them : — "  Peter,  cardinal 
priest,  rose  and  witnessed  that  he  had  seen  the  Pope  celebrate 
mass  and  not  himself  communicate.  John,  bishop  of  Narnia,  and 
John,  cardinal-deacon,  declared  that  they  had  seen  him  ordain  a 
deacon  in  a  stable,  neglecting  the  proper  formalities.  They  said 
further,  that  he  had  deliled  by  shameless  acts  of  vice  the  pontifical 
palace ;  tbat  he  had  openly  diverted  himself  with  hunting ;  had  put 
out  the  eyes  of  his  sjMritual  lather  Benedict ;  had  set  fire  to  houses; 
had  girt  himself  with  a  sword,  and  put  on  a  helmet  and  hauberk. 
All  present,  laymen  as  well  as  priests,  cried  out  that  he  had  drunk 
to  the  devil's  health;  that  in  tbrowing  the  dice  he  had  invoked  the 
help  of  Jupiter,  Venus,  and  other  demons ;  that  he  had  celebrated 
matins  at  uncanonical  lioui-s,  and  had  not  fortified  himself  by  making 
the  sign  of  the  cross." 

In-  answer  to  the  solemn  adjuration  of  the  Emperor,  all  the 
clergy  and  the  people  present  bound  themselves  by  an  anathema 
to  the  truth  of  these  charges  and  many  more ;  and  a  respectful 
letter  was  sent  to  John,  asking  him  to  appear  and  clear  himself  of 
the  accusations  by  his  own  oath,  supported  by  compurgators.  His 
answer  was  in  curious  Latin,  which  may  be  literally  translated  as 
follows : — "  John  the  bishop,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to 
all  the  bishops.  We  have  heard  tell  that  you  wish  to  set  up  another 
Pojie :  if  you  do  this,  by  Almighty  God  I  will  excommunicate  you, 
so  that  you  shall  not  have  power  to  say  the  mass  or  to  ordain  no 
one."  A  second  letter  was  addressed  to  Jobn,  who  could  not  be 
found,  .as  he  was  away  liunting — a  practice  which  Avas  regarded  as 
among  his  most  heinous  oflences.  As  he  failed  to  apjiear,  the  sj^nod 
assented  by  acclamation  to  the  Emperor's  demand  for  his  deposition 
from  the  papacy,  and  Leo  VIII.  (9G3-9G5),  chief  secretary  to  the 
see,  and  as  yet  only  a  layman,  was  hastily  appointed  in  John's  place. 
The  citizens  of  Rome  engaged  for  the  future  to  elect  no  Pope  without 
the  Emperor's  consent. 

'  LiudpranJ  is  the  princip.nl  authority  for  the  history  of  this  time,  and, 
thouiih  a  strong  partisan  and  much  given  to  satire,  he  is,  on  the  whole,  a 
credil)le  witness.  "His  chief  work  has  the  title  of  .An<(j/)orfosi's,  that  is, 
Requital,  having  been  written,  as  he  says  (iii.  1),  with  a  view  of  at  once 
avenging  himself  on  Berengar  and  Willa,  and  repaying  credit  to  those  who 
had  benefited  his  family  and  himself."  (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  413.)  The 
extract  in  the  text   is  t.iken  from  Pryre,  i)p.  147,  14«. 


578  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY.        Chap.  XXIII. 

§  7.  The  fickle  Roman  people  attempted  a  rising  even  while 
Otho  was  still  in  the  city  ;  and,  after  his  departure  in  pursuit  of 
Adalbert,  tliey  re-admitted  John.*  Leo  was  deposed  by  a  synod ; 
and  when  John  was  killed  by  an  injured  husband,'  they  elected 
Benedict  V.  (May-June,  964),  who  must  be  regarded  only  as  an 
Anti-]X)pe.  Otho  returned  and  starved  the  city  into  a  surrender, 
Benedict,  deposed  by  another  synod,  was  banished  to  Hamburg ; 
and  the  Emperor  obtained  from  Leo  a  confimiation  of  his  veto  on 
all  papal  elections  (9G5).  Leo  died  in  the  same  year  ;  and  his  suc- 
cessor, John  Xin.-(965-972),  was  driven  from  Borne  three  months 
later  bj^  a  party  who  aimed  at  setting  up  a  republic  independent 
alike  of  Emperor  and  Pope.  For  the  third  time  Otho  came  to  Bome, 
determined  to  put  down  rebellion  by  signal  severity.  Thirteen 
of  the  republican  leaders  were  put  to  death,  including  the  twelve 
tribunes ;  the  two  consuls  were  banished  to  Germany ;  the  forms  of 
a  republic  were  entirely  suppressed,  and  the  city  was  placed  under 
the  government  of  the  Pope,  as  the  viceroy  of  the  Emperor. 

These  severities  were  made  by  the  Byzantine  Emi>eror,  Nice- 
PHORUS  IL  Phocas  (963-969),  the  ground  of  bitter  reijroaches,  when 
Liudprand  went  as  ambassador  to  Constantinople  to  ask  the  hand 
of  tlie  Princess  Theophano  for  the  son  of  Otho;^  but  the  bishop 
boldly  answered  that  his  master  had  not  invaded  Rome  as  a  tyrant, 
but  had  rescued  the  city  from  tyrants  and  miscreants.  AVhen  Kice- 
phorus,  vaunting  the  superiority  of  Greek  theology  over  German 
rudeness,  asked  sneeringly  if  there  liad  ever  been  any  council  held 
in  Saxon}^  Liudprand  retorted,  "  Where  diseases  are  most  rife, 
there  are  the  most  remedies  ;  and  as  all  sorts  of  heresies  have  had 
their  birth  among  the  Greeks,  so  it  was  necessary  they  should 
have  councils  of  the  Church  to  set  them  right."  He  gives  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  vice  and  weakness  of  the  Byzantine  court. 

§  8.  On  the  death  of  Otho  the  Great,  the  republican  party  again 
made  head  at  Rome  under  the  consul  Crescentius,  a  reputed  son 
or  grandson  of  John  X.  and  one  of  the  'J'heodoras.^  Otho  II.  (973- 
983)  restored  the  imperial  authority  at  Rome  (981) ;  but,  in 
attcmjiting  to  conquer  Southern  Italy,  he  received  a  decisive  defeat 
from  the  t^aracens,  and  died  soon  after  his  return  to  Rome.     It  is 

'  Liudprand  ascribes  his  death  to  a  blow  on  the  temples  from  the  devil, 
thereby,  remarks  Mr.  Bryce,  "creiliting  with  but  little  of  his  wonted  clever- 
ness the  supposed  author  of  .John's  death,  who  might  well  have  desired  a 
long  life  for  so  useful  a  servant." 

^  Afterwards  the  Emperor  Otho  II. 

'  'Ihe  accounts  of  the  republican  insurrections  at  Rome  are  confused, 
some  making  only  one  Crescentius,  a  grandson  of  John 'X.  and  Theodora; 
others  making  two,  the  father,  who  headed  the  insurrection  after  the  death 
of  Otho  the  (ireat,  and  the  son,  who  rebelled  against  Otho  III. 


A.D.  yy6.  OTHO  111.  A\l>  GREGORY  V.  o/U 

needless  to  dwell  on  the  rivalries,  depositions,  and  murders  of 
successive  pontifl's,  till  Joun  XV.  (985-996)  invited  tlie  aid  of 
Otho  III.  (983-1002). 

§  9.  This  famous  prince,  left  an  infant  of  five  years  old  at  his 
father's  death,  was  brought  up  under  the  care  of  his  mother  Theo- 
phano  and  Willigis,  archbishop  of  Mainz,  one  of  the  few  high 
ecclesiastics  of  that  age  not  corrupted  by  family,  ■wealth,  and  a 
life  of  pleasure  and  ambition.^  On  reaching  his  fifteenth  year 
(994),  Otho  invited  to  his  court  the  learned  and  scientific  Gerbcrt, 
of  Eheims,'^  by  whose  tuition  he  profited  so  far  as  to  win,  in  that 
age  of  lay  ignorance,  the  epithet  of  the  Prodigy. 

Otho's  Greek  mother  had  instilled  into  him  no  small  share  of  the 
absolutist  ideas  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  while  his  tutor  had  imbued 
his  mind  with  the  hope  of  a  renovated  Rome.  "  It  was  his  design, 
now  that  the  solemn  millennial  era  of  the  foundation  of  Christianity 
had  arrived,  to  renew  the  majesty  of  the  city,  and  to  make  her 
again  the  capital  of  a  world-embracing  empire,  victorious  as  Tra- 
jan's, despotic  as  Justinian's,  holy  as  Constantine's.  His  young 
and  visionary  mind  was  too  much  dazzled  by  the  gorgeous  fancies 
it  created,  to  see  the  world  as  it  Avas  ;  Germany  rude,  Italy  unquiet, 
Rome  corrupt  and  faithless."  ^ 

On  taking  the  government  into  his  own  hands,  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  Otho  marched  into  Italy  to  free  the  Pope  from  the  domina- 
tion of  Crescentius,  and  to  receive  the  imperial  crown.  He  was 
met  at  Ravenna  by  messengers  bringing  the  news  of  John's  death 
and  an  invitation  from  the  imiwrial  party  to  nominate  his  succes- 
sor,— a  remarkable  extension  of  the  imperial  prerogative  to  a 
sovereign  who  was  not  emperor,  as  he  was  not  crowned.*  Otho 
named  his  cousin  and  chaplain,  Bruno,  the  first  Oerman  Pope,  who 
took  the  title  of  Gregory  V.  (990-999),  and  crowned  Otho  Em- 
peror on  Ascension  Day,  990.  In  the  hope  of  reconciling  X'^rties 
at  Rome,  Gregory  obtained  from  his  kinsman  the  pardon  of 
Crescentius. 

Rut  the  Roman  f\ictions  were  irreconcilable,  and  events  moved 
in  the  old  cycle.  No  sooner  was  the  Emperor's  back  turned  than 
Crescentius  expelled  Gregory  and  set  up  John,  bishop  of  Tiaceuza, 
as  Anti-pope.  John — who  was  by  Inrth  a  Calabrian  and  so  a  sub- 
ject of  the  Byzantine  emperor,  and  who  had  been  chaplain  to  the 
Empress  Theophano,  and  godfather  to  Otho  III.  and  Pope  Gre- 
gory— showed  a  desire  to  counteract  the  schemes  of  Otho  by  placing 

'  Being  the  son  of  a  wheelwright,  Willigis  adopted  a  wheel  for  the  arms 
of  his  see,  with  the  motto,  "  Willigis,  forget  not  thine  origin." 
-  See  below,  §  11.  *  P.ryce,  p.  159. 

*  The  coronation  at  Rome  was  essential  to  the  full  imperial  dignity. 


58U  THE  CHL'UCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY.       Ciiap.  XXHI. 

Kome  under  the  Eastern  Empire.  Otbo,  recalled  by  the  news 
from  an  expedition  against  the  Slavonians,  put  Crescentius  to 
death,  and  inflicted  cruel  punishment  and  public  degradation  on  the 
Anti-pope.^ 

§  10.  On  the  sudden  and  mysterious  death  of  Gregory  V.,  at  the 
age  of  only  thirty,  Otho  conferred  the  papacy  on  his  tutor  Gerbert, 
who  took  the  title  of  Sylvester  II.  (999-1003),  as  if  to  suggest  a 
parallel  to  the  relations  between  Constantine  and  Sylvester  I. 

Gerbert  was  born  of  humble  parents  in  Auvergne,  about  the 
middle  of  the  century.  Having  been  brought  up  in  the  monastery 
of  Aurillac,  and  having  attended  other  French  schools,  he  was  sent 
by  his  abbot  into  Sj^ain,  and  there  studied  the  mathematical  and 
physical  sciences ;  whether  .under  Arab  teachers  themselves,  or 
through  Christians  who  had  learned  from  them,  is  uncertain.  At 
the  school  of  Rheims,  of  which  Gerbert  became  the  chief  teacher,  he 
introduced  the  study  of  ihathematics,  the  decimal  notation,  and  the 
Arabic  numerals.  His  mechanical  knowledge  and  ingenuity  were 
proved  by  the  construction  of  more  than  one  clock,  of  some  astro- 
nomical instruments,  and  (it  is  said)  of  an  organ  blown  by  steam. 
His  physical  science  gained  him  the  ill  repute  of  witchcraft,  which 
clung  to  his  memory  after  death. 

§  11.  Before  his  final  settlement  at  Rheims,  Gerbert  had  paid 
two  visits  to  Rome,  and  (like  Luther  five  centuries  later)  he  received 
an  impression  of  the  state  of  society  and  religion  there  which  bore 
fruit  in  his  later  course.  "  All  Italy,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,^  "  ap- 
pears to  me  a  Rome ;  and  the  morals  of  the  Romans  are  the  horror 
of  the  world."  As  secreta.ry  to  Adalbert,  archbishop  of  Rheims, 
he  took  an  active  part  in  political  affairs,  at  the  great  crisis  when 
the  sceptre  of  the  Carlings  was  passing  to  the  line  of  Capet,  Adal- 
bert wished  him  to  be  his  successor  (989) ;  but  Arnulf,  an  illegiti- 
mate son  of  one  of  the  last  Carolingian  kings,  obtained  the  see  from 
Hugh  Capet  by  a  promise  of  faithful  service,  confirmed  by  a  most 
stringent  oath,  which  was  scarcely  taken  when  Arnulf  betrayed 
Rheims  to  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine.  Arnulf  was  called  to  answer 
for  his  treason  before  a  council  held  at  the  monastery  of  St.  Basle 
(Basolus),  near  Rheims  (991). 

The  proceedings  arc  memorable  for  the  opposition  of  the  council 
to  the  claim  of  jurisdiction  in  the  case  of  a  metropolitan,  Avhich- 
was  put  forward  by  Pope  John  XV.,  though  he  had  been  applied 
to  in  vain  for  directions  before  the  synod  was  convened.  Tlie 
anti-Romanist  view  was  urged  Avith  great  force  and  boldness  by 

*  For  the  various  accounts  of  the  surrender  of  Crescentius,  when  be- 
sieged by  Otho  in  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  of  the  fate  of  John,  see 
Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  421.  «  Epist.  40. 


A.D.  999.       GERBERT,  POPE  SYLVESTER  II.  581 

another  Arnulf,  bishop  of  Orleans.  "  He  denied  the  power  of 
the  Koman  pontiflf  by  his  silence  to  lay  to  sleep  the  ancient 
laws  of  the  Church,  or  by  his  sole  authority  to  reverse  them  : 
if  it  were  so,  there  would  really  be  no  laws  to  rely  on.  He  en- 
larged on  the  enormities  of  recent  popes,  and  asked  how  it  was 
possible  to  defer  to  the  sentence  of  such  monsters — destitute 
as  they  were  of  all  judicial  qualities,  of  knowledge,  of  love,  of 
character,  —  very  Antichrists  sitting  in  the  temple  of  God.  It 
would  (he  said)  be  far  better,  if  the  dissensions  of  princes  would 
permit,  to  seek  a  decision  from  the  learned  and  pious  bishops  of 
Belgic  Gaul  and  Germany,  than  from  the  venal  and  polluted  court 
of  Home."' 

In  accordance  with  the  jurisdiction  thus  claimed,  Arnulf  of 
Rheims  was  brought  before  the  council ;  and,  after  abject  en^ 
treaties  to  be  spared  death  and  mutilation,  he  read  an  abdication 
of  his  archbishopric,  and  resigned  the  ensigns  of  his  spiritual  au- 
thority to  the  bishops  and  those  of  his  temporalities  to  the  king. 
Arnulf  was  imprisoned  at  Orleans,  and  Gerbert,  who  had  taken  no 
part  in  these  proceedings,  was  appointed  his  successor.  The  Council 
wrote  to  John  XV.  with  much  deference,  excusing  their  having 
acted  without  his  authority  on  the  ground  that  their  application  to 
him  had  been  so  long  unanswered.  John  summoned  them  to  Rome 
for  a  new  trial  of  the  case,  and  ordered  them  to  reinstate  Arnulf; 
and  they  themselves,  with  the  new  archbishop,  were  suspended 
meanwhile  from  their  ecclesiastical  functions.  But  a  new  synod  at 
Chela  ^  maintained  the  decisions  of  8t.  Basle ;  and  Gerbert  wrote 
letters  in  all  directions,  ina  tone  of  decided  opiwsition  to  the  "papal 
claim  of  jurisdiction.  The  danger  seemed  pressing  of  a  complete 
schism  between  the  Gallican  and  Roman  Churches ;  but  the  Pope 
was  able,  chiefly  by  means  of  the  monks,  to  bring  Gerbert  into 
suspicion  with  the  French  king  and  people,  so  that  (as  he  himself 
v.rites)  there  was  a  cry  even  for  his  blood.  At  this  juncture  he 
received,  and  gladly  accepted,  the  invitation  of  Otho  III.,  but 
without  giving  up  his  bisho{)ric. 

After  some  further  controversy,  a  council  held  at  I'heims  declared 
in  favour  of  Arnulf's  right  to  the  see  (995) ;  but  he  was  kept  in 
prison  till  Robert  I.,  the  son  and  successor  of  Hugh  Capet,  released 
him  as  a  means  of  obtaining  the  sanction  of  Pope  Gregory  V.  to  his 
uncanonical  marriage  with  Bertha  of  Burgundy.  On  this  jioint, 
however,  the  Pope  was  firm,  and  Robert  was  compelled  to  give  up 

'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  424.  The  application  to  the  Popes  of  the  name 
Antichrist  and  of  St.  Paul's  description  of  the  Man  of  Sin  (2  Thess.  ii.  4) 
are  noteworthy  at  this  time. 

-  Apparently  Chelles,  between  Paris  and  Meaux. 


582  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY.     Chap.  XXHI. 

his  wife  (998).  Thus  the  papacy  won  a  twofold  victory  in  France,  by 
maintaining  its  right  to  enforce  canonical  discipline  on  the  sovereigns 
of  a  new  and  powerful  dynasty,  and  the  necessity  of  its  consent  to 
the  deposition  of  a  metropolitan.  This  point  had  been  yielded  in 
principle,  even  by  Hincmar ;  and  the  recent  contest  had  sprung 
from  the  Pope's  neglect  of  the  application  from  the  French  bishops. 
"  But,  not  content  with  this,  the  Popes  and  their  advocates  claimed 
that  right  of  exclusive  judgment  over  all  bishops  which  was  asserted 
for  the  papacy  by  the  false  decretals  ;  and  the  result  was  therefore 
more  valuable  for, the  Roman  see  than  it  would  have  been  if  the 
Popes  had  only  put  forward  such' claims  as  were  necessary  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  interest  in  the  case  which  was  immediately 
before  theni."^ 

§  12.  About  the  same  time  that  Arnulf  was  reinstated  at  Rheims, 
Otho  III.  conferred  on  Gerbert  the  archbishopric  of  Ravenna  (998), 
whence  he  Avas  called  in  the  following  year  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter 
as  Pope  Sylvester  II.  In  this  elevation  of  his  tutor  the  Emperor 
clearly  meant  to  secure  a  fellow-labourer,  in  the  highest  spiritual 
place,  for  carrying  out  his  dream  of  restoring  the  Empire  of  Rome  on 
the  surer  foundation  of  religion.  That  idea  is  expressed  in  the  words 
of  one  of  his  edicts :  "  AVe  have  ordained  this  in  order  that,  the 
Church  of  God  being  freely  and  firmly  established,  our  empire  may 
be  advanced  and  the  crown  of  our  knighthood  triumph  ;  that  the 
ix)wer  of  the  Roman  people  may  be  extended  and  the  commonwealth 
be  restored."-  His  seals  bear  the  legend  Renovatio  Imperii  Pioma- 
nm-um ;  and  he  intended  to  restore  the  forms  of  the  old  Republic, 
but  under  the  reality  of  a  Byzantine  despotism.  He  built  himself  a 
palace  on  the  Aventine,  and  constituted  a  government  of  Rome 
under  a  patrician,  a  prefect,  and  a  body  of  judges,  who  were  com- 
manded to  recognise  no  law  but  Justinian's,  and,  as  bidden  by  the 
formula  of  their  appointment,  "  with  this  code  to  judge  Rome  and 
the  Leonine  city  and  the  whole  world." 

But  the  vain  attempt  to  revive  the  imperial  grandeur  of  Rome 
only  weakened  Otlio  at  the  true  seat  of  his  empire  in  Germany ;  and 
his  early  death  was  perliaps  not  so  much  the  frustration  of  his 
schemes,  as  his  own  deliverance  from  ruin.^     "  Otto  is  in  one  respect 

*  Robertson,  voh  ii.  p.  430. 

*  Bryce,  p.  101.  "To  excliule  the  claims  of  the  Greeks,  he  used  the 
title  liomanoi-um  Imperator,  instead  of  the  simple  Imperator  of  his  prede- 
cessors." 

'  Otho  HI.  died  at  Paterno,  near  Civita  Castellann,  in  his  twenty-second 
year  (,Ian.  24-,  1002),  probably,  as  the  German  chroniclers  say,  of  small-pox  ; 
but  later  Italian  writers  tell  the  more  romantic  tale,  that  Stejihania,  the 
widow  of  Crescentius,  avenged  her  husband's  death  by  ensnaring  the  young 
Emperor  l)y  her  beauty,  and  ensuring  his  slow  death  by  means  of  a  poisoned 
jjair  of  glove3. 


A.D.  1002-3.  DEATHS  OF  OTHO  111.  AND  SYLVESTER  II.    583 

more  memorable  than  any  who  went  before  or  came  after  him. 
None  save  he  desired  to  make  the  seven-hilled  city  again  the  scat 
of  dominion,  reducing  Germany  and  Lombardy  and  Greece  to 
their  rightful  place  of  subject  jirovinces.  No  one  else  so  forgot  the 
present  to  live  in  the  light  of  the  ancient  order :  no  other  soul 
was  so  possessed  by  that  fervid  mysticism  and  that  reverence  for 
the  glories  of  the  past,  whereon  rested  the  idea  of  the  mediaival 
empire."  * 

§  13.  The  exaltation  of  mind  which  prompted  Otho's  schemes, 
and  the  subsequent  depression  into  which  he  seems  to  have  fallen 
before  his  death,  may  be  connected  with  the  like  feelings  that  pre- 
vailed throughout  Christendom  on  the  completion  of  the  millennary 
cycle  from  the  coming  of  Christ,  which  many  expected  to  be  the 
eix)ch  of  Ilis  second  advent.  "  The  preamble,  '  Whereas  the  end  of 
the  world  drawetli  near,'  which  had  been  common  in  donations  to 
churches  and  monasteries,  now  assumed  a  new  and  more  urgent 
significance  ;  and  the  belief,  that  the  long  expectation  Avas  at  length 
to  be  accomplished,  did  much  to  revive  the  iwwer  and  wealth  of  the 
clergy,  after  the  disortlers  and  losses  of  the  centurJ^  The  nrinds  of 
men  were  called  away  from  the  ordinary  cares  and  employments  of 
life  ;  even  our  knowledge  of  history  has  suffered  in  consequence, 
since  there  was  little  inclination  to  bestow  labour  on  the  chronicling 
of  events,  when  no  posterity  was  expected  to  read  the  records. 
Some  ])lunged  into  desperatfc  recklessness  of  living ;  an  eclipse  of  the 
sun  or  of  the  moon  was  the  signal  for  multitudes  to  seek  a  hiding- 
place  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth  ;  and  crowds  of  pilgrims 
flocked  to  Palestine,  where  the  Saviour  was  expected  to  appear  for 
judgment."^ 

§  14.  One  part  only  of  Otho's  work  bore  lasting  fruit,  but  of  a 
kind  directly  opposite  to  his  visions  of  a  revived  empire.  "What  he 
did  revive  at  liomewas  the  character  and  consequently  the  authority 
and  power  of  the  papacy,  by  the  appointment,  first  of  Bruno,  and 
still  more  by  that  of  Gerbert.  "  With  the  substitution  of  these 
men  for  the  profligate  priests  of  Italy,  began  that  Teutonic  reform  of 
the  jiapacy,  which  raised  it  from  the  abyss  of  the  tenth  century  to 
the  point  where  Ilildebrand  found  it.  The  emperors  were  working 
the  rain  of  their  power  by  their  most  disinterested  acts.''  ^ 

Sylvester  II.  survived  his  imperial  pupil  and  patron  little  more 
than  a  year,  dying  in  May  1003.  The  former  champion  of  the 
French  Church  against  the  papacy  was  worsted,  as  Vope,  in  a  contest 
with  Willigis,  the  metropolitan  of  Germany,  on  a  question  of 
episcopal  jurisdiction,  the  details  of  which  need  not  bo  related. 

Sylvester  first  foreshadowed  the  great  enterprise  of  the  Crusades. 

'  Bryce,  p.  1G3.  *  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  431  '  Bryce,  p.  IGO. 


584  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTQRV.       Chap.  XXHI. 

Moved  by  the  complaints  made  by  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  City  of 
their  sufferings  from  the  Saracens,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
universal  Church,  in  the  name  of  Jerusalem,  asking  for  sympathy 
and  for  aid  by  gifts  or  by  arms.  That  his  heart  was  set  upon  the 
enterprise  may  be  inferred  from  one  of  the  many  legends  by  which 
Gerbert's  enemies  branded  his  memory  with  the  imputation  of 
forbidden  arts.^  He  had  fabricated  a  brazen  head,  which  gave 
oracular  answers,  of  course  by  the  power  of  evil  spirits,  who  have 
always  been  strangely  credited  with  foreknowledge.  When  he 
asked  this  oracle,  "  Shall  I  bo- apostolic  pontiff  ?"  it  answered,  "  Yes !" 
When  he  asked  again,  "  Shall  I  die  before  I  sing  mass  in  Jerusalem  ?" 
it  answered,  "No-!"  But  the  delusive  condition  was  fulfilled  when 
the  Pope  said  mass  in  the  basilica  of  Santa  Croce  in  Oerusalemme 
at  liome? 

§  15.  For  the  history  of  the  Eastern  Church  in  the  tenth  century, 
the  following  summary  will  suffice : — "  The  Greek  Church  con- 
tinued to  rest  on  the  doctrines  and  i^ractices  established  by  the 
councils  of  former  times.  The  worship  of  images  was  undisturbed. 
The  empire  underwent  frequent  revolutions,  marked  by  the  perfidy, 
the  cruelty,  the  ambition,  regardless  of  the  ties  of  nature,  with 
which  its  history  has  already  made  us  familiar  ;  but  the  only  events 
which  need  be  here  mentioned  are  the  victories  gained  over  the 
Saracens  by  Nicephoeus  Phocas  (a.d.  963-969),  and  by  his  mur- 
derer and  successor,  John  Tzimisces  (a.d.  969-976).  By  these 
princes  Crete  and  Cyprus  were  recovered,  and  -the  arms  of  the 
Greeks  were  carried  even  as  far  as  Bagdad.  And,  although  their 
more  distant  triumphs  had  no  lasting  effect,  the  empire  retained 
some  recompense  for  its  long  and  bloody  warf\xre  in  the  possession  of 
Antioch,  with  Tarsus,  Mopsuestia,  and  other  cities  in  Cilicia."^ 

'  Besides  the  prevailing  suspicion  with  which  all  natural  science  v;as 
regarded  in  that  darkest  of  the  so-called  "  dark  ages,"  Gerbert  was  obnoxious 
to  the  majority  of  ecclesiastics,  first  for  his  resistance  to  Roman  assump- 
tions, and  afterwards  as  the  chief  papal  representative  of  the  Empire. 

-  The  story  is  told,  among  other  wonderful  legends  about  Gerbert  and 
his  magical  practices,  by  William  of  Malmesbury  (^Gesta  Eegum,  lib.  ii. 
p.  283),  and  with  more  romantic  details  by  Walter  Mapes  (Z)e  Nugis  Curial. 
pp.  170-17(3,  ed.  Camden  Society).  The  like  ambiguous  prophecy  of  dying 
m  Jerusalem  is  related  of  Robert  Guiscard,  besides  the  story,  so  well  known 
from  Shakspere,  of  the  death  of  Henry  IV.  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  at 
Westminster. 

^  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  403. 


Catbcdi'ul  at  Tchernigov,  near  Kiev,  founded  a.d.  1024. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


CONVERSION    OF    HEATHEN    NATIONS    DURING    THE 
NINTH,  TENTH,  AND  FOLLOWING  CENTURIES. 

§  1.  Methods  used  for  the  Spread  of  Christianity — Organization  of  the  new 
National  Churches.  §  2.  The  ScANDiXAViAX  Nations — Plans  of  Charles 
the  Great  and  Louis — Baptism  of  Harold  the  Dane.  §  3.  Jlission  of 
Anskar  to  Denmark  and  Sweden  —  Archbishopric  of  Hamburg  and 
Bremen.  §  4.  Progress  under  Eric  I.  and  EricH.  of  Denmark  and  Olaf  I. 
of  Sweden.  §  5.  Death  and  Character  of  Anskar — Rimbert,  liis  Successor. 
§  6.  Gorm  the  Old — Archbishop  Unni — Harold  Blaatand,  Sweyn,  and 
Canute — Full  establishment  of  Christianity  in  Denmark.  §  7.  Labours 
of  Unni  in  Sweden — King  Olaf  Stotkunung — English  Missionaries — Ino-e — 
St.  Eric — Finland  and  Lapland.  §  8.  Christianity  in  Norway — Haco  the 
Good — He  is  compelled  to  conform  to  Heathenism.  §  9.  Olaf  Tryggveson 
forces  Christianity  on  his  subjects — His  Death  and  legendary  fame. 
§  10.  Olaf  Haroldson  pursues  the  same  course — Destruction  of  the  Image 
of  Thor — His  Death  and  Canonization — Canute — St.  Magnus  the  Good. 
§  11.  The  Slavonian  Nations — Moravia — Jlission  of  Cyril  and  Methodius 
— Use  of  the  Slavonic  Language — Methodius  made  archbishop — Troubles 
with  the  Germans — Conquest  of  Moravia.  §  12.  Conversion  of  the 
Bohemians — Borziwoi,  Ludmilla,  and  Wenceslav — Boleslav  the  Cruel 
and  Boleslav  the  Pious — St.  Adalbert,  Bishop  of  Prague — The  Slavonic 
and  Roman  Liturgies      §  13.  Conversion  of  the  Poles — Bishopric  of  Posen 


686  THE  NORTHERN  NATIONS.  Chap.  XXIV. 

and  Archbishopric  of  Magdeburg — Poland  subjected  to  the  See  of  Rome 
— Casimir — St.  Stanislaus.  §  14.  Conversion  of  ^?<ssi« — Vladimir  and 
Yaroslav.  §  15.  Conversion  of  the  Magyars  and  Slavonians  o{  J/imgary 
— St.  Stepiiex — His  marriage  with  Gisela  and  alliance  with  Otho  III. — 
Hungary  made  a  Kingdom — The  Church  of  Hungary — Extinction  of 
Paganism  by  St.  Ladislaus.  §  16.  Christianity  among  the  Wends — 
Archbishopric  of  Magdeburg — The  Christian  King  Gottschalk — Heathen 
Reaction  —  German  Conquests  —  Missionaries  and  Bishoprics.  §  17. 
Pomerania  subjected  to  Poland — Unsuccessful  Mission  of  Bernard  — 
Pomerania  christianized  by  Otho  archbishop  of  Bamberg — Conquest  and 
nominal  Conversion  of  Riigen.  §  18.  The  Lettish  Tribes:  Livonia, 
JEsthonia,  and  Courland. — The  Brethren  of  the  Sword.  §  19.  Prussia 
subdued  by  the  Teutonic  Knights.  §  20.  Late  Conversion  of  the 
Lithuanians. 

§  1.  The  completion  of  the  first  Christian  millennium  marks  also 
the  epoch  at  which  Christianity  had  reached  nearly  all  the  nations 
of  Europe ;  though  its  profession  was  only  fully  established  in  the 
course  of  three  centuries  more.  We  purposely  say  its  "profession," 
for  we  must  still  bear  in  mind  the  difference  between  the  simple 
primitive  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  hearers  who  received  it  by  the 
mind  and  heart,  and  its  propagation  by  the  joower  of  the  sword,  by 
political  alliances,  or  by  marriages  of  Christian  princesses  with  bar- 
barian kings,  who  made  their  subjects  follow  their  adoption  of  a 
new  religion.  But  these  rougher  methods  of  breaking  the  soil  of 
heathenism  were  followed  by  the  sowing  of  the  seeds  of  a  purer 
faith  through  tlie  labours  of  missionaries,  who  generally  made  the 
convents  the  head-quarters  of  their  efforts. 

One  result  of  this  course  of  proceeding,  as  we  have  had  occasion 
to  show  fully  in  the  case  of  England,  was  that  Christianity  was 
established,  in  each  new  field  that  it  won,  in  the  organized  form 
into  which  it  had  grown  in  the  Western  or  Eastern  Church.  In 
the  West  (with  which  we  are  now  specially  concerned)  it  was  the 
policy,  both  of  the  Church  and  the  secular  powers — in  fact,  it  was 
the.  natural  development  of  the  idea  of  the  Holy  Empire — that  each 
nation  newly  christianized  should  be  united  to  one  of  the  great 
metropolitan  sees.  Thus  Mainz,  founded  as  we  have  seen  for  the 
converted  Germans,  became  the  metroiwlis^  of  the  Bohemians  also, 
Passau  and  Salzburg  of  the  Hungarian  tribes,  Magdeburg  of  the 
Poles  and  the  north-eastern  Slavonians,  Hamburg  and  Bremen  of 
the  Scandinavians  and  other  tribes  upon  the  Baltic. 

'  It  should  be  remembered  that  this  word  has  one  definite  sense  in 
ecclesiastical  history  ;  and  it  is  to  be  wished  that  it  had  not  been  adopted 
in  civil  history,  in  the  sense  of  capital,  gaining  nothing  but  a  finer  word,  at 
the  cost  of  obscuring  its  proper  Greek  meaning  as  well  as  its  ecclesiastical 
use. 


Cent.  IX.  THE  SCANDINAVIANS.  687 

§  2.  These  last  claim  our  first  attention,  both  in  order  of  time 
and  as  the  people  nearest  related  to  the  Germans.  Even  at  the 
close  of  the  seventh  century  (G96),  Willibrord,  the  apostle  of  the 
Frisians,  had  extended  his  labours  beyond  not  only  the  Elbe  but 
the  Eider,  the  boundary  between  the  Saxons  and  the  Jutish  penin- 
sula ;  but  we  have  no  record  of  any  permanent  results. 

A  century  later,  Charles  the  Great  founded  a  church  at  Hamburg 
as  the  headquarters  of  a  distinct  church-establishment  for  the  whole 
region  of  Nordalhingia  (t.  e.  north  of  the  Elbe),  the  conquest  and 
conversion  of  which  seemed  necessary  to  confirm  the  submission  of  the 
Saxons  and  Frisians.  An  opening  for  the  enterprise,  which  Charles 
did  not  live  to  prosecute,  was  made  by  the  appeals  of  the  rival  can- 
didates for  the  Danish  throne  to  Louis  the  Pious.  "When  the  exiled 
Harold  applied  for  aid  to  Louis,-  his  ambassadors  were  accompanied 
back  by  Ebbo,  archbishop  of  llheims,  who  was  appointed  to  the 
mission  by  the  diet  of  Attign}',  with  a  commission  from  Pope 
Paschal ;  and  he  and  his  companions  preached  with  much  success 
for  about  a  year  (823).  Three  years  later,  Harold,  having  resolved 
on  a  decided  alliance  with  the  Christian  empire,  travelled  to  the 
court  of  Louis  at  Ingelheim,  and  received  baptism,  with  his  queen  and 
son  and  many  attendants,  in  the  cathedral  of  Mainz.  It  was  resolved 
that  Harold  slioiild  be  accompanied  on  his  return  by  a  new  band 
of  missionaries;  "but  the  barbarism  of  the  Northmen,  their  strong 
hostility  to  Christianity,  and  the  savage  character  of  their  paganism, 
deterred  all  from  venturing  on  the  expedition,  until  Wala  of  Corbie 
named  Anskar,  one  of  his  monks,  as  a  person  suited  for  the  work 
(826)."! 

§3.  This  famous  "Apostle  of  the  North"  is  conspicuous,  even 
in  the  annals  of  Christian  missions,  for  enthusiastic  devotion  to  his 
work,  combined  with  self-denial  and  perseverance  in  its  prosecution. 
Born  of  Frank  parents,  about  the  first  year  of  the  century,  he 
was  brought  up  from  his  childhood  in  the  monastery  of  Corbie,  in 
Picardy,  under  Adelhard  and  Paschasius  Padbert,  and  he  taught 
both  there  and  in  the  German  monastery  of  New  Corbie.  From  his 
earliest  years  he  felt  himself  called  to  a  life  of  Christian  devotedness 
by  special  visions.  In  one,  his  echo  of  Paul's  question,  "  Lord,  what 
wouldest  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  was  answered  by  the  Saviour  himself 
"Go  and  preach  to  the  Gentiles  the  word  of  God."  In  another 
vision  of  the  divine  glory,  a  voice  came  to  him  from  the  midst  of 
the  ineffable  light,  "  Go,  and  thou  shalt  return  to  me  with  the 
crown  of  martyrdom."     That  such  visions  were  the  reflection  of  a 

'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  392.  The  Life  of  St.  Anskar,  by  his  pupil  and  suc- 
cessor Rimbert  and  another,  is  in  Mabillon,  vi.,  Pertz,  ii.,  and  the  Palro- 
logia,  cxviii.     The  name  is  variously  written,  Anskar  or  Ansgar. 


588  THE  NORTHERN  NATIONS.  Chap.  XXIV. 

spirit  exalted  by  enthusiastic  self-devotion,  rather  than  a  super- 
natural revelation,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  a  life  exposed 
for  twenty-six  years  to  "  perils  by  the  heathen,  perils  in  the  wilder- 
ness, perils  in  the  sea,  perils  among  false  brethren,"^  was  not 
crowned  by  a  martyr's  death. 

The  opponents  of  Harold  were  too  powerful  to  allow  him  a  footing 
beyond  the  border  of  the  Danish  kingdom,  where  Anskar  established 
a  school  at  Hadeby  on  the  Schlei,  to  train  boys,  some  of  whom  were 
bought  for  the  purpose,  in  the  Christian  faith.  But  Harold's  deci- 
sive adoption  of  Christianity  roused  the  national  feeling  against  him ; 
and  both  the  king  and  the  missionaries  were  driven  away  (827). 

Just  at  this  time  ambassadors,  who  came  to  the  court  of  Louis 
from  Sweden,  asked  that  missionaries  might  be  sent  to  their 
countrymen,  who  were  favourably  disposed  towards  Christianity.'' 
Anskar  was  again  sent  on  this  mission,  with  rich  presents  for  the 
Swedish  King  Bjorn ;  but  his  vessel  was  plundered  by  pirates,  and 
it  was  only  after  great  sufferings  that  he  reached  the  capital  of  Birka 
on  the  Malar  Lake.^  The  king  and  national  assembly  gave  the 
missionaries  leave  to  preach  freely,  and  among  many  other  converts 
was  Herigar,  the  governor  of  Birka,  who  built  a  church  on  his 
own  estate.  After  a  year  and  a  half,  Anskar  carried  back  a  favour- 
able report  to  the  Emperor,  who  resolved  to  fulfil  his  father's  plans 
by  establishing  at  Hamburg  a  metropolitan  see  for  the  Northern 
nations.  Anskar  was  consecrated  as  archbishop,  and  went  to  Eome 
to  receive  the  pall  from  Gregory  IV.,  with  a  bull  authorizing  him 
to  labour  in  the  North.  Louis  bestowed  on  him  the  rich  abbey  of 
Turholt,  in  Belgium,  both  for  his  support  and  for  a  home  more 
secure  than  Hamburg  (833). 

Anskar  built  at  Hamburg  a  cathedral  and  monastery,  with  a 
school,  in  which,  among  other  pupils,  he  trained  boys  bought  in 
Denmark,  while  others  were  sent  to  Turholt  for  education.  But 
the  new  establishment  was  soon  utterly  destroyed  by  an  irrup- 
tion of  heathen  Danes,  while  Harold  apostatized  from  the  faith ; 
the  missionaries  were  at  the  same  time  driven  out  of  Sweden ; 
and  the  provision  for  their  support  was  taken  away  by  Charles 
the  Bald,  who  gave  the  abbey  of  Turholt  to  one  of  his  lay 
courtiers  (840-843).  Anskar  happily  found  a  new  patron  in 
Louis  the  German,  who  gave  him  a  new  monastery  at  Kamsloh. 

»  2  Cor.  xi.  26. 

2  The  Swedes  appear  to  have  received  some  knowledge  of  Christianity 
through  their  intercourse  with  the  Eastern  Empire,  as  well  as  from  the 
many  Christian  captives  taken  in  their  piratical  expeditions. 

^  Birha,  which  seems  to  mean  a  landing-place,  is  identified  with  Sigtuna, 
on  the  N.E.  arm  of  the  Malar  Lake. 


A.D.  865.  DEATH  OF  ANSKAR.  589 

Ou  the  death  of  the  Bishop  of  Bremen — who  had  displayed  a  cruel 
jealousy  of  Anskar,  refusing  him  even  a  refuge  when  driven  out  by 
the  K or thmen— Charles's  union  of  that  see  with  Hamburg  was 
confirmed  by  the  Council  of  Mainz  (848).' 

§  4.  Anskar  was  sent  by  Louis  on  several  jwlitical  missions  to  the 
heathen  King  Eric  I.,  of  Denmark,  from  whom  he  at  length  obtained 
toleration  for  Christianity  and  permission  to  build  a  church  in 
Sleswick,  which  became  tlie  centre  of  numerous  conversions.  But 
Eric  was  killed  in  a  new  rising  of  the  heathen  faction  ;  and  it  was 
not  till  his  young  grandson,  Eric  II.,  took  the  government  into  his 
own  bands,  that  toleration  was  re-established  and  Christianity  made 
rapid  progress  in  Denmark  (855). 

Meanwhile,  after  several  attempts  to  revive  the  mission  in  Sweden, 
Anskar  himself  had  gone  with  a  letter  from  Eric  I.  to  King  Olaf, 
whose  favour  he  won  by  splendid  gifts  presented  at  a  rich  banquet. 
The  king  consented  to  call  a  national  assembly,  Avh:ch  decided  to 
tolerate  Christianity — partly  as  the  result  of  casting  lots,  partly 
through  the  influence  of  an  aged  councillor,  who  api^ealed  to  the 
power  of  the  God  of  the  Christians,  as  displayed  especially  in  dangers 
at  sea,  and  who  urged  the  practical  argument  that,  seeing  that  many 
of  his  countrymen  had  resorted  to  Dorstadt  for  baptism,  why  should 
they  refuse  the  blessing,  now  that  it  was  brought  to  tlieirown  doors? 
Many  converts  were  quickly  made ;  churches  were  built ;  and  the 
Gospel  was  preached  by  the  Danish  teachers  trained  at  Hamburg 
and  I'amsloh. 

§  5.  Anskar  died  in  865,  leaving  proofs  of  his  devotedness  more 
solid,  if  less  splendid,  than  the  martyrdom  which  he  had  desired, 
and  to  which  he  had  been  constantly  exposed  without  ever  osten- 
tatiously courting  it.  The  absence  of  all  vainglory  is  a  striking 
feature  of  his  life,  as  described  by  his  affectionate  disciple  Bimbert. 
In  his  youth  he  mitigated  the  rigour  of  his  mortifications  when  he 
found  that  they  were  making  him  self-righteous;  and  when  liis  old 
age  was  too  weak  for  ascetic  discipline,  he  found  a  better  substitute 
in  alms  and  prayers.  To  his  spiritual  labours  he  added  manj^  works 
of  mercy,  such  as  the  building  of  hospitals  and  the  redemption  of 
captives  ;  and  he  persuaded  the  great  men  of  Nordalbingia  to  abstain 
from  the  profitable  trade  in  slaves.  On  the  subject  of  miracles, 
which  were  of  course  ascribed  to  him  in  the  spirit  of  the  age,  Anskar 
left  a  valuable  testimony :  "  If  I  were  worthy  in  the  sight  of  my 
Lord,  I  would  ask  Him  to  grant  me  one  miracle — that  He  would 
make  me  a  good  maii."     In  the  like  spirit  of  humility,  he  declined 

*  Sixteen  years  elapsed  before  the  union  of  the  dioceses  was  sanctioned 
by  Pope  Nicolas  I.,  who  again  conferred  the  pall,  with  the  authority  of 
legate  in  the  North,  on  Anskar,  the  vear  before  his  death  (864). 

27 


590  THE  NORTHERN  NATIONS.  Chap.  XXIV. 

to  assume  authority,  or  give  offence,  by  naming  his  successor ;  but, 
in  reply  to  a  question  about  his  favourite  disciple  Rimbert,  he  said, 
"  I  am  assured  that  he  is  more  worthy  to  be  an  archbishop  than  I 
am  to  be  a  subdeacon."  ' 

§  6.  As  Aichbishop  of  Hamburg  and  Bremen,  Rimbert  carried  on 
the  work  of  Anskar  in  the  same  spirit,  amidst  constant  troubles  from 
the  fierce  Northmen,  which  reached  their  height  at  the  time  of  his 
death  (888).  Gorm  the  Old,  the  first  king  of  all  Denmark,  destroyed 
all  the  churches  in  his  dominions ;  but,  on  his  defeat  by  Henry  the 
Fowler,  he  was  compelled  to  tolerate  Christianity  and  to  put  down 
human  sacrifices  (934).  Henry  made  the  mai'kof  Sleswick  German 
territory,  as  a  barrier  against  the  incursions  of  the  Northmen. 
Unni,  the  archbishop  of  Bremen,  resumed  the  mission  in  Jutland, 
and  was  supported  by  Gorm's  son,  Harold  Blaatand  (i.e.  Blue- 
tooth), whose  mother  was  a  Christian ;  but  Harold  was  not  baptized 
till  his  defeat  by  Otho  the  Great  (965).  The  zeal  with  which 
Harold  now  tried  to  enforce  Chiistianity  provoked  a  rebellion 
of  the  heathen  party  under  his  own  son,  Sweyn  ("  with  the  forked- 
beard  "),  by  whom  he  was  dethroned  and  killed  in  battle  (986). 

We  must  leave  to  the  civil  histories  of  Denmark  and  England  the 
varied  fortunes  of  Sweyn,  who  died  a  Christian  (1014).  His  son, 
Canute  the  Mighty,  established  Christianity  firmly  in  Denmark. 
He  built  churches  and  monasteries,  and,  on  the  occasion  of  his  pil- 
grimage to  Rome  (1026),  he  brought  the  Danish  Church  into  close 
connection  with  the  Roman.  English  missionaries  co-operated  with 
those  from  Hamburg  and  Bremen  ;  but  Archbishop  Unni  treated 
the  English  bishops  as  intruders,  and  obtained  from  Canute  the 
confirmation  of  his  jurisdiction  over  the  Danisli  Church. 

§  7.  The  renewed  evangelization  of  Sweden  followed  closely  upon 
that  of  Denmark,  whence  Archbishop  Unni  crossed  over  in  935, 
and  died  in  Sweden  in  the  following  year.  The  German  missions 
went  on  successfully  till  towards  the  end  of  the  century,  when,  in 
the  reign  of  Olaf  Stotkunung,^  a  new  iminilse  Avas  given  by  the 
preaching  of  some  English  missionaries,  headed  by  Sigfried  (or 
Sigurd),  archdeacon  of  York,  who  was  made  Bishop  of  Wexio. 
Christianity  obtained  a  firm  footing  in  Gothland;  but  in  Swealand 
heathenism  was  so  strong,  that  Olaf  gave  up  his  design  of  destroying 
the  temple  at  Upsala,  the  great  national  sanctuary,  and  he  founded 
his   chief  bishopric  at   Skara   for  Thurgot,   an  Englishman.     As 

'  We  possess  Anskar's  '  Life  of  Willebad,'  the  first  bishop  of  Bremen ; 
but  the  journal  of  his  own  missions,  which  is  known  to  have  been  sent  to 
Rome,  has  not  been  found. 

"  That  is,  Lap-Kill},  because  he  is  said  to  have  been  king  while  yet  in 
hir,  nurse's  lap.      He  died  about  1024 


Cent.  X.  CHRISTIANITY  IN  NORWAY  691 

Christianity  spread,  the  Swedes  abandoned  their  habits  of  piracy ; 
and  the  clergy  succeeded  in  substituting  the  Latin  alphabet  for  the  old 
Kunic  characters.  As  among  the  other  Northmen,  the  zeal  of  Olaf 
provoked  a  strong  opposition  from  the  heathen  party.  It  was  not 
till  half  a  century  later  that  King  Inge  succeeded,  after  a  hard 
struggle  and  a  temporary  expulsion,  in  imtting  down  heathen  wor- 
ship (about  1084) ;  and  it  was  only  late  in  the  following  century 
that  Christianity  was  firmly  established  by  St.  Eric  IX.,  who  also 
converted  the  Finns  (1157),  and  was  killed  in  battle  with  the  Danes 
(1160). 

The  Finns  resisted  with  deadly  hatred  the  Christianity  imposed 
on  them  by  St.  Eric;  and  they  put  the  missionary  bishop,  Henry 
of  Upsala,  "  the  Apostle  of  Finland,"  to  a  martyr's  death  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  (1158).  It  was  not  till  1293  that  the  regent,  Thorkel 
Knutson,  finally  subdued  the  country  and  made  it  Christian. 
Meanwhile  the  Swedish  conquest  of  Lapland  (1279)  opened  that 
extreme  northern  region  to  Christianity ;  but  its  progress  was  slow, 
and  the  first  church  was  dedicated  at  Tornea  by  Hemming,  bishop 
of  Upsala,  in  1335. 

§  8.  Norway — where  the  seeds  of  Christianity  had  been  sown  by 
the  many  captives  tai;en  by  the  piratical  vikings  from  the  shores  of 
England,  Germany,  and  Gaul — shared  in  the  fruits  of  Anskar's 
labours.  A  great  contest  between  the  old  and  new  religions  took 
place  in  the  reign  of  Haco  the  Good  (934-961),  the  first  Christian 
king,  who,  having  been  brought  up  in  England  at  thecouit  of  Athel- 
stane,  dethroned  his  tyrant  brother,  Eric  of  the  Bloody  Axe.  Haco 
proceeded  with  wise  caution,  introducing  clergymen  from  England, 
and  setting  the  example  of  observing  Christian  rites ;  so  that  while 
the  heathen  Norwegians  kept  their  boisterous  Yule  feast,  the  king 
celebrated  Christmas  in  a  separate  building  with  the  converted 
members  of  his  court. 

It  was  not  till  he  had  won  the  confidence  of  his  subjects  by  long 
years  of  good  government  that  he  ventured  to  propose  the  adoption 
of  Christianity  in  the  national  assembly.  1'hen  the  storm  burst 
out ;  the  nobles  and  people  not  only  refused  to  abandon  the  gods  of 
their  fathers,  but  forced  the  king  himself  to  take  part  in  heathen 
sacrifices  and  feasts.  Haco  died  of  the  wounds  received  in  a  battle 
against  his  nephews,  the  sons  of  Eric,  declaring  himself  unworthy, 
for  his  sinful  compliance  with  heathenism,  to  be  carried  for  burial  in 
the  soil  of  Christian  England.  "  His  death  was  lamented  by  a  scald 
in  a  famous  song,  which  celebrates  his  reception  into  Walhalla,  and 
intimates  that,  in  consideration  of  the  tolerance  which  he  had  shown 
to  the  old  religion,  his  own  Christianity  was  forgiven  by  the  gods.'"  * 

'  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  482. 


592  THE  NORTHERN  NATIONS.  CiiAP.  XXIV. 

§  9.  After  an  interval,  Harold  Blaatand  of  Denmark  became 
master  of  Norway,  where,  though  he  himself  was  a  Christian,  his 
heathen  viceroy,  Haco,  was  a  fierce  persecutor.  The  oppressed 
Christians  found  a  deliverer  in  a  famous  viking,  Olaf  Tryggveson,i 
conspicuous  for  his  beauty,  strength,  and  valour,  whose  adventures 
had  carried  him  as  far  as  Russia  and  Constantinople  (994).  During 
one  of  his  expeditions  to  England  he  had  been  baptized  by  a  hermit 
in  Scilly  and  confirmed  by  St.  Alphege,  bishop  of  Winchester,  in 
the  presence  of  King  Ethelred.  His  religion  was  strangely  mingled 
with  the  practice  of  divination,  and  with  cruelty  and  immoral 
licence.  He  tried  to  force  Christianity  on  his  subjects  in  the  most 
despotic  spirit,  offering  splendid  rewards  to  the  chiefs  who  would 
accept  it,  and  threatening  those  who  refused  with  confiscation 
and  banishment,  torture  and  death.  He  travelled  through  every 
district  of  the  kingdom  to  enforce  his  purpose,  and  "  wheresoever 
he  came  " — says  Snorro  Sturleson — "  to  the  land  or  to  the  islands, 
he  held  an  assembly,  and  told  the  people  to  accept  the  right  faith 
and  to  be  baptized.  No  man  dared  to  say  anything  against 
it,  and  the  whole  country  which  he  passed  through  was  made 
Christian."^  Even  the  distant  islands  of  Orkney,  Shetland,  Faroe, 
and  the  Hebrides,  which  had  been  subdued  and  in  great  part 
peopled  by  the  Norwegian  vikings,  were  brought  under  Olaf's 
system  of  conversion. 

His  fanatic  zeal  at  length  brought  its  own  punishment  through 
his  outrageous  treatment  of  the  widowed  Swedish  queen  Sigrid, 
because  she  refused  to  accept  Christianity  as  the  condition  of 
marriage  with  him.  She  married  Sweyn  of  Denmark,  who  joined 
her  son,  Olaf  Stotkonting,  of  Sweden,  in  an  attack  on  Norway ; 
and  Olaf  Tryggveson,  defeated  in  a  sea-fight,  jumped  overboard, 
with  his  nine  surviving  companions,  after  a  desperate  fight  on  his 
captured  vessel  (1000).  The  fame  of  his  bravery  and  vigour  sur- 
vived his  faults,  even  in  the  memory  of  his  heathen  subjects, 
while  the  Christians  invested  him  with  the  character  of  a  saint ; 
and  there  was  a  legend  that  he  had  escaped  from  the  fatal  battle 
and  was  seen  fifty  years  after  by  a  Norwegian,  still  living  as  the 
abbot  of  a  monastery  in  the  desert  of  Egypt. 

§  10.  The  career  of  Olaf  Tryggveson  was  strangely  repeated  in 
tliat  of  his  godchild  and  great-nephew  Olaf  Haroldson  (1015-1030) 
(afterwards  canonized  as  St.  Olaf),'  who  used  the  same  means 
for  enforcing  Christianity.     His  chief  adviser  was  Bishop  Grimkil, 

'  That  is,  the  .son  of  Tryggve,  a  pettj'  prince  of  Norway. 
^  Snorro,  vol.  i.  p.  44o.      For  some  of  the  strange  stories  of  Olafs  pro- 
ceedings see  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  483. 

*  Commonly  written  in  English,  St.  Olave,  and  in  Latin  Glaus. 


Cent.  Xi.  ST.  OLAF  AND  ST.  MAGNUS.  593 

an  Englishman — the  "horned  man,"  as  the  heathens  called  him, 
from  the  shape  of  his  mitre — who  framed  an  ecclesiastical  code  for 
Norway.  In  his  progresses  through  the  kingdom,  Olaf  often 
encountered  armed  resistance  from  the  heathen.  On  one  such 
occasion,  at  Dalen,  after  routing  700  armed  pagans,  he  put  forward 
Grimkil  to  argue  with  a  chief  named  Gudbrand,  who  maintained 
the  superiority  of  Thor  because  he  could  be  seen,  while  the  God 
of  the  Christians  was  invisible.  After  a  night  spent  in  prayer,  the 
king  put  the  question  to  the  test.  While  he  pointed  to  the  risinf^ 
sun,  as  a  visible  witness  to  its  Creator,  a  gigantic  soldier,  who  had 
been  instructed  in  his  part,  raised  the  club  and  dashed  the  huge  idol 
of  Thor  to  pieces.  Instead  of  the  thimder  of  the  god,  bursting  from 
dense  clouds,  raised  to  blot  out  the  light  of  the  sun,  there  cam? 
forth  a  swarm  of  loathsome  creatures  which  had  fattened  on  the 
sacrifices.  The  men  of  Dalen  confessed  the  idol's  impotence,  and 
received  baptism.^ 

At  length  Olaf 's  violent  measures,  and  the  severity  with  which  he 
put  down  piracy  and  robbery,  caused  a  large  part  of  his  subjects  to 
support  the  claims  of  Canute.  Olaf  fled  into  Russia,  and  was  soon 
after  killed  in  an  attempt  to  recover  the  kingdom  (1030). 

The  Norwegians,  repenting  of  their  desertion,  and  moved  by  tlie 
fame  of  miracles  wrought  by  Olaf  in  Russia,  and  by  his  remains  after 
death,  translated  his  relics  to  the  church  of  St.  Clement  at  Nidaros 
(1031),  where  in  the  next  century  a  splendid  cathedral  was  built 
in  his  honour  as  the  patron  saint  of  Norway,  This  religious  enthu- 
siasm roused  a  spirit  of  patriotism  ;  and,  after  the  death  of  Canute  ^ 
(1035),  the  Danes  were  driven  out  by  Olaf's  son,  St.  Magnus-  the 
Good,  under  whom  Christianity  was  fully  established  in  Norway. 
The  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Bremen  was  maintained,  after  some 
resistance  ;  and  the  Norwegian  Church,  like  the  Swedish,  was  drawn 
into  close  connection  with  that  of  Rome. 

§  11.  The  Slavonians  of  Moravia,  who  had  relapsed  into  idolatry 
after  Charles  the  Great  had  forced  baptism  upon  them,  were  again 
christianized  from  the  East,  but  they  were  brought  into  connection, 
though  never  closely,  with  the  Western  Church.  As  the  result  of 
communications  with  Bulgaria,  in  search  of  help  against  Louis  the 
German,  their  King  Radislav  applied  to  the  Emperor  Michael  for 
Christian  teachers  ;  and  two  brothers  were  sent  from  Constantinople 
— Constantine,   better  known  by   his   later  name   of  Cyeil,  and 

•  Snorro,  vol.  ii.  p.  155-160  ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  486.  Comj- are  the 
destruction  of  the  image  of  Serapis,  Chap.  XI.  §  14. 

^  Among  the  ecclesiastical  foundations  which  Canute  established  in 
Norway,  as  in  his  other  dominions,  was  the  first  Benedictine  monastery  in 
the  kingdom,  near  Nidaros. 


594  THE  SLAVONIC  NATIONS.  Chap.  XXIV. 

Methodius — who  are  famed  as  the  a^wstles  of  Moravia  (863). 
Their  success  was  greatly  forwarded  by  their  knowledge  of  the 
Slavonic  tongue,  which — contrary  to  the  usual  i:)ractice  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  missionaries — they  adopted  as  the  language  of  public 
worship,  translating  into  it  the  Liturgy  and  portions  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  either  inventing  a  new  alphabet,  as  Ulfilas  had  done 
for  the  Goths,  or  improving  that  which  already  existed.^ 

When  the  news  of  their  proceedings  reached  Rome,  they  were 
summoned  thither  by  Pope  Nicolas  I.  As  the  political  relations  of 
Moravia  were  now  with  the  West,  where  the  danger  from  Germany 
made  the  friendship  of  the  Pope  of  great  value,  the)'  obeyed  the 
citation,  and  satisfied  Adrian  II.  (who  had  meanwhile  succeeded 
Nicolas)  of  their  orthodoxy.^  Cyril  died  at  Rome,  and  Methodius 
was  consecrated  archbishop  of  the  Moravians  by  Adrian  (a.d.  868). 
His  jurisdiction  was  extended  over  a  large  portion  of  modern  Austria 
and  Hungary  by  the  conquests  of  Svatopluk,  the  son  of  Eadislav  (or 
Wratislav).  Methodius  was  involved  in  repeated  troubles  through 
the  jealousy  of  the  German  ecclesiastics,  who  saw  in  the  use  of  the 
Moravian  language  a  powerful  barrier  to  their  influence,  and  through 
the  opposition  of  his  German  suffragan,  Wiching,  who  seems  to 
have  alienated  Svatopluk  from  the  archbishop  ;  but  Methodius  was 
supported  by  John  VIII.,  whom  he  visited  more  than  once  at  liome.^ 
After  the  death  of  Methodius,  Wiching  persecuted  the  clergy  who 
adhered  to  the  Slavonian  liturgy,  and  drove  them  into  Bulgaria 
(886).  Wiching  soon  afterwards  went  over  to  the  side  of  King 
Arnulf  (892)  ;  and  a  few  years  later  the  independent  Church  of 
Moravia  came  to  an  end  with  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the 
Bohemians  and  Magyars  (908). 

§  12.  The  friendly  relations  between  the  Moravians  and  the 
kindred  Czechs  led  to  the  spread  of  Christianity  to  Bohemia.  Here 
also,  indeed,  an  earlier  Christian  profession  had  been  made,  appa- 
rently as  a  mere  stroke  of  policy,  when  fourteen  Bohemian  chiefs 

'  The  Cyrilha;i  alphabet — as  it  is  called  ia  distinction  from  the  other 
Slavonian  alphabet,  namely,  the  Glagolitic  (from  glai/o/,  a  vwd  or  letter) — 
was  based  on  the  Greek,  with  some  Armenian  and  other  Oriental  elements. 
It  has  been  superseded  in  Moravia,  since  the  sixteenth  century,  by  the  Roman 
alphabet,  but  is  still  used  in  Servia  and  Bulgaria,  and  is  the  chief  basis 
of  the  Russian  alphabet.  For  the  controversy  respecting  the  origin  of  the 
two  alphabets,  see  Robertson,  a-oI.  ii.  pp.  386-7.  The  chief  modern  authority 
on  the  whole  subject  is  Ginzel,  Gachichte  der  Slawenapostel  Cyrill  und 
Methodius,  Leimeritz,  1857. 

-  CVril  would  be  the  more  disposed  to  a  connection  with  Rome,  as  he 
had  been  in  opjwsition  to  Photius  at  Constantinople. 

^  Some  place  his  death  at  Rome,  at  dates  varying  between  881  and  910, 
but  he  more  probably  died  in  Bohemia  about  885.  (Robertson,  vol.  ii. 
p.  390.) 


Cknt.  X.,  Xr.  MORAVIA— BOHEMIA— POLAND.  595 

appeared  before  Louis  the  German  at  Ratisbon,  ami  were  baptized  by 
their  own  desire  (845)  ;  but  Bohemia  was  still  a  heathen  land  till 
vowards  the  end  of  the  ninth  centiiiy,  when  the  duke  Borziwoi  was 
baptized,  with  thirty  companions,  on  a  visit  to  Svatopluk  in  Moravia.' 
His  wife  Ludmilla  became  a  zealons  Christian,  and  was  canonized 
after  her  death,  which  was  contrived  through  the  jealousy  of  her 
daughter-in-law,  Dragomira,  a  zealous  pagan,  whose  husbnnd,  Eadi- 
slav,  had  left  his  two  young  sons  to  his  mother's  care  (926).  The 
elder  of  these  sons,  Wenceslav,  a  devoted  Christian,  was  murdered 
by  his  brother,  Boleslav  the  Cruel  (036),  who  persecuted  his  Chris- 
tian subjects.  But  being  conquered  by  Otho  1.  (950),  he  was  com- 
pelled to  restore  freedom  of  worship,  and  to  rebuild  the  churches 
and  monasteries  which  he  had  destroyed.  His  son,  Boleslav  the 
Pious,  established  Christianity  as  the  religion  of  the  State,  and 
founded  the  bishopric  of  Prague,  under  the  metropolitan  see  of 
Mainz  (973). 

The  second  bishop,  Adalbert,^  a  Bohemian,  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  Germany,  incurred  much  opposition  by  his  efibrts  to  reform 
the  corrupt  morals  of  the  clergy  and  to  reclaim  the  people  from 
polygamy  and  slave-dealing,  as  well  as  by  his  attempts  to  introduce 
the  Latin  liturgy  and  the  Eoman  canon  law.  He  finally  left 
Bohemia  in  990,  and  went  on  a  mission  to  the  heathen  Prussians, 
by  whom  he  was  martyred  on  the  shore  of  the  Frische  Haff  (997). 
He  was  buried  by  Boleslav,  the  Christian  duke  of  Poland,  at  Gnesen, 
where  his  shrine  attracted  many  pilgrims,  and  was  visited  by 
Otho  HL  (1000).  In  1039  a  Bohemian  expedition  transported  the 
remains  of  the  martyred  saint,  with  the  rich  offerings  of  his  shrine, 
to  Prague ;  but  the  Poles  maintained  that  a  mistake  had  been  made, 
and  that  Gnesen  still  possessed  the  true  body  of  St.  Adalbert.  The 
use  of  the  Slavonic  liturgy,  introduced  into  Bohemia  from  Moravia, 
was  regarded  by  the  Roman  party  as  a  mark  of  heresy.  It  was  pre- 
served, with  intervals  of  suppression,  at  the  abbey  of  Sazawa, 
founded  in  1038,  till  the  monks  were  expelled  and  their  books 
destroyed  by  the  reigning  sovereign  in  1097.  It  was  from  time  to 
time  revived  in  parts  of  the  country,  and  it  is  still  used  in  several 
lllyrian  churches,  but  its  language  is  unintelligible  to  the  people. 

§  13.  PoLANi>  received  Christianity  from  Bohemia  through  the 
marriage  of  the  Polish  duke,  Mieceslav,  with  Dambrowka,  daughter 
of  Boleslav  the  Cruel,  who  persuaded  her  husband  to  receive  the 

•  For  the  details  of  the  story,  which  have  a  somewhat  legendary  air,  see 
Robertson,  vol.  ii,  p.  390.  The  date  is  variously  placed  between  871  and 
894. 

*  His  native  name  was  Woi/ttech ;  he  took  the  German  name  in  hone  ur 
of  his  tutor,  Adalbert,  archbishop  of  Magdeburg. 


596  THK  SLAVONIC  NATIONS.  Chap.  XXIV. 

faith  and  to  enforce  it  on  his  subjects  by  severe  penalties,  Hke  those 
of  their  own  barbaric  laws  (907).  A  bishopric  was  fonnded  at 
Posen,  under  the  archbishopric  of  Magdebur<r,  till  the  metropolitan 
see  of  Gnesen  Avas  established  l)y  Otho  III.  (1000).  The  i»werful 
son  of  Mieceslav,  Boleslav  Chrobry  (992-1025),'  -who  assumed  the 
title  of  king,  brought  Poland  into  close  connection  with  the  Pioman 
Church.  From  an  early  period  a  tribute  of  "  Peter's  pence  " — a 
penny  yearly  from  every  Pole,  except  the  nobles  and  clergy — was 
paid  to  the  papal  treasury.  On  the  death  of  Boleslav's  son,  Miece- 
slav II.  (1034),  the  kingdom  was  threatened  with  anarcliy  and  the 
restoration  of  heathenism,-  till  the  Poles  recalled  his  banished  son, 
Casimir,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Germany.'  The  murder  of 
Stanislaus,  bishop  of  Cracow,  by  Casimir's  grandson,  Boleslav  ]I. 
(whom  the  bishop  had  excommunicated),  gave  the  Polish  Church 
her  patron  saint  and  martyr  (1079). 

§  14.  While  the  converted  Poles  Avere  brought  into  close  com- 
munion with  Rome,  their  kindred  neighbours  in  Russia  became 
devoted  adherents  of  the  Greek  form  of  Christianity  ;  and  thus  was 
sown  one  most  fruitful  seed  of  the  fatal  rivalry  between  the  two 
nations. 

Among  the  Slavonian  tribes,  who  peojjled  the  western  and 
central  parts  of  the  vast  region  of  Europe  now  called  Russia,  and 
whose  country,  together  with  Poland  and  Lithuania,  formed  the 
Slavia^  of  early  medieval  geography,  the  first  nucleus  of  the  mighty 
monarchy  of  later  days  was  formed  when  the  Viking  Ruhik  led  in 
his  Varangian  warriors  from  Scandinavia,  and  established  a  princi- 
pality at  Novgorod  on  the  river  Volkhov,  a  little  below  the  point 
Avhere  it  flows  out  of  Lake  Ilmen  towards  Lake  Ladoga  (8(32).'' 

'  The  same  who  encouraged  the  mission  of  Adalbert,  and  redeemed  and 
buried  his  body. 

2  It  was  now  that  the  Bohemians  made  the  successful  invasion  mentioned 
above. 

'  The  story  that  Casimir  had  become  a  monk,  and  that  Pope  Benedict  IX. 
exacted  new  marks  of  subjection  to  Rome  as  the  price  of  his  release  from 
his  A'ows,  is  probably  fabulous. 

■•  It  is  in  the  fifth  century  that  this  name  takes  the  place  of  Sarmatia 
Europaea,  in  consequence  of  the  immigration  of  the  Slavs,  who  appear  to 
have  entered  the  country  from  the  south-west.  At  the  time  with  which 
we  are  now  concerned  the  north  of  Russia  was  still  i)eopled  by  the  abo- 
riginal Finns,  and  the  east  and  south  by  the  Scythians,  who  cut  off  the 
Slavonians  from  the  Euxine  Sea. 

^  This  account  of  the  earliest  native  chronicler — Nestor,  n  monk  of 
Kiev  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century — -is  accepted  by  the  best 
modern  historians  as  probably  true  in  its  main  features.  The  term 
Varanffian,  made  famous  by  the  Varangian  guards  of  the  Greek  emperors, 
is  explained  as  "  allies  "  or  "  confe<lerates  ;"  and  it  seems  that  the  bands  led 
by  Ruric  and  other  northern  chieftains  were  composed  of  adventurers  of 
various  nations.     As  to  the  name  Eus,  we   hare  hardly  evidence  enough 


Cent.  X.  CHRISTIANITY  IN  RUSSIA.  597 

Passing  the  narrow  watershed  into  the  valley  of  the  Dnieper,  the  ad- 
venturers established  a  line  of  mingled  commerce  and  piracy  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  Euxine,  and  founded  a  second  principality  at  what 
was  afterwards  the  sacred  city  of  Kiev,  which  soon  eclipsed  Nov- 
gorod. We  must  refer  to  Gibbon's  graphic  story  for  the  repeated 
assaults  made  by  the  princes  of  Kiev  on  the  imperial  capital  ^  with 
their  fleets  of  canoes  hollowed  out  of  trees  (monoxyla),  creating 
such  alarm  as  to  inspire  the  prophecy — which  has  stood  on  record 
nearly  a  thousand  years — that  the  Hussians  in  the  last  days  should 
be  masters  of  Constant ino];>le. 

The  intervals  of  these  assaults  were  filled  up  by  treaties  and  com- 
merce ;  and  we  have  accounts,  more  or  less  legendary,  of  attempts 
to  plant  Christianity  among  the  lUissians,  from  their  earliest  inter- 
course with  Constantinople.^  The  patriarch  Ignatius  is  said  to 
have  consecrated  a  bisliop  for  Russia ;  and  Photius  *  wrote  to  the 
Oriental  patriarchs  that  the  fierce  and  barbarous  Russians  had  been 
converted  by  the  Greek  Church ;  but  they  were,  at  all  events  pagans 
in  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century.  In  955,  Olga,  the  princess- 
regent  of  Russia,  was  baptized  at  Constantinople  by  the  name  of 
Helena,  when  on  a  visit  to  Consantinfe  VII.  Porphyrogenitus ; 
but  her  efforts  to  spread  the  faith  at  home  were  defeated  by  her  son 
Svatoslav. 

The  permanent  establishment  of  Christianity  in  Russia  dates 
from  the  treaty  made  by  St.  Vlauimik,  the  son  of  Svatoslav,  with 
the  emperors  Basil  II.  and  Constantino  IX.,  after  his  capture  of 
Khorsun  (988).  The  mind  of  the  Grand  Prince  is  said  to  have 
been  prepared  by  the  reports  of  persons  whom  he  had  sent  to 
observe  the  various  forms  of  Greek  and  Latin  and  German  Chris- 
tianity ;  especially  through  the  impression  made  on  his  envoys  at 
Constantinople  by  the  splendours  of  St.  Sophia  and  the  almost 
celestial  glory  of  the  eucharistic  service.  But  Vladimir's  determi- 
ning motives  were  less  spiritual.  His  demand  for  the  hand  of  Anna, 
the  sister  of  Basil  II.  and  of  Theophano  (the  wife  of  Otho  II.),  was 
only  granted  on  the  condition  of  his  receiving  Christian  baptism,  at 
which  he  took  the  name  of  Basil.  On  his  return  to  Kiev  he  caused 
the  image  of  the  national  god.  Rerun,  to  be  dragged  at  a  horse's 
fail  and  thrown  into  the  Dnieper ;  and  the  people  were  summoned 
to  a  general  baptism  in  the  river,  on  pain  of  being  proclaimed  rebels. 

to  decide  whether  it  was  brought  in  (as  Nestor  says)  by  the  invaders,  or 
was  a  native  Slavonian  a])i)ellation. 

*  A.D.  863,  904,  941,  lu43. 

*  For  the  story  of  the  mission  and  miracles  of  a  Greek  bishop  after  the 
peace  made  by  Basil  the  Macedonian,  see  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  464 

'  Epist.  2,  p.  58. 


598  THE  SLAVONIC  NATIONS.  Chap.  XXIV 

Bishoprics  were  founded,  and  churches  were  built  on  the  Byzantine 
model ;  i^arents  were  compelled  to  send  their  children  to  the  new 
Christian  schools ;  and  the  Scriptures  were  circulated  in  the  Slavonic 
version  of  Cyril.  The  work  began  by  Vladimir  was  carried  on  by 
his  son  Yaroslav,  when  he  united  the  monarchy  after  an  interval  of 
civil  war  (1019-1054).  The  Greek  ecclesiastical  law  was  adopted 
for  the  Russian  Church ;  but  the  clergy,  who  had  hitherto  been 
subject  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  were  placed  under  a 
native  primate. 

§  15.  The  Magyars  and  Slavonians  of  Hungary,  like  their  Mora- 
vian neighbours,  received  Christianity  first  fi-om  the  Greek  Church, 
but  were  afterwards  brought  into  the  Latin  communion.  The  Magyar 
prince,  Gyulas,  was  baptized  when  on  a  visit  to  Constantinople  in 
O-iS,  and  a  bishop,  Hierotheus,  was  sent  back  with  him  into  Hun- 
gary. The  victories  of  Henry  I.  and  Otho  I,  over  the  Hungarians 
opened  the  way  for  a  new  German  mission  under  the  direction  of 
Pilligrin,  bishop  of  Passau.  The  duke  Geisa  (972-983)  was  con- 
verted by  his  wife  Sarolta,  daughter  of  Gyulas ;  but  the  real  founder 
of  the  powerful  Christian  kingdom  of  Hungary  was  their  son,  Walk, 
whom  liishop  Adalbert^  baptized,  when  four  or  five  years  old,  by 
the  name  of  Stephen  (983  or  984).  Having  received  a  careful  edu- 
cation, he  succeeded  his  father  at  the  age  of  about  eighteen,  and 
in  his  reign  of  forty-one  years  he  maintained  the  character  of  piety 
justice,  and  firmness  (997-1038).  He  formed  a  close  alliance  with 
the  German  power  by  his  marriage  with  Gisela,  sister  of  Henry  of 
Bavaria  (afterwards  the  Emperor  Henry  II.)  ;  put  down  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  heathen  party  ;  and  obtained  the  erection  of  his  duchy 
into  a  kingdom  by  the  Emperor  Otho  III.,  with  the  blessing  of  Pope 
Sylvester  II.^  (1000). 

According  to  a  vow  made  during  his  contest  with  the  heathen 
party,  Stephen  placed  his  kingdom  under  the  protection  of  the 
Virgin.  He  organized  and  endowed  a  Christian  establishment 
throughout  his  dominions;   built  churches  and  monasteries;   and 

*  Probably  the  Bishop  of  Prague.  According  to  the  German  chroniclers, 
Stephen  was  not  baptized  till  on  the  eve  of  his  marriage. 

^  The  liomanists  attempt  to  make  the  bestowal  of  the  kingdom  the  act 
of  the  Pope,  who  (they  say)  wrote  a  letter  to  Stephen,  which  is  still  extant, 
and  (in  obedience  to  a  vision)  sent  him  the  famous  crown  which  has  ever 
since  been  used  at  Hungarian  coronations.  The  genuineness  of  the  letter 
(in  whole  or  in  part)  is  a  matter  of  much  dispute ;  and  the  crown  seems  to 
be  a  curious  combination  of  Greek  and  Roman  workmanship.  Its  lower 
part,  which  bears  the  name  of  a  Greek  emperor,  Constantine  (probably 
Porphyrogenitus),  is  surmounted  by  arches  which  seem  to  be  of  Roman 
work.  (See  Mailath,  Geschichte  der  Majyaren ;  and  Robertson,  vol.  ii. 
p.  475). 


Cent.  X.,  XI.  HUNGARY— THE  WENDS.  590 

founded  an  arcbiepiscopal  see  at  Gran,  with  ten  suffragan  bishoiis. 
For  the  training  of  the  native  clergy  and  advancement  of  educa- 
tion among  the  i^eople,  Stephen  founded  an  Hungarian  College 
at  Rome.  He  built  hospitals  and  monasteries  for  Hungarians  at 
Rome,  Ravenna,  Constantinople,  and  Jerusalem  ;  while  strangers 
I'rom  foreign  parts  were  received  with  such  hospitality,  that  Hun- 
gary became  the  favourite  route  for  pilgrims  from  the  West  to 
the  Holy  Land,  instead  of  the  voyage  by  sea.  Stephen's  eminent 
services  to  the  Church  are  said  to  have  been  rewarded  by  a  commis- 
sion to  act  as  vicar  of  the  Holy  See  in  his  own  dominions ;  and 
after  his  death  he  was  canonized  as  the  patron  saint  of  Hungary. 
During  the  discords  among  his  successors,  heathenism  revived  more 
than  once ;  and  it  was  not  finally  extinguished  in  the  Hungarian 
dominions  till  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  by  the  king  St. 
Ladislaus  (1077-1095). 

§  16.  The  lands  north  and  north-east  of  Germany,  on  the  southern 
and  eastern  shores  of  the  Baltic,  and  those  round  the  northern  arms 
of  the  same  sea,  were  the  last  seats  of  heathenism  in  Europe.  Henry 
the  Fowler  and  Otho  the  Great  made  several  successful  campaigns 
against  the  Weiids  on  the  south  of  the  Baltic ;'  and,  besides  several 
other  bishoprics,  Otho  founded  the  archbishopric  of  Magdeburg  as 
the  ecclesiastical  centre  for  that  region  (968).  But  dislike  of  the 
German  conquerors  raised  a  natural  prejudice  against  their  religion  ; 
their  missionaries  were  ignorant  of  the  Slavonic  tongue  ;  and  "  it  is 
said  that  the  clergy  showed  greater  eagerness  to  raise  money  from 
the  people  than  to  instruct  them."  ^  In  the  frequent  insurrections 
against  the  German  yoke,  the  clergy  were  driven  out  and  tlie 
churches  and  monasteries  destroyed. 

In  1032  GoTTSCHALK,^  a  prince  of  the  Obofriti,  who  had  been 
brought  up  in  a  German  monastery,  exasperated  by  the  murder  of 
his  father,  escaped  to  his  people  and  became  a  fierce  enemy  of  the 
Germans  and  the  Christians.  But  having  been  taken  prisoner,  he 
repented;  and  when  he  founded  the  kingdom  of  the  Wends  (1045), 
he  devoted  all  his  energy  to  the  establishment  of  Christianity 
and  a  national  church.     Gottschalk   himself  (like   St.   Oswald  of 

'  The  principal  Wendish  tribes  were  the  Ohotriti,  in  Holstein  and  Meck- 
lenburg; the  Luticii  or  Wiltzi,  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder;  the  Pome- 
ranians, from  the  Oder  to  the  Vistula  ;  and  th%  Sorabi,  further  to  the  south, 
in  Saxony. 

-  Adam  of  Bremen,  vol.  iii.  p.  22  ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  473.  Adam 
makes  the  same  complaint  of  the  covetousness  of  the  clergy  as  a  hindrance 
to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  Sweden. 

^  This  German  name,  signifying  "  servant  of  God  "  (compare  Chap.  XXII. 
§  14),  may  have  been  given  him  in  the  monastery,  or  assumed  later  as  a 
sign  of  his  devotion  to  the  Christinn  cause. 


600  THE  WENDISH  TRIBES,  Chap.  XXIV. 

Northumbria)  preached  and  expounded  the  Scriptures  to  the  people 
in  their  own  language ;  and  he  was  aided  by  missionaries  sent  by 
Adalbert  of  Bremen.  His  success  roused  the  national  spirit  against 
him  as  a  friend  of  the  Germans ;  and  he  was  murdered  in  a  heathen 
insurrection  (10G6). 

After  a  series  of  cruel  persecutions  and  civil  wars,  the  Wendish 
kingdom  fell  before  the  Crusade  against  North  German  heathenism 
led  by  Henry  the  Lion,  who  divided  the  land  among  his  Saxon  war- 
riors, except  the  original  territory  of  the  Obotriti,  where  Privizlav 
(the  ancestor  of  the  reigning  house  of  Mecklenburg)  held  the  remnant 
of  the  kingdom  as  the  vassal  of  Saxony,  and  became  a  convert  to 
Christianity  (1164).^  About  the  same  time  the  Luticii  were  sub- 
dued, and  their  land  colonized  with  Germans,  by  Albert  the  Bear, 
the  founder  of  the  marquisate  of  Brandenburg  (1157).  Christianity 
continued  to  be  enforced  upon  the  remnant  of  the  Wends  by  the 
mission  of  the  sword ;  but  it  had  its  self-denying  apostles  in  such 
men  as  the  devoted  Vicelin,  bishop  of  Oldenburg  (ob.  1154),  his 
successor  Ceroid,  who  founded  the  bishopric  of  Liibtck,  Evermod, 
bishop  of  Ratzeburg,  and  Berno,  bishop  of  Schwerin. 

§  17.  While  the  Wends  to  the  west  of  the  Oder  were  thus  sub- 
dued and  christianized  by  the  German  power,  those  of  Pomerania 
fell  under  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  dominion  of  Poland,  after  long 
\^ars  between  the  Poles  and  their  fierce  neighbours.  As  early  as 
1000,  Duke  Boleslav,  with  the  concurrence  of  Otho  III.,  attempted 
the  conversion  of  the  Pomeranians,  and  the  bishopric  of  Colberg  was 
founded  at  the  same  time  as  the  Polish  archbishopric  of  Gnesen. 
But  the  see  did  not  survive  its  first  bishop,  Eeinbern ;  and  the 
people  were  still  pagans  above  a  century  later  when  the  Eastern 
Pomeranians  were  conquered  by  Boleslav  HI.,  who  made  them 
promise  to  receive  Christianity  (1120).  All  his  clergy,  however, 
recoiled  from  the  hopeless  mission  to  such  fierce  heathens ;  and  it 
was  undertaken  by  a  Spanish  monk  named  Bernard,  who  had  been 
ordained  a  bishop  by  Pope  Paschal  II.  The  Pomeranians  are  reported 
to  have  despised  Bernard's  ascetic  pove?-ty,  asking,  "  How  can  we 
believe  that  a  man  so  miserable  as  not  even  to  have  shoes  can  be 
the  messenger  of  God,  to  whom  all  things  belong?"  Eetiring  to  a 
monastery  at  Bamberg,  his  report  of  the  state  of  Pomerania  roused 
the  zeal  of  Otho,  the  bishop  of  that  see,  who  was  eminent  for  his 
piety,  energy,  and  success  as  a  preacher  in  the  native  language. 

With  the  consent  of  the  Emperor  Henry  V.,  and  of  Pope  Calixtus 
II.,  Boleslav  sent  Otho  to  the  Pomeranians  with  splendid  equip- 

'  Henry  the  Lion  exacted  homage  from  the  bishops  of  the  conquered 
territory;  but  on  his  fall  in  1180,  they  returned  under,  the  sovereignty  of 
the  Kiii]iiro. 


A.D.  1120  f.  THE  POMERANIANS.  601 

ments  and  presents,  and  a  royal  guard  (1124).  But,  however  politic 
this  use  of  the  experience  taught  by  Bernard's  failure,  Otho  was  far 
more  richly  furnished  with  a  combination  of  qualities  unexampled 
in  medieval  missions,  except  perhaps  by  Boniface  ;  firmness  without 
self-will,  zeal  without  severity,  gentleness  and  placability  without 
weakness,  enthusiasm  without  fanaticism.  He  was  welcomed  by 
Duke  Wratislav,  who  was  already  a  secret  convert,  having  been 
baptized  while  a  prisoner  or  hostage  in  Poland,  and  by  his  wife,  who 
was  a  zealous  Christian.  Thousands  of  converts  were  made,  whom 
Otho  taught  to  renounce  polygamy  and  infanticide.  But  the  heathen 
Disposition  was  still  vehement,  and  at  the  town  of  Julin  Otho 
narrowly  escaped  martyrdom.  The  people  of  Stettin,  the  capital, 
showed  no  favourable  disposition,  but  they  agreed  to  consult  the 
Polish  duke,  who  answered  by  declaring  himself  the  enemy  of  all 
pagans,  at  the  same  time  promising  to  remit  half  their  tribute 
if  they  would  decide  for  Christianity.  Otho  followed  up  these  in- 
ducements by  an  attack  upon  the  idols  ;  and  the  impression  produced 
by  their  unavenged  destruction  was  deepened  by  his  refusal  to 
accept  any  share  of  the  wealth  of  the  chief  temple,  which  was  turned 
into  a  church  dedicated  to  the  martyr  St.  Adalbert.  After  baptizing 
many  thousands  of  the  people,  Otho  returned  to  Bamberg  (1125).* 
Three  years  later  he  made  a  second  visit  to  the  country ;  and  from 
that  time  Christianity,  though  greatly  mixed  with  the  relics  of 
heathenism,  was  finally  established  in  Pomerania. 

The  last  stronghold  of  heathenism  among  the  Wends  on  the  south 
Baltic  coast  was  the  sacred  island  of  Eiigen,  whose  people  broke  off 
all  intercourse  with  the  converted  Pomeranians.  These  latter  joined, 
in  1168,  with  Waldemar  III.  of  Denmark,  to  conquer  Eiigen,  which 
was  placed  by  Pope  Alexander  III.  under  Absalom,  bishop  of 
Boskield,  a  zealous  missionary.  The  Magdeburg  Chronicle  describes 
the  Christianity  thus  "impressed"  on  the  Eugians  as  "a  shadow, 
which  in  a  short  time  was  done  away  with  by  Waldemar's  avarice, 
and  by  the  scantiness  and  inactivity  of  the  teachers."  - 
•  §  18.  On  the  south-eastern  shores  of  the  Baltic,  heathenism  held 
its  ground  till  the  thirteenth  and  even  the  fourteenth  century,  among 
the  LetU  of  Lithuania  and  Prussia,  and  the  remnant  of  Finns,  with 
whom  the  Letts  were  mingled  in  Livonia,  Esthonia,  and  Courland.' 
Into  the  latter  countries  Christianity  first  obtained  an  entrance  in  the 
eleventh  century  through  the  commerce  of  the  Danes  and  Swedes ; 

'  For  the  miracles  with  which  the  history  of  Otho's  missions  was  embel- 
lished, see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  166,  167. 

'  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  167. 

^  These  three  countries  took  their  names  from  Lettish  tribes  who  settled 
among  the  Finns. 


602  THE  LETTISH  TRIBES.  Chap.  XXIV. 

and  a  century  later  some  merchants  of  Bremen  formed  a  settlement 
on  the  Dwina  (1158).  In  1186  Meinhard,  a  canon  of  the  Augus- 
tinian  monastery  of  Segebcrg  in  Holstein,  undertook  a  mission  to 
the  Livonians,  who  were  then  subject  to  lUissia.  By  the  favour  of 
Vladimir,  a  church  was  built  at  Yxkiill  on  the  Dvina,  and  Mein- 
hard was  consecrated  bishop  by  Hartwig,  archbishop  of  Bremen. 
After  making  many  converts,  amidst  constant  perils  of  death  to 
himself  and  his  companions,  Meinhard  died  in  IIHG.  His  successor, 
Berthold,  a  Cistercian  abbot  of  Loccum  on  the  Weser,  was  driven 
out  by  the  heathen  Livonians,  and  returned  at  the  head  of  a 
crusading  force,  which  he  had  raised  with  the  sanction  of  Pope 
Celestine  III.,  only  to  perish  by  the  sword  which  he  had  taken 
(1198). 

The  next  bishop,  Albert,  a  canon  of  Bremen,  organized  a  more 
systematic  Crusade,  by  founding  a  military  order  on  the  model  of 
the  Templars,  called  "  Brethren  of  the  Sword,"  who  were  placed  by 
Innocent  III.  on  an  equality  with  Crusaders  to  the  Holy  Land 
(1202);  and  he  obtained  feudal  rights  over  Livonia  from  Philip  of 
Swabia.  Albert  transferred  his  episcopal  see  to  Riga.,  which  he 
had  founded  in  1200;  and  his  crusaders  won  new  lands  and  con- 
verts through  their  constant  wars  with  the  Esthonians,  Cours, 
Lithuanians  and  Russians ;  but  disputes  arose  among  themselves, 
which  were  turned  by  Innocent  III.  to  the  advantage  of  the  Holy 
See.  The  Danes,  who  aided  in  the  conquest  of  Esthonia,  claimed 
episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  the  Pope  decided  the  contest  by  sanction- 
ing two  Esthonian  bishoprics,  tha  Danish  at  IJeval,  and  the  German 
at  Leal,  whence  it  was  removed  to  Dorpat.  After  the  death  of 
Bishop  Albert  in  1229,  the  progress  of  the  work  became  closely 
connected  with  the  kindred  enterprise  in  Prussia  and  Lithuania. 
In  1246  Riga  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  an  archbishopric,  and 
Innocent  IV.  made  it  tlie  metropolitan  see  for  Prussia,  Livonia, 
and  Esthonia  (1253). 

§  l9.  The  name  of  Prussia,  now  famous  as  the  head  of  Germany, 
was  originally  given, — merely  from  its  vicinity  to  Russia,' — to  the 
small  I'egion  between  the  rivers  Memel  and  Vistula,  inhabited,  not 
by  Germans,  but  by  a  fierce  barbarian  tribe  of  Letts,  in  attempting 
whose  conversion  Adalbert  of  Prague  had  found  a  martyr's  death, 
(997).^  His  fate  was  shared,  a  few  years  later,  by  the  monk  Bruno, 
with  his  eighteen  companions,  on  the  l)orders  of  Lithuania  (1009)  ; 
and  two  centuries  passed  before  a  new  mission  was  undertaken  by 

'  The  Slavonic  prefix  po  (or,  in  the  fuller  form,  pommo)  signifies  "near :" 
thus  Po-merania  means  "near  the  sea"  (inorig),  and  is  precisely  equivalent 
to  the  Celtic  Ar-morka. 

^  See  above,  §  12. 


Cent.  XIII.        PRUSSIA— THE  TEUTONIC  KNIGHTS.  603 

Godfrey,  the  Cistercian  abbot  of  Liikna  in  Poland,  with  a  monk 
named  Philip,  who  converted  two  of  the  Prussian  princes  (1207), 
but  were  soon  martyred.  The  work  was  resumed  in  two  years  by 
Christian,  a  Cistercian  monk  of  Oliva  near  Danzig,  who  was  conse- 
crated as  missionary  bishop  (1214),  and  is  styled  the  Apostle  of 
Prussia.  But  there  was  strong  oi^position  irom  the  Polish  Cister- 
cians, and  the  oppression  of  the  King  of  Poland  and  the  Duke  of 
Pomerania  provoked  a  general  massacre  of  the  Christians  in  Prussia. 
Christian  now  followed  the  example  set  by  Albert  in  Livonia, 
and,  with  the  sanction  of  Honorius  III.,  he  founded  the  order  of 
Knights  of  Dobrin,  called  Milites  ChrisU  (1225);  but  they  were 
almost  totally  destroyed  by  the  heathen  Prussians  within  a  year. 
In  this  extremity  Christian  sought  the  aid  of  the  famous  Teutonic 
Knights,  a  military  order  which,  having  been  originally  formed  in 
Palestine  by  forty  German  crusaders  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Bremen,  to  tend  the  sick  and  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Acre  (1190), 
had  grown  to  great  jwwer,  privilege,  and  wealth,  under  its  fourth 
Grand  Master,  Herman  of  Salza,  of  whom  a  chronicler  says  that 
"  he  had  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  with  other  princes  and  great 
men,  in  his  own  hand,  so  that  he  obtained  whatever  he  might  ask 
for  its  honour  and  advantage."^  At  his  death,  the  order  numbered 
more  than  two  thousand  knights  of  noble  German  families. 

In  1230,  Herman  of  Balka  led  into  Prussia  a  hundred  of  the 
Teutonic  Knights,  who  began  a  bloody  war  of  nearly  sixty  years 
against  the  heathen  Prussians,  and  also  against  the  dukes  of  Poland 
and  Pomerania.  This  northern  branch  of  the  order  was  invested 
by  Gregory  IX.  and  Innocent  IV,  with  the  privileges  of  crusaders, 
and  by  the  emi^eror  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  lands  they  might 
conquer  or  acquire  by  gift.  They  established  forts,  which  aft'er- 
wards  grew  into  great  cities,  such  as  Elbing,  Thorn,  and  Konigs- 
berg.2  The  conquered  Prussians  were  offered  the  choice  of  baptism 
or  banishment ;  and  they  wore  not  so  much  converted  as  extermi- 
nated by  the  sword  of  the  knights  and  the  adventurers  who  flocked 
from  Germany,  Poland,  and  Bohemia,  to  share  the  merit  and  profits 
of  this  northern  crusade.  The  sovereignty  of  the  knights  was  fully 
established  in  1283,  and  the  depopulated  lands  of  Prussia  were 
replenished  by  German  colonists  during  the  following  century.  Jn 
Livonia,  Esthonia,  and  Courland,  where  the  Brethren  of  the  Sword, 
called  in  the  aid  of  the  Teutonic  Knights  (1236),  the  process  of 

*  Petr.  Dusburg  (Peter  of -Duisburg),  Chroniclon  PtnissicE,  in  Hirsch, 
Scriptores  Eerum  Pnissicarum,  i.  2 ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  25G. 

-  This  ancient  capital  of  Prussia  received  its  royal  name  (J/ons  Regius) 
in  honour  of  King  Ottocar  of  Bohemia,  the  all)'  of  "the  Teutonic  Knights  in 
1254. 


604 


CONVERSION  OF  LITHUANIA. 


Chap.  XXIV. 


extermination  was  less  complete,  the  native  population  being  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  serfdom,  -which  lasted  till  the  general  emancipa- 
tion of  the  serfs  in  Eussia  (1861).' 

As  we  have  seen  in  other  cases,  this  propagation  of  Christianity 
by  the  sword  was  accompanied  by  purer  missionary  labours,  in  which 
the  Dominicans  bore  a  chief  jjart.  The  ecclesiastical  organization 
of  the  conquered  provinces  was  effected  by  William,  bishop  of 
Modena  and  afterwards  Cardinal  of  Sabino,  who,  as  legate  of  Pope 
Gregory  IX.,  united  them  imder  one  authority  (1245),  and  they 
were  placed  under  the  metropolitan  see  of  Riga  (1253). 

§  20.  The  longest  resistance  to  the  Teutonic  crusaders  was  in  Li- 
thuania, where  Ringold  founded  a  principality  (1230),  which  his  son 
Mendog  tried  to  aggrandize  by  conquest.  Defeated  by  the  united 
German  orders,  he  was  obliged  to  accept  baptism  as  the  condition  of 
peace  (1252) ;  but  he  soon  felt  strong  enough  to  throw  off  the  hated 
badge  of  subjection.  On  the  death  of  his  son  Wolstinik,  who  had  sin- 
cerely accepted  Christianity  (1266),  heathenism  was  re-established  ; 
and  no  Christian  was  tolerated  in  the  country  till  the  reign  of 
the  Grand  Prince  Gedimin  (1315-1340).  Dominican  monks  and 
Russian  priests  now  vied  with  one  another  in  making  converts  to 
the  Latin  and  Greek  Churches,  and  the  next  prince,  Oldgerd,  was 
baptized  in  the  Greek  faith,  but  apostatised.  It  was  not  till  near 
the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  that  heathenism  was  abolished 
and  the  Roman  form  of  Christianity  established  in  Lithuania, 
which  was  at  the  same  time  united  to  Poland,  on  the  marriage  of 
Jagello,  the  son  of  Oldgerd,  to  Hedwig,  the  heiress  of  the  Polish 
crown  (1380).  The  people  flocked  to  baptism  in  imitation  of  their 
prince,  and  an  efJiscopal  see  was  established  at  Wilua. 

'  These  provinces  were  ceded  by  Sweden  to  Peter  the  Great  in  1721. 


r>-     c 

t^ 

^K 

^ 

'Corona  Lucis:"'  Crown   for  supporting  lamps,  suspended  over  the  Altar  in  the 

Apse  of  a  Church. 

Kroni  a  Mosaic  in  St.  ApoUinare  Nuovo,  Raveinia. 


INDEX. 


ANTHONY 


A. 

Abgarus,  King,  letters  of  Christ 
and,  26,  n. 

Abraxas,  the  mystic  name  in- 
vented by  Basilides,  221. 

Absolution,  ecclesiasticiil,  205. 

Abyssinian  Church,  the,  j8i. 

Acacians,  the,  264. 

Acacius,  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople, ^64 ;  erasure  of  his 
name  from  the  diptychs,  368. 

Jcefthali,  the,  j66. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  jo. 

Adalbert,  bishop  of  Prague, 
his  eflbrts  at  reform,  59; ; 
martyred  by  the  heathen 
Prussians,  595 ;  his  remains 
transported  to  Prague,  595. 

• ,  marq.  of  Tuscany,  be- 
comes master  of  Rome,  57^. 

Adeodatus  il..  Pope,  J77. 

Adrian  I.,  Pope,  525. 

• — —  IL,  Pope,  asserts  the  papal 
authority,  559. 

III.,  Pope,  546. 

^desius,  287. 

^ons,  the,  of  the  Gnostic  he- 
resy, 217,  218. 

Aerius,  opposed  to  asceticism, 
monasticism,  &c.,  477. 

Actius,  an  Anomoean,  or  ex- 
treme Arian,  26j. 

African  Confessors,  the,  J89. 

Martyrs,  the,  loj. 

School,  the,  Latin  writers 

of,  152. 

Agapa:,  the,  197  (see  Love- 
Feast). 

Agapetus  I.,  Pope,  J71. 

Agatho,  Pope,  with  a  Synod  of 
Western  Bishops,  condemns 
Alonothelism,  J77. 

Agnes,  St.,  basilica  of,  Rome, 
429. 

Agnus  Dei,  one  of  the  first 
types  of  the  Saviour,  446. 

Agobard,  archbishop  of  Lyon, 
his  work  '  On  Pictures  and 
Images,'  548. 

Aidan,  his  monastic  commu- 
nity at  Lindisfam,  511. 


Aix-Ia-Chapelle,  Councils  held 
at,  55i. 

Akiba,  Rabbi,  revolt  of  the 
Jews  under,  70. 

Aktistetce,  the,  j68,  n. 

Alaric  sacks  Rome,  j86. 

St.  Alban  and  the  British 
martyrs,  12;. 

Albert,  Bishop,  founder  of  the 
military  order  of  the  'Bre- 
thren of  the  Sword,'  602  ;  of 
the  episcopal  see  of  Riga, 
602. 

Alcuin.  517 ;  at  the  court  of 
Charles,  525 ;  discusses  with 
Bishop  Kelix  the  controversy 
on  Adoptionism,  527. 

Alexander,  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria, 25;  ;  holds  a  council 
of  100  bishops,  who  condemn 
and  excommunicate  Arius, 
25 J  ;  at  the  •CEcumenical 
Council  of  Nica>a,  255. 

,  bishop  of  Lycopolis,  146, 

n. 

Severus,  his  toleration  of 

Jews  and  Christians,  104 ; 
continued  persecutions  in  the 
provinces,  105;  the  Sassanid 
dynasty  in  Persia  during  his 
reign,  105. 

the  apostate,  49. 

Alexandrian  catechetical  school, 
the,  129;  Greek  writers  of, 
129;  its  founder,  Panta^nus, 
129;  succeeding  teachers, 
I  jo;  character  of  its  theology, 
iji ;  its  relation  to  Greek 
culture  and  philosophy,  and 
to  tlie  Gnostic  heresy,  iji. 

School,  the,  of  the  Gnostics, 

219. 

Alogians,  the,  2?o. 

Altar,  the  term  first  used,  19}  ; 
from  Auriol,  425  ;  from  a 
mosaic  at  Ravenna,  426 ;  of 
St.  Ambrogio,  Milan,  428. 
Ambrose,  St.,  elected  Bishop  of 
Milan,  274;  previous  life  and 
character,  275 ;  conduct  in 
his  bishopric,  275 ;  theological 
■works,  27; ;  influence  with 
the  Imperial  family,  276;  mis- 


sion to  Maximus,  276;  contest 
with  the  Empress  Justina, 
276;  introduces  antiphonal 
singing,  277  ;  discovers  the 
relics  of  the  martyrs  Ger- 
vasius  and  Protasius.  277  ; 
reproves  Theodosius  for  the 
massacre  at  Thes-alonica, 
and  excludes  him  from  Ihe 
church,  278;  death,  279;  his 
administrative  power,  279 ; 
his  use  of  hymnology  and 
sacred  music,  279;  his  mea- 
sures against  heathenism, 
279;  recommends  the  invo- 
cation of  angels,  45  j ;  liturgy 
of,  467. 

Ammonius  Saccas,  founder  of 
Neo-Platonism,  122. 

Ananias  and  Sapphira,  their 
false  profession,  }2. 

Anastasius,  Kmperor,  his 
overtures  to  Rome  spurned 
by  Pope  Gelasius,  J67;  de- 
position of  bishops  and  riots 
at  Constantinople,  367. 

,  Patriarch,  persecution  of 

the,  5J5. 

II.,  Pope,  J96. 

Anatolius,  the  patriarch,  ^95. 

Anatolus,  bishop  of  Laodicea, 
146,  n. 

Anchorets,  or  hermits,  joo. 

Angels,  worship  of,  45}. 

Anglia,  Kast,  converted  to 
Christianity,  50J. 

Anomceans,  the,  or  extreme 
Arians,  26j. 

Anskar,  the  'Apostle  of  the 
North,'  587;  hisenthusiasiic 
self-devotion,  588;  establishes 
a  school  at  Hadeby  on  the 
Schlei,  588;  sent  to  Sweden, 
588;  consecrated  Archbishop 
of  Hamburg  and  Bremen, 
588,  589;  sent  to  Denmark, 
589 ;  death,  589. 

Anihimus,  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, J7 1 ;  found  guilty 
of  heresj',  57 1. 

Anthony,  St.,  first  founder  of 
monasticism,  joi ;  early  life, 
ioi ;  asceticism,  joi ;  niira- 


GOG 


ANTICHRISTS 


INDEX. 


cles  and  teaching,  joj  ;  zeal 
against  heresy,  Jo};    dsaih, 
J04 ;  discovery  of  his  bones, 
304;  biography   by   Athaii- 
asius,  504. 
Antichrists  and  the   spirit  of 
Antichrist,    50;    the    name 
applied    to   the   Tapacy   by 
Pliotius,  546. 
Aiitidicomarianitce,  the,  478.     1 
Antioch,     beginning     of     the  ; 
(J  entile  Church  at,  3;;  Cliris-  1 
tians  at,   36 ;    relations  be- 
tween  the   Church  of,    and 
Jerusalem,  j-j ;  Judaizers  at, 

,  School  of,  Greek  writers 

of  the,  141. 

Antiphon,  the,  or  responsive 
hymn,  ig;. 

Antiphonal  singing,  z-]"}. 

Anlitactce,  thi\  sect  of,  22 }. 

Antoninus  Pius,  his  tolerant 
policy,  "ji. 

Antony  of  SylKum,  Patriarch, 
542. 

Aphthartodocetx,  the  heresy  of 
the,  i'i$. 

Apocryphal  Gospels,  26,  n. 

St.  ApoUiuare  inClasse,  church 
of,  at  Ravenna,  4J4. 

Apollinariau  heresy,  the,  con- 
demned by  the  Second  Gene- 
ral Council,  274. 

Apollonius,  martyrdom  of,  78. 

of    Ty.ina,    life    of,    by 

I'hilostratns,  1 16. 

Apologists,  the  Christian,  69, 
92  ;  before  and  contemporary 
with  Justin.  92-94. 

Apostles,  the,  special  office  of 
Peter,  Paul  and  John.  14: 
appointment  of  the  twelve, 
16 ;  their  commission  and 
office,  17 ;  miracles  of,  32, 
3}. 

Apostles'  Creed,  the,  ii\. 

Apostolic  churches,  constitu- 
tion of,  48;  internal  state, 
48;  beginnings  of  heresies, 
49 ;  specific  heresies,  49,  50. 

I'recepts,  the,  42. 

Apostolical  Constitutions  and 
Canons,  the  Clementine,  99. 

Succession,  the,  185. 

Arcadius,  his  reign  at  Constan- 
tinople, 28J. 

Archdeacons,  elected  by  dea- 
cons, 18  J ;  appointed  by 
bishops,  298. 

Arian  heresy,  the,  252;  its 
original  sources,  252 ;  sprea<l, 
254;  condemned  by  the  First 
General  Council  at  Nica>a, 
254;  at  Aries  and  Milan, 
262. 

Arianism,  of  the  barbarian  con- 
querors of  Rome,  289,  }iS5 ; 
extirpation    of,    in     Africa, 


J89 ;  and  in  Burgundy  and 
Spain,  J92. 

Arians,  the,  Creed  offered  by, 
257  ;  triumphant  throughout 
tbe  Empire,  26; ;  divisions 
among  them,  563. 

Aristides,  one  of  the  earliest 
Apologists,  69,  91. 

Aristo  of  Pella,  92. 

Arius,  his  rise  and  character, 
2;j  ;  opposes  the  Bishop  ot 
Alexamliia,  253 ;  his  doe- 
trine,  25J  ;  condemned  and 
expelled  from  Alexandria, 
25J  ;  befriended  by  Eusebius, 
25J  ;  his  writings,  254  ;  ba- 
nishment, 258;  his  books 
publicly  burnt,  258  ;  his 
recal,  259 ;  resisted  by 
Aihanasius,  261  ;  death,  261. 

Aries,  Council  of,  249;  another 
under  Constautius,  262. 

Armenians,  the,  most  numer- 
ous of  ihe  Monophysite  com- 
munities, 379. 

Aniobius  of  Sicca,  169,  11. 

Arnulf,  bishop  of  Rheims,  580; 
betrays  ilheims  to  Charles  of 
Lorraine,  580;  deposed  by 
the  Council  of  St.  Basle,  581 ; 
reinstated,  582. 

■,    Emperor,     invites     th» 

Magyars  to  aid  him  against 
the  Moravians,  572  ;  crowned 
Emperor  by  Pope  Formosus, 

575- 

Art(m:)n,  a  Monarcbian,  230. 

Art  cUs,  the  three,  of  Nes- 
tuiiauism,  Justinian's  edict 
against,  372. 

Ascension  Day,  its  observance, 
212. 

Asceticism,  distinction  between 
Gnostic  and  Christian,  299  ; 
progress  of,  205,  206,  298, 
304,  402. 

Asylum,  right  of,  and  its 
abuses,  440. 

Athanasian  Creed,  the,  474;  its 
character  and  purpose,  475; 
its  western  origin,  47; ;  for- 
mal adopiion,  476;  and  the 
Utrecht  Psalter,  487. 

Atban.asius,  St.,  256  ;  anecdote 
of  his  boyhood,  256;  at  the 
Council  of  Nicaja,  256 ;  made 
bishop  of  Alexandria,  260 ; 
resists  Arius,  260;  sum- 
moned before  a  Council  at 
Cisarea,  260;  his  first  ba- 
nishment, 261 ;  recalled  and 
banished  a  second  time,  261  ; 
restored  to  his  see,  262; 
third  exile,  262;  his  'Life 
of  St.  Anthony,'  304;  his 
'Apology,'  438. 

Athaulf,  general  of  Rome,  j86. 

Athenagoras,  9}. 

Augustine,  St.,  and  the  Donat- 


ibts,  251 ;  birth,  early  life  and 
!-tudies,  336 ;  moral  and  in- 
tellectual error.?,  J36;  an 
outer  member  of  tlii  Mani- 
cheans,  337;  life  ui  Carthage, 
Roine  and  Milan,  337  ;  hi- 
fluence of  Ambrose,  357;  his 
conversion,  337  ;  death  of  his 
mother,  358;  stays  at  Rome, 
and  returns  to  Africa,  338; 
ordination,  338 ;  consecrated 
bishop  of  Hippo,  338;  death, 
3J9;  his  works,  339-342;  his 
influence  on  theologj',  342  ; 
the  Latin  Catholic  system, 
342 ;  the  Pelagian  contro- 
versy, 343;  doctrine  of  the 
Church  on  sin  and  grace,  34?; 
on  the  worship  of  angels  and 
saints,  453. 

Augustine,  sent  as  missionary 
to  England  by  Gregory  the 
Great,  496;  converts  Elhel- 
bert,  497  ;  consecrated  Arch- 
bislwp  of  Canterbury,  497 ; 
buiMsthe  Benedictine  Abbey, 
498 ;  ordains  bishops,  499, 
500 ;  quarrel  with  the  Welsh 
bishops,  ?03;  death,  503. 

Aurelian,  his  reign,  no. 

Auxentius,  bishop  of  Milai], 
his  death,  274. 

Auxume,  the  See  of,  287. 


B. 

Bangor-in-the-Wood,  monas- 
tery of,  503. 

Baptism,  the  ordinance  of,  15  ; 
heretical,  162;  clinical,  172; 
infant,  172  ;  sponsors  in,  173. 

Baptismal  Creeds,  469. 

Barbarians,  invasions  of  the, 
385  ;  character  of  their  Chris- 
tianity, 385. 

Bai'-cochab,  revolt  of  the  Jews 
under,  70. 

Bardas,  his  evil  influence  over 
his    nephew    Michael    IIL, 

54J.S44- 

Hardesanes,  head  of  one  of  the 
Gnostic  sects,  221. 

Barnabas  sent  to  Antioch,  j;  ; 
siecial  commission  to  the 
Gentiles,  38;  his  so-calkd 
Epistle,  88. 

Bar^umas,  bishop  of  Nisibls, 
355. 

Basil  the  Great,  St.,  306 ;  his 
monastic  rules,  306 ;  his 
fellow-students,  31;;  clas.-i- 
cal  learning  and  refinement, 
314;  monastic  retreat,  314; 
joined  by  Gregory,  314; 
the  Pkilocalia,  314;  elected 
bishop  of  Cssarea,  314? 
foundi  a  hospital.  315;  his 
works  and  Liturgy,  315,465. 


INDEX. 


CHRISTIANITY 


G07 


Basil  I.,  the  JlaceJonian,  de- 
poses I'hotius,  reinstates 
Ignatius,  546. 
Basilica,  tbc  old  Roman,  417  ; 
of  Reparatus,4l7  ;  ot'Trajan, 
419  ;  old,  of  St.  Peter  at  Runie, 
422  ;  of  St.  Agnes,  Rome,  429. 

Basilican  churches,  417  ;  nave, 
aisles,  apse,  418  ;  choir,  pul- 
pit, 424 ;  sanctuary,  altar, 
425 ;  ciborium,  4:7. 

Basilides  of  Alexandria,  inven- 
tor of  the  mystic  name  of- 
Abraxas,  221. 

Basiliscus,  Kmpefor,  supports 
the  Monophysites,  j6j. 

Beatification  of  Saints,  457. 

Bede,  the  Venerable,  lile  of, 
516 ;  writings,  517. 

Believers,  the,  or  "  faithful," 
181. 

Belisarius  reconquers  Africa, 
380;  lt;ily,  ^9}. 

Benedict,  St.,  of  Nuisia,  foun- 
der of  the  iienedictine  Order, 
40;  ;  early  piety  and  retreat 
at  Subiaco,  406;  founds  the 
monastery  of  Monte  Casino, 
407  ;  his  death,  407  ;  the  Rule 
of,  407-414. 

Benedict  of  Aniane,  reformer 
of  Frank  monasteries,  55J. 

Benedict  Biscop,  515;  his 
improvements  in  English 
churches  and  worship,  515; 
libraries,  516;  founds  the 
monasteries  of  AVearmouth 
and  Jarrow,  516. 

Berengar  crowufd  emperor, 
574- 

Bernard,  Bishop,  sent  to  the 
I'omeranians,  failure  of  his 
mission,  600. 

Bisliops  and  Presbyters,  1 76 ; 
their  distinction,  182. 

Bishops,  their  election,  29} ; 
distinction  of  rank,  294; 
decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Nicaea  and  Sardica,  295 ; 
grades.  294 ;  in  the  Frank 
Church,  562. 

of  Rome,  the  list  of,  8J,  n. 

Blandina,  the  slave,  her  con- 
stancy under  martyrdom,  77. 

Bohemia,  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity in,  594. 

Boleslav  the  Cruel,  595. 

the     Pious,    establishes 

Christianity     in      Bohemia, 
595- 

Chrobry,  brings    Poland 

into  close    connection  with 
the  Roman  Church,  596. 

Boniface,  St.,  his  early  years, 
519;  labours  in  Frisia,  519; 
ordained  by  Gregory,  520 ; 
appointed  to  relorm  the 
Frank  Church,  s2o;  made 
Archbishop   of  Jlaiuz,  521 ; 


returns  to  I'risia,  murdered 

at  iJockum,  521. 
Boniface   J.,  Pope,  elected  by 

Honorius,  J94. 

H.,  Pope,  J97. 

BoDosus,  bishop  of  Sardica,  478. 
Borziwoi,  Duke,  baptised,  595. 
Bosrah,  cathedral  at,  452. 
"  Brethren  of  the  Sword,"  order 

of,  602. 
Bulgarians,  the,  conversion  of, 

54) ;    finally  united   to   the 

Creek  Church,  547. 
Burgundians,  the.  converted  to 

Christianity,  j86. 
Byzantine     Cliurch,     the,    its 

character  fixed,  374. 
plan    of   churches,  4J2 ; 

cathedral    at     Bosrah,    4J2; 

SS.    Sergius    and     Bacchus, 

Constantinople,  432  ;  and  St. 

Sophia,  4}i;  St.  Vitale  and 

St.  Apollinare  in  Classe,  Ra- 
venna, 434. 
,    or     Constantinopolitan 

Liturgy,  465. 


c. 

Ca>cilian,    deposed     Bishop    of 

Carthage,  249. 
Cainites,  the,  Unostic  sect  of, 

220. 
Calendars,     the     ecclesiastical, 

4i6,  483-486. 
Caligula,   rest    in   the  Jewish 

chuiches  in  his  reign,  J4. 
Callistus   (Pope    Calixtus    I.), 

and  the  Callistians,  231. 
Canon,  the,  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 80.  342. 
Canonization  of  saints,  456. 
Canons,  the,  of  the  Second  Ge- 
neral Council,  274. 
Canute  the  Mighty,  establishes 

Christianity  in  Denmark,  590. 
Caracalla,  Christianity  under, 

104. 
•Caroline  Book.s,  the,  5;9. 
Carolingian    dynasty    founded 

by  Pepin  the  Short,  521  ;  its 

end    in    Germany    and    in 

France,  557. 
Carpocrates,  a  Gnostic  leader, 

221. 
Carthage,  Councils  of,  162,  249, 

342,  344,  346;  taken  by  the 

Vandals,  387  ;  taken  by  the 

Arabs,  531. 
Cassian,  John,  leader  of  semi- 

Pclagianism,  347. 
Cassiodorus,  his  literary  culture 

and  library,  408. 
Catacombs,  records  of  the,  74. 
Catecheses,    the,    of   Cyril    of 

Jerusalem,  458. 
Catechumens,  129.  171,  181. 
Catholic,  its  meaning,  215. 


Celesiine  I.,  Pope,  395. 

Celibacy  of  the  clergy,  encour- 
aged but  not  enjoined,  298 ; 
its  progress,  403,  404;  Jus- 
tinian's enactments,  404. 

Cel>us,  the  •  True  Discourse ' 
of,  Il8-I2a 

Cemeteries  of  the  Christians, 
restored  to  them,  109. 

Cerinthus,  a  Gnostic  loader,  220. 

Chalcedon,  the  fourth  UOcu- 
menical  Council  at,  359;  i,s 
new  Confession  of  Faith,  359. 

Chahitean  or  Assyrian  Chris- 
tians, 355. 

'  Chapters,  the  Three,'  contro- 
versy about,  372. 

Charles  the  Bald,  secures  the 
imperial  crown  on  the  death 
of  Louis  11.,  556. 

the  Fat,  557. 

the  Great,  52?;    deposes 

De.siderius  and  visits  Rome, 
523  ;  his  supremacy  acknow- 
legcd  by  Pope  hvo  111.,  523  ; 
coronation  as  Emperor,  524  ; 
wars  with  the  Saxons,  525  ; 
measures  for  the  spread  of 
education  and  regulation  of 
the  Church,  526. 

Martel,  his   victory  ovi  r 

the  Saracens,  520. 

Churepiscnpi  or  '  Country 
bishops,'  184;  decline  of  the, 
296 

Chosroes  IL,   king  of  Persia, 

529- 

Christ,  the  foundation  of  His 
Church,  13;  His  character  as 
its  Head,  16;  the  Rock  and 
Living  Temple,  19;  His 
entry  into  Jerusalem,  19; 
parables,  19;  His  Passion, 
in  relation  to  His  Church, 
20;  His  Resurrection,  21  ; 
commission  to  the  apostles, 
22  ;  the  quadragesimal  inter- 
val, final  interview  and  pro- 
mise of  the  Spirit, 23;  ascen- 
sion, and  promise  of  His 
Second  Coming,  24 ;  His  let- 
ters to  King  Abgarus,  26  n. ; 
pretended  likenesses  of,  27  n. 

Christian,  his  missionary  la- 
bours in  Prussia,  605 ;  founds 
the  order  of  the  Knights  of 
Dobrin,  60?;  summons  the 
Teutonic  Knights  to  his  as- 
sistance, 603. 

Chri.itianity,  heathen  view  of, 
5  J  ;  progress  of,  to  the  end  of 
the  third  century,  iii ;  hin- 
drances to,  112;  facilities 
for  its  diffusion,  113;  in 
missionaries,  113;  versions 
of  the  Scriptures,  113  ;  lite- 
rary opposition  to,  116;  ex- 
tension of,  287  ;  influence  of, 
on   civil  laws  and    institu- 


608 


CHRISTIANS 


INDEX. 


CONSTANTINE 


tions,  291;  rights  of  inter- 
cession and  asylum,  292 ; 
public  observance  of  Sunday, 
292 ;     full     toleration     of, 

Christians,  first  so  called  at 
Antioch,  j6 ;  their  use  of  the 
name  of  Jesus,  j6 ;  numbers 
of,  throughout  the  Empire, 
114,  115;  persecution  of,  by 
Julian,  under  the  name  of 
toleration,  269. 

Christmas  Day,  its  first  obser- 
vance, 212. 

Christological      controversies, 

J49- 

Chrysiistom,  St.  (John  Chryso- 
stom),  J20 ;  parentage  and 
early  life,  J20 ;  monastic  re- 
treat, j2o ;  work  at  Antioch, 
^21;  l^atriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, 321 :  opposes  Eudoxia, 
321 ;  exile,  321 ;  death,  322; 
his  Homilies,  322;  Liturgy, 
J22,  465. 

Church,  the,  in  the  Wilderness, 
2 ;  names of.in  Scripture,  2,  j, 
1 1  ;  under  the  Old  Covenant, 
J ;  its  proclamation  by  John, 
3  ;  New  Testament  examples 
of  the  word  in  its  Jewish 
sense,  4 ;  use  of,  in  its  Chris- 
tian, 4;  extent  of  the  first 
Visible,  5  ;  in  a  house,  5  ;  the 
Universal,  7 ;  the  ideal,  and 
its  historic  manifestations, 
8;  preparations  for,  in  the 
•Jewish  and  beathen  worll, 
14;  gradual  growth,  16; 
first  great  gathering  in  Gali- 
lee, 16;  character  of  Christ 
as  its  Head.  16;  its  new 
creation  by  the  Resurrection 
of  Christ,  21;  Btateand  num- 
bers of  the  primitive,  jo; 
preaching,  worship,  and  fel- 
lowship, J2 ;  scattered  from 
Jerusalem,  }};  admission  of 
the  Gentiles,  35 ;  extensiott 
throughout  the  P^mpire  in 
the  2nd  century,  78 ;  evidence 
of  a  British,  79 ;  in  the  East, 
80  ;  constitutiotial  develop- 
ment of  the  primitive,  179; 
the  priestly  order,  180; 
CathoUc  unity  of,  1 88  ;  sy- 
nods or  councils,  189;  of  the 
Koman  Empire,  2  {J ;  first 
appeal  to  the  civil  power, 
249 ;  progress  and  internal 
state  during  the  4th  cen- 
tury, 287 ;  internal  organi- 
zation, 295;  iticreased  power 
of  its  clergy,  29? ;  exalta- 
tion of  the  bishops,  29  ? ; 
state  in  centuries  4-6,  400/. ; 
corruptions  in,  41?. 

,  the  Eastern,  state  of,  ;  ?2. 

,  the  Nestorian   in  Tcrsia, 


355;  missionary  zeal  in  Ara- 
bia, in  India,  355 ;  in  Central 
Asia,  356. 

Church,  the  primitive,  192;  wor- 
ship, sacraments,  and  festi- 
vals of,  192  ;  its  strict  discip- 
line, 203  ;  fasting,  205  ;  doc- 
trines and  heresies,  214. 

,      the      Western,      152; 

schisms  in,  374. 

of  Christ,  the  Visible,  de- 
finition of,  1  ;  distinction 
between,  and  the  Invisible 
and  Universal,  2. 

and  State,  union  of,  290 ; 

extent  of  the  imperial  su- 
premacy, 291 ;  civil  juris- 
diction, 291 ;  secular  juris- 
diction of  bishops,  291 ; 
clerical  exemption,  292. 

institutions,  development 

of,  290. 

Churches,  in  the  several  cities, 
6,  7 ;  in  the  provinces 
throughout  the  Roman  Em- 
pire and  the  wbole  world, 
7  ;  their  rest  during  the  time 
of  Caligula,  34 ;  number  of, 
in  Europe,  in  the  3rd  century, 
115. 

(buildings),  12,  104,  124, 

19;.  24J,  24;,  281,  292; 
their  tj'pical  forms,  417; 
basilican,  417-422;  sepul- 
chral or  memorial,  429-4  !i ; 
Byzantine  plan  of,  452;  after 
Justinian,  435;  consecration 
of,  435-439;  dedication  of, 
4J7;  relics  essential  to  their 
consecration,  440;  right  of 
asylum  abused,  440;  indeli- 
ble sanctity  of,  441;  dese- 
cration and  reconsecration, 
442 ;  ornaments  in,  442. 

Ciborium  from  mosaic  in  Thes- 
salonica,  427. 

Circumcellions,  the,  250,  251. 

Circumcision,  conference  about, 
at  Jerusalem,  39-42. 

Claudius,  accession  of,  37  ;  his 
edict  banishing  all  Jews  from 
Home,  43. 

,  bishop  of  Turin,  removes 

images,  pictures,  and  relics 
from  the  churches,  548  ;  his 
'  Apology,'  and  other  writ- 
ings, ?48. 

Apollinaris,  92. 

Clement,  St.,  of  Rome,  his 
writings,  85;  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  Eucharist,  202  ;  on 
marriage,  206. 

of  Alexandria,  his  life  and 

works,  131-133. 

'  Clementines,'    the    spurious, 

0./- 
Clergy,  the,  increased   power 
of,  293,  558  ;    social  dignity 
and   wealth,   296;    gift  and 


legacy-hunting,  297 ;  educa- 
tion of,  401  ;  ordination, 
402  ;  celibacy,  403. 

Clergy  and  laity,  distinction 
between,  179,  181. 

Clovis,  389;  his  conversion  and 
baptism,  390;  founds  the 
Merovingian  dynasty,  391 ; 
convenes  the  first  Council 
of  the  Frank  Church  at 
Orleans,  391. 

Coelestius,  the  comrade  of  Pe- 
lagius,  344 ;  charged  with 
heresy  at  Carthage  .and 
banished,  345-6. 

Coenobite,  the,  or  social  form  of 
monasticism,  305. 

CoUyridians,  the,  478. 

Colman,  Scottish  bishop,  at 
the  Synod  of  Whitby,  512. 

Columba,  St.  his  early  piety, 
507 ;  his  community  on  the 
island  of  Icolmbkill,  or  lona, 
508  ;  his  death,  508. 

Columban,  his  mission  to 
Britain  and  Gaul,  509 ;  set- 
tles in  Burgundy,  509;  es- 
tablishes three  monasteries 
in  the  Vosges  mountains, 
509;  guts  to  Switzerland, 
510;  to  Lombardy,  510; 
death,  ;io. 

Commodianus.his  'Instructions 
for  the  Christian  Life,'  169. 

Conimodus,  reign  of,  78. 

Communion,  domestic  and  in- 
fant, 197. 

Conference  at  Jerusalem  about 
the  ceremonial  law,  39-42 ; 
wrongly  called  the  First 
General  Council,  42. 

Confirmation,  173. 

Consecration  of  churches,  435- 
439;  ritual  of,  459. 

Constans  I.,  247,  262. 

IL.  376. 

Const.antine,  his  victory  over 
Ma.xentius,  126  ;  edicts  for 
univer.-al  freedom  of  religion, 
126;  his  religion,  237 ;  appa- 
rent inconsistencii-s,  237, 2  ;8; 
story  of  his  vision  of  the 
Cross,  239;  the  Labarum  and 
the  Christian  monogram, 
240;  the  edict  of  Milan,  243 ; 
his  acts  in  favour  of  Christi- 
anity. 244 ;  his  Christian 
counsellors,  244 ;  victory 
over  Licinius,  244;  founds 
Constantinople,  24; ;  a  Chris- 
tian worshipper  and  preacher 
245  ;  his  ecclesiastical  supre- 
macy, 24; ;  toleration  of  hea- 
thenism, 245 ;  late  baptism, 
246;  death,  character,  and 
ecclesiastical  position,  247  ; 
his  sons,  247  ;  appealed  to  in 
the  Donatist  schi-m,  240; 
convenes  a  Council  at  Aries, 


CONSTANTINIi 


INDEX. 


UIONYSIUS 


GOO 


249 ;  grants  the .  Donatists 
liberty  of  wor^^hip,  250;  his 
letter  to  Alexandria,  254; 
the  first  Qicumenical  Coun- 
cil at  Nicaea,  255;  his  open- 
ing speech,  257  ;  policy,  258. 

Coustantlne  II.,  247 ;  death, 
248. 

III.,  his  death,  ^76. 

IV.  and  Pope  Agatho,  J77 ; 

convenes  the  sixth  General 
Council  at  Constantinople, 
J77  ;  presides  in  person,  J78. 

V.     Copronymus,     5J5; 

summons  a  council  at  Con- 
stantinople, $}$■ 

VI.,  537- 

VII.,  surnamed  Porphyro- 

genitus,  549. 

,  the  patriarch,  his  perse- 
cutions, 5j6. 

Constantinople,  foundation  of, 
as  a  Christian  city,  245 ;  dis- 
orders at,  261,  262 ;  rank  of 
See,  294;  declared  serond  to 
Kome,  but  \vi,th  equal  rights, 
360 ;  besieged  by  the  Arabs, 
552- 

Constantius  II.,  247;  his  cha- 
racter and  ecclesiastical  po- 
lity, 248. 

Chlorus,   associated  with 

Maximian  in  the  West,  1 10 ; 
death,  126. 

Convent,  meaning  of  the  word, 
307. 

Copiatm,  the,  also  called  Fos- 
sari,  298. 

Coptic  Church  of  Egypt,  the, 
380 ;  po\'erty  and  ignorance, 
38 1;  Liturgies,  465. 

Cornelius  and  the  Gentile 
pnjselytes,  conversion  of,  35. 

Costanza,  Sta.,  sepulchral 
church  at  Kome,  4J0. 

Council,  the  First  General,  at 
Nica;a,  255,/. 

Second  General,  the  first 

of  Constantinople,  273;  addi- 
tion to  the  Nicene  Creed, 
274;  condemns  the  hertsy 
of  ApoUinarianism,  274. 

Third  General,  at  Kphe- 

sus.  353. 

Fourth  General,  at  Chalce- 

don,  ;;9. 

Fifth  General,  37;. 

——  Sixth  General,  377  ;  con- 
demns the  Monothelite 
heresy  and  defines  the  or- 
thodox doitrine,  378. 

Seventh   General,  at  Ni- 

ca\i,  537. 

■ Eighth    General,   of  the 

Romans,  546. 
of  the  Greeks,  547. 

of  Ephesus,  the  '  Kobber 

Synod,'  357. 

——  of  Frankfort,  54a 


Council  of  GentiUy,  539. 

ol  Orange,  402. 

of  Paris,  the  sixth,  558. 

Councils,  189. 

List  of  iEcimienical,  191. 

Covenant,  the  Church  under 
the  Old,  3. 

Creeds,  the,  171 ;  or  Symbols, 
234 ;  use  of  baptismal,  469 ; 
a  rule  of  faitli,  470;  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  .470;  the 
Koman,  471 ;  ISicene,  471- 
474;  Athanasian,  474-477. 

Crescentius,  Consul,  republican 
party  at  Kome  under,  578 ; 
expels  Gregory  V.  and  sets 
up  John  as  anti-pope.  579 ; 
put  to  death  by  Olho  111., 
580. 

Cross,  the,  used  in  churches, 
442;  the  sign  of,  442;  a 
symbol  of  thankful  remem- 
brance, 44;;  adoration  of, 
443,  444 ;  the  pectoral,  found 
in  the  basilica  of  -St.  Lau- 
rence, 445 ;  the  famous  Vat- 
ican, 446  ;  alleged  finding  of 
the  true,  by  Helena,  457;  com- 
memorated by  the  Church 
of  Kome,  458  ;  reproduction 
of,  459- 

Crucifix,  the,  early  private  use 
of,  445;  ordered  to  "be  set  up 
in  churches,  446,  447  ;  'i  heo- 
dolindu's,  447. 

Crucifixion,  the,  represetrtations 
of,  447,  448 ;  pictures  of, 
introduced  into  churches, 
448. 

Cyprian„St.,  bi.shop  of  Carthage, 
his  flight  from  persecution 
justified  by  himself,  107; 
early  life  and  conversion, 
159,  160;  reverence  for  Ter- 
tuUian,  160;  elected  bishop, 
160;  flight,  161;  controversy 
about  the  '  Ijapsed,'  t6i ; 
about  heretical  baptism,  162  ; 
dispute  with  Firmilian  and 
Stephen,  bishop  of  Kome, 
162;  his  character,  163-165; 
banished  to  Curubis,  16; ; 
martyred,  165,  166;  works, 
166,  167 ;  views  on  the 
apostolical  succession,  184 ; 
on  the  Church  of  Rome,  187  ; 
on  the  Catholic  Church,  188  ; 
on  the  doctrine  of  the  Eu- 
charist, 202. 

Cyril,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
and  the  Nestorian  contro- 
versy, 3?  2. 

of  Jerusalem,    324;    his 

catechetical  work,  324. 

,  or  Constantine,  his  mis- 
sion to  Moravia,  59J ;  adopts 
the  Slavonic  language  for 
public  worship,  594;  death 
at  Kome,  594. 


Cyrila,  the  Arian  patriarch  at 

Carthage,  j88. 
Cyrus,  bishop  of  Phasis,  37;. 


Daniel  the  Stylite,  305;  at  Con- 
stantinople, 364. 

David,  the  kingdom  of,  a  type 
of  the  kingdcan  of  heaven,  3. 

Deacons,  appointment  o(,  32; 
order  of,  297. 

Deaconesses,  178. 

Decius,  his  persecutions  of  the 
Christians,  its  spirit  and 
object,  ic6. 

Decretal  Letters,  the  five  false 
of  St.  Clement,  100. 

-^—  Epistles,  the,  296. 

Decretals,  the,  authority  of,  397; 
the  pseudo-lsiilorian,  563 ; 
their  forgery  proved,  561 ; 
source  and  date,  561 ;  Frank 
origin,  561 :  professed  design 
and  real  purpose,  562;  the 
clergy  exalted  at  the  expense 
of  the  Metropolitan,  562; 
power  ascribed  to  the  Pope, 
562;  reception  by  all  parties, 
563. 

Decietum,  the,  of  Gratian,  563. 

Dedicaiion  of  children  to  a 
luonasiic  life,  410. 

Demiurgus,  the  creator,  of  the 
Gnostics,  217. 

Denmark,  mission  to,  587  ; 
evangelization  of,  590. 

Eeogratias,  bishop  of  Carthage, 
388. 

Desecration  and  reconsecration 
of  churches,  442. 

Didymus  of  Alexandria,  319; 
number  of  his  disciples,  319; 
zealous  opponent  of  Arl- 
anism,  320. 

,  the  blind,  130. 

Diocese,  adoption  and  meaning 
of  the  word,  185. 

Dioceses,  adapted  to  the  civil 
division  of  the  Empire,  294 ; 
list  of,  294,  v. 

Diocletian,  settlement  of  the 
Empire  by  him,  110;  his 
colleague  Maxiini.in  and  the 
two  Ca'sars,  1 10  ;  persecutes 
the  Christians,  123;  his 
edicts,  124,  125;  his  abdica- 
tion, 125. 

IModorus,  bishop  of  Tarsus, 
351. 

Diognetus.  epistle  to,  90 ;  its 
interesting  picture  of  primi- 
tive Christianity,  91,  92. 

Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  145. 

,  bishop  of  Corinth,  94. 

Exiguus,     collects     the 

canons  of  the  general  and 
chief     provincial     councils 


610 


DIOSCURUS 


INDEX. 


398 ;  his  Paschal  Cycle, 
?y8,  Ji. 

Dioscunis  of  Alexandria,  356; 
at  tlie  head  of  the  Mono- 
phvsite  party,  356;  deposed 
and  banishei  to  Gangra,  359. 

Diptych  of  Rambona,  tlie,  448, 
455;  of  Stilicho,  455. 

Pisciplcs,  the,  their  training 
by  Christ's  ministry,  15,  16; 
unbelief  and  delection,  18. 

Discipline  in  thu  early  Church, 
20  J. 

Divination,  prohibited  l)y  Va- 
lentinian  1.,  271. 

Dominical  Letter,  the,  48J. 

Domitian's  persecutions  of  the 
Christians,  57,  58. 

Donation  of  Pepin,  the,  523. 

Donatist  schism,  tlie,  248 ;  Con- 
slantine's  interference  in- 
vited, 248;  its  sequel,  251. 

Donatus,  the  'Great,'  249; 
driven  into  exile,  251. 

Dorotheus  of  Antioch,  ihe 
School  of,  147. 

Dyophysites,  the,  jf-l 


£. 

Easter,  208  (comp.  I'aschal 
Feast);  the  oettlement  of, 
259;  decision  about,  at  the 
Synod  at  Whitby,  512. 

Ebionism,  215. 

Ebionites,  sect  of  the,  70. 

Ji'cclesia  and  Church,  meaning 
of  the  words,  11,  12. 

Ecclesiastical  history,  nature 
and  uses  of,  9. 

Ecgfrith,  514;  his  defeat  and 
deatli,  517. 

Edessa,  the  Cliurch  of,  80; 
Liturgy  of,  465. 

Edict  of  Milan,  the.  126,  2j6; 
its  terms  and  spirit,  24;. 

Edicts  of  Diocletian,  124,  125. 

Egbert,  archbishop  of  ^ork, 
founds  the   famous   library, 

517- 

• ,  King,  his  independence  of 

the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  525. 

Ephra>m  Syrus,  or  Ephraim  the 
Syrian,  325  ;  his  liermit  lifi', 
325 ;  legends  of.  32;  ;  com- 
mentaries, homilies  and 
hymns,  326. 

Epiphanius  of  Cyprus,  322 ;  his 
01  thodox  zeal  and  grrat  learn- 
ing, )2j;  three  wor.cs  against 
heresies,  32?,  324;  his  '  Mea- 
sures and  ^V^igh^s'and  other 
works,  324. 

Epiphany,  the,  its  first  obser- 
vance, 212. 

Episcopal'",  the,  growth  of, 
182  J  unity  of,  184. 

Eric  1.,  of  DL-nmark,  589. 


Eric  11.,  re-establishes  tolca- 
tion,  589 

IX.,  St.,  firmly  establishes 

Christianity  in  Denmark,  and 
converts  the  Finns,  591. 

Esthonia,  conquest  of,  602. 

Ethelbert  receives  Augustine, 
497;  is  bapiized,  497;  gives 
up  his  palace  at  Canterbury, 
498 ;  builds  the  cathedral 
church  of  St.  Paul,  ;oo. 

Ethiopic  Liturgies,  465. 

Euchaiist,  the,  or  Sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  196:  doc- 
trine of  the,  2CO ;  rcgardid 
as  a  sacrifice,  202;  the  Ileal 
Presence  in,  first  taught  by 
Paschasins  lladbert,  563,  564 ; 
pronounced  novel  and  erro- 
neous by  Frank  churchmen, 
564 ;  denied  by  Ilatramn, 
565;  extreme  views  of  Jo- 
hannes Scotus,  565. 

Eudoxia,  wife  of  Arcadius,  28;. 

Eudoxius,  Bishop,  his  deposi- 
tion and  death,  272. 

Eugenius,  bishop  of  Carthage, 
388. 

II.,  Pope,  548. 

Eunomius,  bishop  of  Cyzicus, 
264. 

Eunuch,  the  Ethiopian,  34. 

Eusebian,  the,  or  semi-Arian 
party,  260. 

Eusebius  of  CKsarea,  244 ;  in- 
tercedes for  Alius,  253;  at 
the  Council  of  Nica-a,  257; 
his  life,  theological  views  and 
learning,  310;  his  'Ecclesi- 
astical Ilisloiy,'  310,  311; 
'  Chronicle  '  and  other  works, 
311.  312;  on  the  consecration 
of  the  new  churches  imder 
Constantine,  437;  on  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
4J8. 

of  Doryla^nm,  358. 

of  Nicomedia,  258. 

Pamphiii,  146. 

Eustathius,  bishop  of  Antioch, 
deposed,  260. 

Eutyches,  liis  Monophysite 
doctrine,  357 ;  deposed  by  the 
patriarcli  Flavian,  357. 

Eutyehlau  controversy,  the, 
356. 

Euiychius  presides  at  tie  Fifth 
General  Council,  373. 

Evangelist,  signification  of  the 
word,  1 8,  n. 

Evangelists,  the  seventy,  their 
appointment  and  commis- 
sion, 17. 

Exarchate  of  Ravenna,  393 ; 
overthrow  of,  522. 

Exarchs,, or  Primates,  294. 


Fasting  in  the  primitive  Church, 
205;  excessive  with  die 
Montanists,i205. 

Fathers  of  the  Church,  their 
title  and  characteristics,  82  ; 
writings  of,  8;;  classified, 
84;  tlie  apostolic:  Clement  ot' 
Rome,  85;  Igniitius  of  An- 
tioch. 85-88;  Polycarp,  83; 
epistle  of  Barnabas,  88 ; 
Hernias,  89,  90;  Papias.  90; 
the  epistle  to  Uiognetus,  90- 
92. 

,  the  Greek,  310-326. 

,  the  Latin,  326-3 1}. 

Faustus,  bishop  of  liiez,  liis 
treatise  on  '  Grace  and  Free 
AV'iU,'  347. 

Feast  of  Orthodoxy,  the,  54;. 

Feasts,  Jewisb,  significance  of, 
29. 

Felicissimus,  his  schism,  162. 

Felicitas,  martyr,  10?. 

Feli.x,  bishop  of  Urgel,  contro- 
versy on  Adoptiouism,  527. 

III.,  Pope,  396. 

IV".,  Pope,  nominated  by 

Theodoric,  397. 

Festivals  of  Saints,  212. 

Finland,  conversion  of,  591. 

Flavian  dynasty,  their  relations 
to  the  Church,  248. 

Flavian,  patriarch,  357 ;  de- 
posed and  murdered,  358. 

Formosns,  Pope,  573. 

Frank  Church,  its  relations  to 
Rome,  and  reform  by  I5oiii- 
face,  520;  increased  power 
of  the  clergy  and  papacy, 
553-562. 

Franklort,  Council  of.  540. 

Franks,  the  Salian,  389. 

Frisia,  English  missions  to,  519. 

Friinientius  ordained  bishop  of 
Auxume,  287. 


Gabbatha,  a*bowl-shaped  lamp, 

42J- 

Galerius,  associated  witli  Dio- 
cletian in  the  East,  no;  his 
edict  of  toleration,  126. 

GaUeii,.St.,  founds  the  monas- 
tery bearing  liis  name,  510. 

Galleries  in  churches,  429. 

Galilean  Liturgy,  the  Old.  466. 

Gallienus,  his  first  Edicts  of 
toleration,  109. 

Gallus,  reign  <if,  108 ;  recal 
and  death,  2'6,  «. 

Gangra,  the  Synod  of,  to  re- 
prove the  faiiatiail  excesses 
of  zealots,  307. 

Gaul,  persecution  in,  76,  77. 


GENSERXC 


INDEX. 


mXC-MAR 


Gil 


Genseric,  King,  an  Arian,  his 
persecution  of   the   African 
Catholics,   jS^  ;    expedition 
against  Home,  J87. 
Gentiles,  the,  their  admission 
to  the  Church,    35 ;    raul's 
special  commission  to,  }S. 
Geiitilly,  Council  of,  5  jg ;  limits 
the  use  of  images  and  pic- 
tures, 5J9. 
George,    St.,     church    of,     at 

Thessalonica,  4!!. 
Germanus,  St.,  his  mission  to 
Britain,   504 ;   miracles  and 
legends,  504,  505,  n. 

,  the  patriarch,  resists  the 

destruction  of  images,  534; 
depiived  of  his  see,  534. 
Gervasius    and  Protasius,  dis- 
covery of  their  relics,  279. 
Gibraltar,  origin  of  the  name, 

5J2- 
Gnosticism,    meaning    of    the 
word,  215  ;  its  chief  elements, 
216;  use  of  Scripture  tradi- 
tion, 2i5 ;  three  leading  prin- 
ciples, 217  ;  JEons  and  ema- 
nations, 217 ;  the  IJcmiurguj, 
or    Creator,    217;     doctrine 
ahout  Christ  and  redemption, 
218;  three  classes  of  human 
beings,   218;     morality  and 
Worship,  219. 
Gnostics,  the,  49 ;  classification 
of,    219;   leaders  and  secis, 
219-22J. 
Gordian,  the  Emperor,  loj. 
(iorm  the  Old,  590. 
Goths,  the,  of  Moesia,  their  re- 
ception of  Christianity,  238  ; 
their  Arianism,  289. 
Goltschalk,  his  early  life   and 
restless  character,  566 ;  doc- 
trine  of   a  twofold    predes- 
tination, 567;  his  two  'Con- 
fessions,'  567,  568;   appears 
before  a  Council    at   Mainz, 
568 ;  sent  to  Hincmar,  flogged 
and  Imprisoned,   568;   delu- 
sions and  death,  570. 
• ,  Prince,  founds  the  king- 
dom   of    the    'Wends,    599; 
murdered,  600. 
Gratian,    reign  of,  272 ;  edict 
of  toleration,  272  ;  lays  aside 
the  title  of  Pontifex   Maxi- 
mum,   279;      withdraws    all 
support    from     heathenism, 
280 ;  closes  the  temples,  280. 
Gregory,  St.,  bishop  of  Neoca;- 
sarea,  157  ;  surnamed  Thau- 
maturgu-i,  ij3,  14;. 

Nazianzen,  St.,  his  early 

life  and  studies,  J17  ;  friend- 
ship with  Basil,  and  anta- 
gonism to  Julian,  J17  ;  adopts 
an  ascetic  life,  ji8;  appointed 
bishop  of  Sasima,  }i8 ;  retires 
to  solitude,  ii8  ;   Bishop  of 


Nazianzus  on  his  father's 
death,  J18;  mission  to  Con-  j 
stantinople, 27}  ;  and  labours  i 
against  Arianism,  318;  i 
elected  patriarch  and  retires 
again,  27},  274,  318;  death,  i 
319;    Orations   and    Poems,  j 

Gregory  of  N3'ssa,  St.,  31;  ;  his  i 
orthodox    zeal,    and    works, 
ii6. 

,  the  Cappadocian,  his  ex- 
cesses at  Alexandria,  261. 

: of  Tours,    St.,    describes 

the  consecration  of  an  Ora- 
tory, 439. 

1.,  the  Great,  Pope,  birth,  | 

490;  early  life,  491;  visits  i 
Constantinople,  491 ;  elected  i 
Pope, 491 ;  reiorms  the  Weft- 
ern  Church,  4)1 ;  administra- 
tion, 492  ;  oljects  to  the  title 
of'UOcumenical  bishop,  493; 
liis  relations  with  the  ICmpe- 
rors  Maurice  and  Phocas,493 ; 
toleration,  494 ;  zeal  agauist 
paganism,  494 ;  missions  to 
the  lieathen,  4  ^4  ;  death,  494 ; 
literary  works,  494,  495  ;  in- 
troduces Chiistianity  into 
Britain,  495 ;  left  'r  to  Ethel- 
bert,  500 ;  directions  for  the 
newly-founded  Church,  501  ; 
on  tlie  woiship  of  images. 
450,  451;  Sacrameutary  as- 
cribed to,  468. 

—  II.,  Pope,  defends  image- 
worship,  535. 

—  lil.,  Pope,  anathematizes 
the  Iconoclasts,  535. 

—  IV.,  Pope,  554;  mediates 
Jjetween  Louis  and  his  sou 
Lothair  and  the  rebel  bishops, 
554;  the  '  Field  of  Lies,' 
5i;  ;  he  relniild-;  and  fonihes 
the  port  of  Osiia,  558. 

—  v.,  first  German  Pope, 
579 ;  cxpelUd  by  Crescentius, 
579  ;  sudden  death,  580. 


H. 

Haco  the  Good,  591. 

Hadrian,  his  reign  and  mild  re- 
script, 69. 

,  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's, 

515- 

Hamburg,  church-establish- 
ment at,  ?87 ;  becomes  the 
metropolitan  see  for  the 
Northern  nations,  ;83. 

Harold,  of  Denmark,  baptized 
at  Mainz,  587;  accompanied 
on  his  return  by  Anskar, 
587  ;  driven  out  again,  588. 

Heathenism,  decav  of,  112; 
tolerated  by  Constantine, 
24; ;  vain  attempt  of  Julian 


to  restore  it,   268-270 ;  col- 
lapse of,    271 ;   first   called 
paganism  in  Jovian's  reign, 
271;   measures   against,    by 
Valentinian,     Gratian,   and 
Theodosius,    271,    279-282; 
epoch  of  its  fall,  284-5. 
Hegesippus,  his  memorials,  94. 
Helena,  St.,  mother  of  Const.m- 
tine,  237;  her  discovery  of 
the  Cross,  4.57. 
Helvidius,    his    opposition    to 

l\Iai  iolatry,  478. 
Bevoticon,  the,  or    '  Form   of 
Union  '  of  Zemi,    365 ;    its 
failure,  366. 
Henry  of  Upsala,  the  '  Apostle 

of  Finland,'  591. 
Herachis,  145. 
Heracleonas,  376. 
Heraclius    I.,     Kmperor,     his 
E(  thesis,    37;;   victory  over 
Chosroe.s,  530;  religiouscha- 
racter  of  the  war,  530 ;  death. 
5Ji. 
Heresies,   beginnings    of,    49 ; 
specitic,  49,  50;  germs  of  a !« 
futtire,  50;  about  Christ,  51  ; 
of  open  immorality,  52 ;  to 
last   to  the  final  coming  of 
(.  lirist,  52  ;  Jewish  and  hea- 
tlit  n,    215;     P^bionism    and 
Gnosticism,  215. 
Heresy,   the  Apostles'   ii.se   of 

the  word,  50. 
Hermas,  the  shepherd  of,  89. 
Hermias,  his  'Apology,'  9?;  and 
■  Mockery    of    the   Heathen 
Philosophers,'  93. 
Hermits  or  Anchorets,  3cx>. 
Herod  Agrippa  1.,  37. 
Hesychius,  146. 
Heterodoxy,  214. 
Hierax  (or  Hieracas),  146,  ♦>. 
Hieroclfei,  opponent  of  Chris- 
tianity, 117. 
Hieronymus,     328     (see      St. 

Jerome). 
Hilarion,    the    father    of   the 

Syrian  anchorets,  304. 
Hilarus,  the  deacon,  refuses  to 
sign  the  deposition  of  Fla- 
vian, 358;  escapes  to  Home, 
J58. 
Hilary  of  Poitiers,  called  the 
'  Athanasius  of  the  AVest,' 
328;  banished  by  Constan- 
tius,  328;  his  work  on  the 
Trinity,  328;  commentaries 
and  hymns,  328. 

I.,  Pope,  39;,  396. 

Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheinis, 
on  tlie  reverence  of  images, 
549  ;  his  strdfast  loyalty  and 
resistance  to  papal  encrtach- 
ments,  558;  oppo-ses  and 
sentences  Goltschalk,  568  ; 
Lis  four  decrees,  569;  death. 


612 


IIIPPOLYTUS 


INDEX, 


JOHN 


Hippolytus,  bisliop  of  Portus, 
148 ;  recent  discoveries  re- 
specting him,  148;  his  rela- 
tions with  the  Eastern  and 
Roman  Churches,  148;  charge 
of  heresy,  148;  n)artyr- 
dom,  149  ;  chapel,  and  dis- 
covery of  his  statue,  149, 
his  rhilosophumena,  149, 
150;  recent  discovery  of 
the  missing  books,  150 ; 
their  contents,  1,0,  151;  his 
opposition  to  the  Roman 
^bishops,  151 ;  literary  char- 
acter and  theology,  i;i  ;  on 
the  claims  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,  187. 

Holy  days  and  seasons,  207. 

of  Holies,  the,  428. 

Places,  reverence  for,  457  ; 

pilgrimages  to,  457. 

Homilies,  194,  424. 

Homoiousians,  or  Seml-Arlans, 
26  J. 

Honoratus,  St.,  bishop  of  Aries, 
io8. 

Honorius,  his  reign  in  the  West, 
28 J ;  his  law  for  electing 
bishops,  J94. 

1.,    I'oije,   anathematized 

by  the  Sisth  General  Council, 
J78. 

Hosius,  bishop  of  Corduba,  244  ; 
his  unfavourable  report  about 
Arius,  254;  at  the  Council  of 
Nicaea,  258;  d-posed  and 
banished,  262. 

Hungary,  the  JIagvars  and 
Slavonians  of,  598;  reception 
of  Christianity,  598;  heathen- 
ism finally  extinguished,  599. 

Hunneric's  persecution  of  the 
Christians,  388 ;  his  death 
and  successors,  389. 

Hymenajus,  49. 

Hymnology  and  sacred  music, 
279. 

Hymns,  early  Christian,  and 
singing,  19S. 


I. 

Iberians,  the,  converted  to 
Christianity,  288. 

Icolmbkill,  or  Jona,  508. 

iconoclast  agitation,  the,  554. 

Jgnatiau  Epistles,  the,  contro- 
versies concerning  them,  86- 
88. 

Ignatius,  bishop  of  Antioch, 
brought  before  I'rajan,  67  ; 
his  journey  through  Asia 
Minor,  and  letters  to  the 
Churches,  68;  martyred  at  the 
Saturnalia,  68 ;  his  writings, 
8;;  number  86  ;  genuineness, 
87,  88 ;  views  on  the  Aposto- 
lical succession,  184 ;  on  th? 


Church  of  Rome,  186 ;  on 
the  Eucharist,  200. 

Ignatius,  the  patriarch,  544; 
bani^lll■d,  544;  proceedings 
against  iiim  annulled,  545; 
reinstated,  546. 

Image,  proper  sense  of  the 
word,  5}?. 

Image-worship,  forbidden  by 
Leo  III ,  5JJ  ;  decision  of 
the  Council  at  Constanti- 
nople, 5j6 ;  decree  of  the 
Seventh  Oicuinenical,  557  ; 
of  the  Council  of  Frankfort, 
540. 

Images,  or  pictures,  their  ori- 
ginal purpose  and  subjects, 
449  ;  worship  of,  iu  the  East, 
450 :  defended  by  Leontius, 
bishop  of  Neapolis,  ,  450 ; 
aititiide  of  the  Western 
Church,  450;  judgment  of 
Gregory  the  Great,  450,  451 ; 
the  earliest  in  the  English 
Church,  451. 

Indulgences,  grant  of,  161. 

Inge,  king  of  Sweden,  591. 

Innocent  I.,  Pope,  as  ruler  of 
the  AVestern  Church,  J94. 

lona,  or  Icolmljkill,  508. 

Irenaius,  bishop  of  Lyon,  95 ; 
his  work  against  the  Gnostic 
heresies,  95  ;  martyrdom,  96; 
views  on  the  apostolical  suc- 
cession, 184;  on  the  Church 
of  Rome,  186 ;  the  doctrine  of 
the  Eucliarist,  20  t. 

Irene,  wife  of  Leo  IV.,  defends 
image-worship,  5J7- 

Isidore  of  Pelusium,  jo6. 

Isidortan  Decretals,  the,  561. 


Jacobites,  the,  of  Syria,  Meso- 
potamia and  babylonia,  J79. 

Janiblichus  of  Chalcis,  122. 

James,  son  of  Zebedee,  his 
martyrdom,  }•]. 

the  Just,  martyrdom,  47. 

the  Less.  J7. 

,  St.,  Liturgy  of,  464. 

Jarrow,  monastery  of,  516. 

Jerome,  St.,  328  ;  l>is  peculiar 
character,  J28;  early  life, 
529;  ascetic  discipUne,  J29  ; 
life  at  Antioch,  in  the  desert, 
and  at  Constantinople,  329; 
studies  Hebrew,  jk);  re- 
turns to  Rome,  and  pro- 
motes monasticism,  jjo;  his 
female  disciples,  j}o,  jji  ; 
troubles  at  Rome,  }}i ;  final 
departure  and  settlement  at 
Bethlehem,  ?Ji;  his  Latin 
version  of  the  Scriptures, 
jjl;  death  and  works,  m; 
on     pilgrimages,    459;     his 


writings  against  Helvidius, 
478 ;  personal  animosity  to 
Jovinian.  478-4lio;  charges 
against  Vigilantius,  480-482. 

Jerusalem,  Christ's  triumphal 
entry  into,  19;  destruction 
of,  5;  ;  desecration  of,  by 
Hadrian,  70;  schism  in  the 
Church  of,  70;  its  holy  places 
defiled  by  Chosroes  L,  re- 
stored by  Heraclius,  530. 

Jewish  Feasts,  significance  of, 
as  types  of  the  Christian 
Church,  29. 

Jews,  the,  rejection  of,  19 ; 
distress,  and  liberality  of  the 
Gentiles,  45  ;  revolt  of,  70 ; 
severance  from  the  Chris- 
tians, 70. 

Johannes  Scotus,  his  views  of 
the  Eucharist,  565 ;  restores 
the  reputation  of  the  Pala- 
tine School,  568 ;  his  work 
on  '  Divine  Predestination,* 
568,  569. 

John  of  Antioch,  352. 

the  Baptist  proclaims  the 

hrst  i)rinciples  of  the  Church, 
15- 

,   the    Evangelist,  typical 

character  of,  21;  his  testi- 
mony as  an  eye-witness,  2i ; 
prolonged  life,  56;  his  Apo- 
calypse a  prophetic  vision  of 
the  Church's  history,  56 
banishwl  to  Patmos,  56 ;  his 
title  '  Theulogus,'  58 ;  Gospel 
58. 

Chrysostom,    i2o     {see 

Chrysostom). 

of  Damascus,  on  worship- 
ping the  cross,  44.^ ;  defends 
image-worship,  534,  535  ;  an- 
alheniatized,  536. 

the  Grammarian,  54?. 

,  bishop  of   Piacenza,   as 

Anti-pope,  579;  punishment 
and  deirradation,  580. 

I.,  Pope,  embassy  to  Jus- 
tin, 369  ;  return  and  im- 
prisonment, 369. 

il.,  Pope,  J97. 

IV.,  Pope,  J7;. 

VII 1.,  Pope,  547  ;  conces- 
sions made  to  him  by  Charles 
the  Bald,  559 ;  murder,  560. 

IX.,  Pope,  57  J. 

X.,  Pope,  574. 

XL,  Pope,  574. 

XII.,  Pope,  his  profligacy, 

574;  invites  King  Otho  1.  to 
his  aid.  57;  ;  crowns  him  by 
the  title  of  Imperator  Au- 
gustus, 575 ;  revolts  and 
escapes,  ^77  ;  deposed,  577  ; 
readmitted  by  the  Roman 
people,  578;  killed,  578. 

XI II.,  Pope,  driven  from 

Rome,  578- 


JOHN 


INDEX. 


ns 


John  XV.,  Pope,  invites  the  aid 
oi'Otho  111.,  579. 

Josepli  of  Ariaiatliea,  his 
typical  character,  21. 

Josephus,  his  historical  men- 
tion of  Christ,  25,  n. 

Jovhui  proclaims  lull  tolera- 
tion, 271. 

Joviniaii's  animosity  to  Jerome, 
479,  480. 

Judaizei  s,  the,  at  Antioch,  39  ; 
their  contest  with  I'aul,  45. 

JmUis,  typical  character  of,  21. 

Jvilian,  pjniperor,  early  life  and 
education,  266  ;  aposta^y, 
267 ;  virtues  and  abilities, 
207  ;  marriage,  267  ;  his  pro- 
fession of  heathenism  and 
edict  ctf  universal  toleralinn. 
2ft8;  edict  against  learning 
among  the  Christians,  268 ; 
fuiile  attempt  to  restore  pa- 
ganism, 269;  removes  Chris- 
tians from  the  army,  269; 
encourages  persecution,  269 ; 
restores  lib.,'rty  to  Christian 
sects,  270  ;  recals  the  exiled 
bishops,  270  ;  banishes  Atha- 
jiasius,  270;  his  death  and 
the  collapse  of  heathenism, 
271  ;  on  the  Christians  reve- 
rencing the  cross,  443. 

Julianists,  the,  or  Ajphtharto- 
dncetw,  368,  375. 

Julius  Africanus,  his  Chrono- 
logy and  <_'e.sli,  147. 

Jurisdiction,  Civil,  in  ecclesias- 
tical affairs,  291 ;  secular,  of 
l)ishops,  291  ;  clerical  ex- 
emptions, 292. 

Justin  1.,  restores  orthodoxy, 
368;  reconciliation  with 
Rome,  368 ;  edicts  against 
hei  etics,  369 ;  <ieath,  369 ; 
the  '  Three  Articles  or  Chap- 
ters,' 372. 

ll.'s  edict  of  toleration,  37;. 

,  a  Judaizing  Gnostic,  222. 

Martyr,    his    conversion 

and  life,  72;  his  Apologies, 
72,  73,  74,  79  ;  account  of  the 
primitive  form  of  Christian 
worship,  194,  19; ;  on  the 
Real  Presence,  201 ;  on  the 
Eucharist  as  a  sacrifice,  202  ; 
the  Lord's  Day,  207. 

Justina,  Empress,  her  contest 
with  Ambrose,  278,  279. 

Justinian  I..  569 ;  his  charac- 
tiT  and  religious  policy,  370 ; 
restores  tlie  church  of  St. 
Sophia,  370;  his  edict  closing 
the  schools  of  the  Neopla- 
tonistsat  Athens,  371 ;  great 
aim  to  establish  the  supre- 
macy of  the  civil  power  in 
ecclesiastical  matters,  374 ; 
regulations  for  the  election 
of  the  I'opes,  397. 


Ktistolatrce,  the,  iCz. 


Labarum,  the,  and  Christian 
monogram,  its  origin  and 
adoption,  240. 

Lactantius,  his  life  and  style, 
326  ;  Sympusiun  and  Divine 
Institutes.  327  ;  his  doctrinal 
errors,  327. 

Ladislaus,  St.,  extinguishes  pa- 
ganism in  Ilungary,  599. 

Laodicean  canon,  the, condemn- 
ing the  worship  of  angels, 
453- 

Lapland,  slow  progress  of 
Christianity  in,  591. 

'  Lapsed,'  the,  107  ;  under  Dio- 
cletian, 124 ;  controversy 
about,  161. 

Latrccinium  Fphesinum,  the, 
or  Synod  of  Robbers,  357. 

St.  Lawrence,  legend  of,  IC9. 

Lay  patronage,  402. 

teaching,  182. 

Leo  I.,  Empiror,  enforces  the 
Decrees  of  Chalcedon,  363. 

■ 111.,  the  Jsaurian,   532; 

his  forcible  baptism  of  the 
Jews,  533;  forbids  the  wor- 
ship of  image.s  533;  confis- 
cates the  papal  reveimes, 
555;  transfers  Greece  (md 
lllyricum  to  the  see  of  Con- 
stantinople, 535. 

IV'.,  5?f);  his  fortifica- 
tion of  the  Ijeonine  City,  558. 

— —  v.,  the  Armenian,  541  ; 
attempts  to  put  down  image- 
worship,  541  ;  discussion 
witli  the  Abbot  Theodore, 
541  ;  moder.ite  policy,  542  ; 
removes  the  images,  542 ;  his 
death,  542. 

VI.,  the  Wise,  547  ;  dispute 

about  his   lourLh   marriage, 

549- 

— —  I.,  the  Great,  Pope,  his 
letter  to  Flavian,  357  ;  asserts 
the  prerogatives  of  Rome, 
39;  ;  his  works,  ?96.  n. 

II.,  Pope,  recommends  the 

acceptance  of  the  decisions 
of  the  Sixth  General  Council, 
J78. 

III.,  Pope,  acknowledges 

the  supremacy  of  Charles 
the  Great,  523;  crowns  him 
Emperor,  524. 

Leonides,  father  of  Origen,  his 

martyrdom,  134. 
Leontius,  bishop  of  Neapolis,  on 

the  worship  of  images,  450. 
Lettish  Tribes,  the,  601. 


Libanius  dek-nds  heathenism, 
281  ;  his  plea  for  the  tem- 
ples, 281. 

Liber  Oiuntus,  the,  397. 

Liciniu.s,  colleague  of  Constan- 
tine  the  Great,  126;  over- 
thrown by  Constantine,  244. 

Lies,  li  Id  of,  the,  555. 

Literature,  Patristic,  82;  gen- 
eral character  of,  8;. 

Lithuania,  its  late  conversion, 
604. 

Liturgies,  origin  and  growth 
of,  461 ;  models  for,  in  Scrip- 
ture, 461 ;  no  primitive,  ex- 
tant, 4O2 ;  earliest  written, 
and  internal  evidence  of 
date,  462  ;  marks  of  earlier 
and  common  tradition,  462 ; 
number  of  ancient,  463. 

,    Oriental,    463;    of     St. 

Clement,  464  ;  of  St.  James, 
464;  Syriac,  of  St.  James, 
464;  of  St.  Mark,  or  ihc 
Alexandrian,  465  ;  of  Thad- 
da'us,  or  of  Edessa,  46; ; 
Nestorian,  46;  ;  Byzantine, 
or  Constantinopolitan,  46;; 
of  St.  Basil,  46; ;  of  St. 
Chrysostom,46;  ;  Araienian, 
465,  n;  of  the  Holy  Apostlfsi, 
466. 

,    Occidental,    466;     the 

Ephesian,  466;  Old  Galilean, 
466 ;  Old  Spanish,  or  Blo- 
zarabic,  466;  of  St.  Ambrose, 
467 ;  the  Roman,  467. 

Liturgy,  meaning  and  use  of 
the  w  ord,  460 

the  Slavonic,  594,  595. 

Liudprands  account  of  the 
Synod  at  Rome  to  try  P.'pe 
John  XII.,  577  ;  his  embassy 
to  Constantinople,  578. 

Livonia,  Meinbard's  mission  to, 
60J ;  Albert's  crusade,  002. 

Lombards,  the,  their  kingdom 
in  Italy,  393, 397 ; overthrown 
by  Charles  the  Great,  523. 

Lord's  Day,  the,  first  celebra- 
tion of,  21  {see  Sunday). 

Supper,    the,     196    {see 

Eucharist). 

Lorenzo,  St.,  church  of,  at  Mi- 
lan. 431. 

Loihair  I.,  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  Empire,  553; 
receives  the  kingdom  of  Italy 
and  accepts  a  new  coronation 
from  Paschal,  554 ;  charges 
against  Louis,  555 ;  divides 
the  Empire  with  Charles, 
55;;  claims  to  be  sole  Em- 
peror, 555;  defeated  by  his 
brothers  at  tlie  battle  of  Fon- 
tenailles,  555;  recognized  as 
Emperor,  556. 

II.,  556. 

Louis  1.,  the  Pious,  eiicLavuurs 


614  LOUIS 

to  mediate  in  the  dispute  on 
images,  548 ;  bis  reforms 
in  tbe  court  and  Cliurcli 
and  nionasieries,  55J  ;  asso- 
ciatps  his  son  Lothair  in  the 
Empire,  55} ;  second  mar- 
riage, 554;  deposed  by  Lotbair 
and  the  rebel  bishops,  55;; 
reinstated  by  his  sons,  Pepin 
and  Louis,  555 ;  death,  5JJ. 

Louis  the  German,  556. 

IL,  succeeds  Lothair  as 

Emp-ror,  556. 

Love-Feasts,  197 ;  proceedings 
at,  198;  cause  of  their  de- 
cline, 199 ;  attempt  to  revive 
them,  litial  cessation,  200. 

Lucian,  his  '  Life  and  Death  of 
Peregrinu?,'  i !?. 

Lucian,  of  ihs  School  of  An- 
tioch,  14";. 

Lucius  of  Aatioch,  on  the 
Xriuity,  252. 


M. 

Macedonian  heresy,  the,  27}. 

Magnus,  St.,  the  tiooJ,  esta- 
blishes Christianity  in  Nor- 
way, 59  j. 

Magyars,  the,  or  Hungarians, 
invasion  of,  572. 

Mamaia,  mother  of  Alexander 
Severus,  favuurs  the  Curis- 
tians,  10;. 

Manes,  or  Mani,  foundsr  of  the 
Manicheaii  heresy,  224-228. 

Manichean  heresy,  the,  its  rise, 
224;  spread,  22;;  doctrines, 
22;  ;  based  on  pure  dualism, 
22; ;  Primal  Man  and  Spirit, 
226;  purgation  of  souls,  227  ; 
treatment  uf  Scripture.  228 ; 
asceticism,  228 ;  the  '  Three 
Seals,'  228 ;  hierarchy  and 
worship,  223. 

Marcian,  284 ;  succeeds  Theo- 
dosiusll.,  $58;  couvenjs  ihe 
fourth  tKcunienlcai  Council 
at  Chak-edon,  J59 

Marcion,  his  lite  and  doctrines, 
222;  canon  of  Scripture, 
222;  spread  of  his  sect,  Z2j. 

Marcus  Aureiius  Antoninus, 
7J  ;  p  Tsecution  of  the  Chris- 
tians 74- 

Mariulatry,  beginnings  of,  J5t; 
proclaimed  by  Proclus.  152; 
growth  of,  452  ;  heathen 
element  in,  472. 

Mark,  St.,  Alexandrian  Liturgy 
of,  46;. 

Maronites,  the,  of  Mount  T^eba- 
non.  582;  their  numerous 
monasteries,  jS;. 

Marriage,  views  respecting, 
206 ;  condemnation  of  mixed, 
207. 


INDEX. 


JIartin,  St.,  of  Tours,  at  the 
court  of  Maximus,  2gj; 
founder  of  the  first  monas- 
tery in  "Gaul,  J08  ;  his 
miracles,  jo8. 

1.,   Pope,   coniemns  the 

'Type'  of  Constans  11.,  }-f>; 
his  cruel  treatment  and 
death,  ^77. 

!\Iartinu,    mother    of    Herac- 

leonas,  575. 
Martyrdom,    enthusiasm    for 

107. 
Maruthas,  exposes   the  tricks 

of  the  Magians,  290. 
Mass,  the,  468. 
Maurus,  founder  of  the  abbacy 

of  Glanfeuil,  407,  n. 
Maxentius,     overthrown     by 

Constantine  the  Great,  126, 

24;. 
Maximian,  colleague   of  Dio- 
cletian,   a    persecutor,   110; 

his  abdication,  125. 
Maximin,  persecuting  fury  of, 

105,  125. 
Maximus    murders     Gratian, 

276. 

the   Monk,    576;    cruel 

treatment  of  by  Constans  11., 

in- 

Meiuhard's  mission  to  Livonia, 

602. 
Meletian  schism,  the,  259. 
Meletius,   bishop   of  Autioch, 

death  of,  27;. 
Melito,  bishop  of   Sardis,    his 

inaityrdom,  7;  ;  Apology,  92. 
Mnrcia    converted    to   Christi- 
anity, 50J. 
Merovingian  dynasty,  founded 

by  Clovis,  J91,  n.;  the  vices 

of  the  king.s,  391. 
Methodius,  of  lyre.  146. 
,  patriarch,    absolves    the 

Empress  Theodora  from  her 

oath,  54;. 
,  missionary   I0  Moravia, 

59;  ;     adopts     tbe    Slavonic 

language  lor  public  worship, 

591- 
Metropolitans     and     Bishops, 

18;,  294. 
Michael  ll.,.surnamed  Balbus; 

his  edict  of  toleration,  542 ; 

Utter  to  Louis  the  Pious,  542. 
111.,  his  corrupt  education 

and    vices,     545;     banishes 

Ignatius,     544 ;    murdered, 

?46. 

Milan,  Council  of,  262. 

Milltnnarian  doctrine,  or  Chili- 
asm,  2JJ ;  branded  as  heresy, 

2!4. 

Millennium,  the,  of  Rome,  106. 
.Miltiades,  his  Apology,  92. 
Ministry,  orders  of  the,  17?; 

Bishops  and  Presbyters,  176  ; 

Elders.    176 ;    Deacons    and 


NICENE 

Deaconesses,  178 ;  election  of, 
i8[. 
Minucius  Felix,  his  Octavius, 

«59- 

Missal,  the,  468. 

Mohammed,  his  Hegira,  yjo; 
conquests,  5ji;  death,  5}i. 

Blonarchian  heresies,  two  chief 
classes,  229  ;  secte,  2jo,  2ji ; 
dynamical,  229-231;  Patri- 
passian,  2}  1-2?}. 

Monasticism,  origin  and  pro- 
gress of,  298;  heathen  and 
Jewish,  299 ;  beginning  of 
Christian,  299 ;  its  four 
stages,  joo;  social,  306;  in 
the  West,  J07 ;  its  perma- 
nent organization  by  St. 
Benedict,  405. 

Monogram,  the  sacred,  origin 
of  the  symbol,  240-24;. 

Monophyslte  heresy,  the,  349, 
361,/.;  churches  existing  at 
the  present  time,  379. 

Monophysites,  the,  362;  their 
leaders,  363. 

Monothelite  controversies,  362, 

Montanns  and  Montanism,  154. 

Mcnte  Cassino,  monastery, 
founded  by  St.  Benedict,  407  ; 
its  present  state,  414. 

Moors,  the,  in  Africa,  531 ;  in 
Spain  and  Gaul,  stopped  by 
Charles  Martel,  53  2 ;  overrun 
Asia  Minor  and  besiege  Con- 
stantinople, 532. 

Moravians,  conversion  of,  by 
Cyril  and  Methodius,  593, 594. 

N. 

Narses,  reconquest  of  Itily  by, 
393 ;  first  Exarch  at  Ilavenna, 

39f- 

Nazareans,  sect  of  the,  70. 

Neo-Platunism,  rise  of,  120; 
its  rehgious  system,  121; 
magic  and  superstition,  121, 
122. 

Nero,  first  general  persecution 
of  the  Christians  by.  53. 

Nerva,  toleration  restored  by, 
58;  his  quiet  rule,  6{. 

Nestorian  heresy,  the,  351; 
condemned  by  the  General 
Council  of  Ephesus,  i'ii. 

Nestorius,  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, 351 ;  preaches 
against  the  epithet, "  Mother 
of  God,"  352;  deposed,  353  ; 
exiled,  354;  death,  35;. 

Nicene  Creed,  the,  adopted,  258 ; 
added  to,  274 ;  used  in  Rome, 
47 1 ;  introduced  into  the 
liturgy,  473  ;  adopted  in  the 
■\V'est,  474. 

■ and  post-Nicene  fathers, 


NICEPHORUS 


INDEX. 


TELAGIUS 


G15 


Nicephorus,  the  patriarch,  541 ; 
deposed,  542. 

NicolaiUins,  the,  220. 

Kicolas  I.,  Pope,  544 ;  contest 
with  I'hotius,  545;  Boguris 
applies  to  him,  54; ;  ana- 
thematized by  a  liyzaiiUiie 
synod,  546 ;  denies  tlio  patri- 
archal dignity  of  Constanti- 
nople, 546;  an  asserior  of 
papal  authority,  559 ;  charac- 
ter by  liegino  of  I'l  iim,  559. 

.  the  patriarch,  refuses  the 

offices  of  religion  to  Leo  the 
AVise,  549  ;  banished,  549. 

Nicomedia,  church  of,  its  demo- 
lition under  Diocletian,  I2j, 
124;  its  grandeur,  194. 

Nilus  of  Sinai,  io6. 

Ninian,  St.,  and  the  Pictish 
Church,  504. 

Niobltes,  the,  j68. 

Noiitusof  Smyrna,  his  followers 
favoured   by  I'ope  Zephyri- 

IIUS,  2JI. 

Northmen,  the,  their  heathen 
zeal  and  rapacity,  557 ;  set- 
tlement and  civillzaiiun,  557  ; 
Kolf's  baptism,  558. 

Northumbria,  converted  by 
Paulinus,  50J. 

Norway, evangelization  of,  591. 

Novatian  and  his  schism,  168,  n. 

Novatus,  162. 


Odoacer  appointed  Vicar  to 
Zeno,  J65 ;  authority  in  papal 
election  claimed  by,  sqf). 

CEcuraeiiical  Councils  {see 
Councils). 

Patriarch,    title  assumed 

by  the  Bishops  of  Constanti- 
nople and  Rome,  398. 

Olaf  Haroldson.St.,  592 ;  forces 
Christianity  on  liis  sabjects, 
59J  ;  destroys  the  image  of 
Thor,  59J;  escape  to  Russia, 
death,     59J ;     canonization, 

59J- 

Stotltunung,    founds    his 

chief  bishopric  at  Sliara,  590. 

Tryggveson,  forces  Chris- 
tianity on  his  subjects,  592  ; 
death  and  legendary  fame, 
592. 

Olga,  princess-regent  of  Russia, 
baptized  at  Constantinople, 

597- 
Ophites,  the,   Gnostic  sect  of, 

220. 
Ordination    by    laying   on    of 

hands,  1 80 ;  first  occurrence, 

38  ;  forcible,  402. 
Ordi)  ct  (  anon  Missm,  the,  its 

prevalence    an     the     Latin 

Church,  468. 
Origen  (Origones  Adamantius), 


UJ  ;  early  years,  ijj,  154; 
martyrdom  of"  his  father. 
1  ;4 ;  liead  of  the  catechetical 
school  at  Alexandria,  U4 ; 
a.-icetic  life,  IJ4;  his  teach- 
ing, 1J5;  at  Rome,  ij; ; 
studies  Hebrew,  ij;;  his 
convert"Ambro.se,  136  ;  his 
instruction  souglit  by  many, 
ij6;  ordained  in  Palestine, 
ij6;  withdraws  to  C;esarea, 
IJ7;  flight  to  Cappadocia, 
ij8;  tortured  under  Decius, 
106, 1  {8  ;  his  death,  106, 138 ; 
cliaracter  and  influence,  139; 
merits  and  errors,  139;  ser- 
vice in  interpreting  Scrip- 
ture, 139;  its  literal,  moral, 
and  mystical  sense,  140; 
literary  works,  140-144; 
letters  ;  145  ;  his  followers 
and  opponents,  14;,  146;  on 
the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist, 
202;  on  the  Trinity,  252. 

Origenist  controversy,  158,372. 

Orthodoxy,  its  meaning,  214; 
feast  of,  54J. 

Ostrogoths,  their  kingdom  in 
Italy,  392. 

Oswald, Kmg,assigns  the  island 
of  Lindislarn  for  Aidan's 
bishopric,  51 1. 

Oswy,  King,  511;  calls  a  synod 
at  Whitby  to  decide  about 
Easter,  511,  512. 

Otho  I.,  Italy  and  Germany 
united  under  him,  573; 
invited  by  the  Pope  to  aid 
him,  57;;  crowned  by  the 
title  of  J  mperator  Augustus, 
575 ;  restoration  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  575;  head 
of  Church  and  State,  576; 
weakened  hold  on  Italy,  576  ; 
John's  profligacy  and  revolt, 
576;  convenes  a  synod, 577  ; 
deposes  John  and  elects  iLeo 
Vill.,  577  ;  second  and  third 
revolt  in  Rome,  578;  his  se- 
verity, death,  578. 

J  I.  restores  the  imperial 

authority  at  Rome,  578 ; 
defeated  by  the  Saracens,  and 
death,  578 

111.,  early  training,  579; 

nominates  Bruno  to  the 
papal  chair,  579 ;  crowned 
Emperor,  579 ;  confers  the 
papacy  on  Gerbert,  580;  his 
imperial  designs,  583. 

■  Bishop,  missionary  to  the 

Pomeranians,  600. 


Pachomius,  305  ;  founder  of  the 
coenobite  or  social  monasti- 
cism,  3c6. 

Paganism,  lirst  use  and  mean- 


ing of  the  word,  271, «. ;  slow 
extinction  in  the  Roman 
Empire,  284,  285,  407. 

Palladius  sent  to  the  Scots  in 
Ireland,  505. 

Pamphilua  of  Ciesarea,  146. 

Panta-nus  founds  the  Alexan- 
drian School,  129. 

Papal  authority  and  aggran- 
disement, 558-560. 

Papias  of  Hierapolis,  go. 

Parabolani.  the,  298. 

Paraclete,  the  gift  of  the,  24. 

P.arenzo,  cathedral  of,  419,  420. 

Parish,  derivation  of  the  word, 
i8r,  18;. 

Paschal  Feast,  the,  or  Easter, 
208;  its  observance  in  iho 
Apo.stoiic  Age,  209;  contro- 
versy ah<'Ut  the  time  of,  209  ; 
Jewish  mode  of  reckoning, 
210;  Eastern  and  Western 
usages,  211 ;  modes  of  calcu- 
lating, 211  ;  Gregorian  cor- 
rection, 211. 

Paschal  1.,  Pope,  542. 

I'aschasius  Radbert  on  the 
Eucharist  ic  presence,  564. 

Passover,  the,  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  20,  29;  Jewish 
mode  of  reckoning,  210. 

Patriarchs,  185  ;  or  Popes,  294. 

Patrick,  St.  (Patricius),  505 ; 
birth  and  early  years,  506 ; 
his  laboms  and  writings,  507. 

Patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  492. 

Patripassian  sects,  the.  229, 13 1. 

Paul,  his  special  office,  14 ; 
first  missionary  Journey,  38 ; 
second,  40;  third,  4;  ;  cm- 
test  with  Judaizers, 45;  work 
in  Asia,  45;  EpistUs,  46; 
imprisoimient  and  work  at 
Rome,  46,  47;  tradition  of 
Lis  preaching  in  the  West, 
46,  n. ;  Pastoral  Epistles,  47  ; 
martyrdom,  54. 

the    patriarch,  draws  up 

the  Tjipe  of  Con.'tans  II.,  376. 

of  Samosata,  230. 

• of  Thebes,  300. 

Paula  and  her  daughter  Eusto- 
chium,  disciples  of  St. 
Jerome,  331;  ascetic  life 
and  death  of  Paula,  3J2. 

Paulinus  builds  a  church  at 
Nola,  480. 

Paulus  Orosius  accuses  Pela- 
E'us  345. 

Pelagian  heresy,  the, in  Britain, 
505  (comp.  I'elagius). 

Pelagiiis,  34  J ;  lile,  and  works, 
344 ;  connection  with  Cades- 
tius,.  344;  visit  to  Africa, 
344  ;  accused  of  heresy,  345  ; 
in  Palestine,  345  ;  anpeals  to 
Rome,  346 ;  comlemu  d  by 
Zosimus  and  the  (Ecumeni- 
cal Council  at  Ephesus,  346. 


61G 


INDEX. 


ROMAN 


Pelagius  I.,  Pope,  J74. 

Pella,  withdrawal  of  the  Chris- 
tians to,  5;. 

Penitents  and  penitential  dis- 
cipline, 20J  ;  treatment  of, 
204 ;  four  classes  of,  204. 

Pentecost,  or  the  Feast  of 
Weeks,  its  antitype  in  the 
Christian  Church,  ^o;  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of 
tongues,  J I . 

,  or  Whitsuntide,  212. 

Pejiin  the  iShort,  520;  louuds 
the  Carolingian  dynasty, 
521  ;  his  donation  to  the 
see  of  Rome,  52J. 

Periods,  Nine,  in  the  history 
of  the  Church,  10. 

Perpetua,  martyr,  10;. 

Persecution  of  the  Christians, 
first  Jewish,  Jj;  the  ten 
general,  54,  58 ;  by  Nero, 
5J,  54  ;  by  Domitian,  57,  58  ; 
under  Trajan,  67 ;  Marcus 
Aurclius,  74 ;  Septimius  Se- 
verus,  loj  ;  Maxiniin,  lo;; 
Decius,  106;  Valerian,  108; 
rest  from,  1 1 1 ;  tenth  under 
Diocletian,  124. 

Persia,  Christianity  and  perse- 
cution in,  28.J. 

Peter,  his  special  office,  14; 
his  confession,  19;  typical 
character  of,  21;  the  first 
act  of  Christian  preaching, 
32;  apostolic  visitation  of 
the  Churches,  J4;  escapes 
from  prison,  37  ;  martyrdom, 

54- 

the  Fuller,  56},  366. 

Mongus,  j6;,  ?6'). 

Peter,   St.,  old  basilica  of,  at 

Kome,  422. 
Peter's  Pence  in  Poland,  596. 
Philetus,  49. 
Philip    the    Evangelist,     his 

preaching  and  miracles,  }}, 

i4- 

the  Arabian,  alleged  Chris- 
tianity of,  105;  celebrates 
tlie  Millennium  pf  Home, 
106. 

J'hilocalia,  the,  wrongly  at- 
tributed to  Origen,  145,  n. 

Philos'tphumena,  falsely  as- 
cribed to  Origen,  14;;  writ- 
ten by  Hippolylus,  149  ;  its 
recent  discovery,  i?o;  auto- 
biographical notices  of  Hip- 
polytus  in,  i;i. 

Phocas,  the  Kmperor,  49?. 

Photius,  his  literary  eminence, 
544;  supports  image-wor- 
ship, 544;  summons  a  Coun- 
cil, who  anathematize  the 
Pope,  546;  deposed  by  Basil 
I.,  546;  regains  bis  favour, 
547;  reconciled  to  Jsnatius, 
547 ;    asserts    his    indepen- 


dence of  Rome,  547  ;  again 
deposed,  547  ;  death,  547. 

Phrygian  Jlontanists,  the,  371. 

Pierius,  145. 

Pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem,459; 
discouraged  by  the  Fathers, 

459- 

Pirari,  St.,  chapel  of,  421. 

I'lacidus,  disciple  of  St.  Bene- 
dict, 407. 

Pliny  the  Youuger's  account  of 
Christianity,  64-66. 

Plotinus  and  his  successors, 
122. 

Pneumatnmacki,  the,  27;. 

Poland  converted  to  Christi- 
anity, 59; ;  close  connection 
with  the  Komin  Church, 
596 ;  tribute  of  Peter's  Pence, 
596. 

Polemic  writers  against  here- 
sies, 94,  9;. 

Polycarp,  Bishop,  his  persecu- 
tion and  martyrdom.  7;,  76; 
Kpistle  to  the  Philippians, 
83 ;  conference  about  faster, 

210. 

Pomeranians,  the,  Bernard's 
unsuccessful  mission  to,  6oo; 
Otho's  mission,  Christianity 
established,  601. 

Pope  (Papa),  the  title ;  still 
used  in  the  Greek  Church, 
294  ;  when  first  applied 
specially  to  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,  295,  n. 

Pornocracy  at  Rome,  575. 

Porphyry  of  Tyre,  his  '  Dis- 
courses agaiust  the  Chris- 
tians,' 12}. 

Post- Apostolic  Church,  char- 
acter, of,  62 ;  the  age  of 
Apolozies  and  Persecutions, 
62  ;  Jewish  and  heathen 
hostility,  62  ;  calumnies 
against  the  Christians,  6?. 

Pothinus,  bishop  of  Lugdu- 
num,  76;  martyrdom  of,  77. 

Pra-textatus  stabbed  while  per- 
forming High  Mass,  }9i. 

Pra.xeas,  first  teacher  of  the 
Patripassian  form  of  Alon- 
archism,  2;i. 

Predestination,  controversy  on, 
565-570. 

Presence,  the  Real,  56}  (see 
Eucharist). 

Prester  John,  the  priest-king, 
J=;6. 

Primates  or  Exarchs,  294. 

Priscillian,  the  heresiarch,  28j. 

Probianus,  his  miraculous  cure, 

444- 
Proclns  of  Constantinople,  122. 

,  bishop  of  Cyzicus,  J52. 

Procopius,  chief    historian   in 

the  reign  of  Justinian,    3C9, 

370. 
Prodicians,  the  sect  of,  22}. 


Prosper  of  Aquitaine,  147. 

Protasius  (see  Gervasius). 

Proterius,  a  Monophysit3 
leader,  j6j. 

Prudentius  of  Troyes,  569. 

Prussia,  its  barbarian  tribes, 
602;  subdued  by  the  Teu- 
tonic Knights,  60}. 

Pseudo-Clementine  works,  the. 
71,  96;  various  forged 
writinKs.96;  the  Recognitions 
and  Homilies,  97-99 ;  Apos- 
tolical Constitutions  and  Ca- 
nons, 99;  Liturgy  and  Decre- 
tal of  St.  Clement,  100. 

Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals  (sea 
Decretals). 

Pulcheria,  284. 

Pyrrlius,  the  patriarch,  his  con- 
fessions and  retractations, 
}"/>■ 

Q. 

Quadragesimal     interval,    the, 

2_j ;  Fast,  205. 
Quartodeciman    usage     about 

Easter,  210. 
Quercy,  Council  at,  569. 


R. 

Ralramn,  the  monk,  on  the 
Eucliaristic  presence,  565. 

Recogniiions,  the,  of  the 
Pseudo-Clementines,  97. 

Relics  in  churches,  459;  essen- 
tial for  the  consecration  of 
churches,  440;  manufacture 
of  spurious,  454. 

Remigius,  arclibisliop  of  Lyon, 
569  ;  condemns  the  opinions 
of  John  Scotus,  570. 

(St,    Remi),    Bishop    of 

Rlieims,  baptizes  Cluvis,  ^90; 
his  death,  391. 

Reparatus,  basilica  of,  417. 

Resurrection,  the,  of  Christ, 
the  new  creation  of  the 
Church,  21;  of  the  Body, 
denial  of,  49. 

Rhenioboths,  the,  ?oo. 

Rimbert  succeeds  Anskar, 
590. 

Ritual,  the  consecration,  4Jq. 

Roman  Empire,  fall  of  the 
Western,  J64;  but  the  East- 
ern Emperor  still  acknow- 
ledged as  its  head,  }65  ;  final 
severance  of  East  and  West, 
52J. 

,  the    Holy,   founded    by 

Charles  the  Great  and  Leo 
IlL,  524;  restored,  with  the 
full  tiile,  under  Otho  1.,  574. 

Liturgy,  the,  467. 

See,  the,  growing  influence 

of,  187;  rank  of,  295;  ten- 
dency to  gain  authority,  296 ; 


ROME 


INDEX. 


THEODORE 


C17 


advance  of  its  pretensions 
and  power,  J94. 

Rome,  sacked  liy  the  Goths, 
386;  by  the  Vandals,  J87. 

,  the  Church  of,  4J ;    not 

founded  by  Peter,  44. 

,  the  lowest  peii^d  of  her 

depression,  jg?. 

RUgi'H,  island  of,  last  strong- 
hold of  heathenism  among 
the  Wends,  6oi. 

Russia  converted  to  Christi- 
anity, 597,  598. 

Rusticus  iJiaconus,  on  the  ado- 
ration of  the  Cross,  444. 


s. 

Sabbath,  the  Christian,  or 
lord's  Day,  first  celebration 
of,  21;  Saturday,  208. 

Sabellius,  his  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  and  the  Logos,  2j2, 

2JJ. 

Sacramentaries,  the,  468. 

Sacrifices,  bloody,  prohibited 
by  Valentinian  1 ,  271. 

Saints,  festivals  of  the,  212; 
reverence  for,  45; ;  relics, 
lives,  miracles,  4,4 ;  use  of 
the  name,  454;  diptychs, 
45;;  calendars,  456;  beatifi- 
cation, 457. 

Samaritans,  conversion  of,  ??. 

Siipor  il.,  king  of  I'ersia,  289. 

Sarabailes,  the,  ^oo. 

Saracens,  tlie,  conversion  of 
some  to  Christianity,  288 ; 
incursions  of,  on  Italy,  558. 

Sardica,  Council  of,  262. 

Sassanid  dynasty  in  Persia, 
105. 

Saul  of  Tarsus,  conversion,  54 ; 
special  commission  to  the 
(icntiles,  38. 

Saxons,  the.  Charles  the  Great's 
wars  with,  525  ;  conversions 
with  the  sword,  525. 

,  the  South,  converted  to 

Christianity  by  Wilfritb, 
504. 

,  the  West,  converted  to 

Christianity,  50J. 

Scoto-Irish  Church,  indepen- 
dence of,  508 ;  peculiar  cus- 
toms, 539 :  sends  the  earliest 
missions  to  the  heathens, 
509. 

Scots  in  Ireland,  dilTiision  of 
Christianity  among,  504. 

Senii-pelagianism,  J47. 

Septimius  Severus,  reign  of, 
102;  persecution  of  the 
Christians,  10;. 

Sepulchral  or  memorial 
churches,  429. 

STtpium,  the,  destroyed,  281. 

Sergius,  patriarch,  J7;. 


Sergius  III.,  Pope,  574. 

and  Bacchus,  bS.,  church 

of,  452. 

Sermon  ou  the  Mount,  the,  17. 
Sermons,   194,  4a4;   applause 

at,  J2I. 
Sethiles,  ihe.  Gnostic  sect  of, 

220. 
Seveu    Sleepers   of    Ephesus, 

108. 
Severians,  the,  or  Phthartola- 

trcp,  j68. 
Silverius,  Pope,  572. 
Simon    Magus,    }};    and    the 

Sinionians,  220. 
Simplicius,  Pope,  jg6. 
Sisterhoods,  monastic,  jo5. 
Sophia,  St.,    church    of,    ^70; 

Byzantine  type  of,  452. 
Sozomen,   on    reverencing  the 

cross,  444. 
Spanish,  the  old,  or  Jlozarabic 

liturgy,  466. 
Stani^laus,  St.,  bishop  of  Cracow, 

596. 
Stanley,  Dean,  on  the  Christi- 
anity of  Constantine,  238. 
Stefano,  St.,  Rolondo,  circular 

church  of,  451. 
Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  up- 
holds heretical  baptism,  ifj^. 
II.,  Pope,  appeals  to  Pepin 

for  assistance    agaainst   the 

Lombards,  523. 

IV.'s  edict  for  the  conse- 
cration of  Popes,  55  j. 

VI.,  i'ope,  5TJ. 

,  King,  founds  the  Chris- 
tian kingdom  of  Hungary, 
598 ;  places  it  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Virgin,  598; 
builds  churches  and  monas- 
terits,  598 ;  canonized,  599. 

Stylites,  or  pillar  Saints,  304. 

Sueves,  the,  587. 

Sunday,  or  the  Lord's  Day,  ob- 
servance of,  207,  292. 

Supremacy,  the  Lmperor's,  ex- 
tent of,  291. 

Suretif,  removal  of  the,  5  J4. 

Svintila,  king  of  the  Visigoths, 
crown  of,  42  j. 

Sweden,  conversion  of,  588, 
589. 

Sylvester  II.,  Pope,  580;  birth 
and  early  training,  580 ; 
archbishop  of  l;avenna, 
582 ;  called  to  the  papal  chair, 
582  ;  h^  foreshadows  the 
Crusade,  582;  death,  583. 

Symbol,  the  Rcmian,  471. 

Symeon,  the  Proto-martyr  of 
the  Post-Apostolic  Church, 
67. 

Stylites,    St.,     and    the 

"  pillar  saints,"  J04,  305. 

Symmachus,  his  plea  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  altar  of 
Victory,  28d. 


Sj^nmachus,  Pope,  jg'j. 

Syriac  Liturgy  of  St.  James, 
464. 

Syrian  School,  the,  of  the  Gnos- 
tics, 219. 

Synods  established,  185;  origin 
of  1 89 ;  their  composition  and 
authoiity,  169;  the  earliest. 
190;  regular,  190;  Parochial, 
or  Diocesan,  190;  provincial, 
or  metropolitan,  190 ;  pri- 
matial,  or  plenary,  190  ; 
Oecumenical,  or  Universal, 
191. 


Tabernacles,  the  Feast  of,  its 
antitype  in  the  Christian 
Church,  JO. 

Tacitus,  his  mention  of  Christ, 
26,  n. ;  of  Nero's  persecution 
of  the  Christians,  53,  54. 

Talaia,  John,  366. 

Tarasms,  patriarch,  537. 

Tutian  of  Assyria,  his  Diafes- 
saron,  93;  fuunderof  the  sect 
of  the  hncratites,  223. 

Temples,  closing  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  heathen,  281. 

TertuUian,  his  early  lite,  152; 
conversion  and  asceticism 
153;  lapse  into  Montanisra, 
153;  orthodoxy,  155;  death, 
155;  chaiacter,  15;,  156; 
theology,  style,  156,  157; 
'  Apology '  and  other  works, 
157,  158;  opposes  infant  bap- 
tism, 172;  views  on  the 
Apostolical  succession,  184; 
on  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  187  ; 
the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist, 
201 ;  on  marriage.  206,  207  ; 
the  earliest  witness  for  the 
cessation  of  worldly  business 
on  the  Lord's  Day,  208. 

Teutonic  Knights,  military 
order  of,  603  ;  subdue  Prussia, 
605. 

Thadda?us,  Liturgy  of,  called 
also  the  l^ituvgy  of  all  the 
Apostles,  465. 

Theban  Legion,  the,  and  St. 
Maurice,  no,  iii. 

Themislians,  the,  or  Jgnoetw 
368. 

Theodelinda's  crucifix,  447. 

Theodora,  wife  of  Justinian, 
369 ;  supports  the  Monophy- 
siies,  371. 

Theodora,  Empress,  restores 
image-worship,  543. 

Theodore,  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, his  Council  at  York, 
513  ;  Ten  Canons,  513;  dis- 
regards the  Pope's  decrees, 

514- 
,  bibhop  of  Mopsuestia,  on 


G18 


INDEX. 


ZOSIMUS 


Cbrisl's  twofold  personality 

55'- 

Theodore,  bishop  of  Pharan,  ?75. 

the  Slylite,  his  viuleuce, 

541 ;  pprsecution  and  im- 
prisonment, 542 ;  reciil, 
banishment,  and  death,  542. 

A:5cidas,  j'jz. 

Theodoret  writes  against  Cyril, 
^52;  combats  the  Eutychian 
di)ctriiie,  557. 

Theodoric  remonstrates  with 
Justin,  J69 ;  greatness  of 
his  kingdom,  392;  his  reli- 
gious policy,  392;  tyranny 
in  later  years,  391;  arbiter 
between  Symmachm  and 
Laurentius,  396;  on  the 
Pope's  election,  J97. 

Tbeodosius  I.,  the  (jreat,  his 
baptism,  272 ;  edict  against 
tQe  Arian  heresy,  27!;  sum- 
mons a  second  (Ecumenical 
Council,  27 J ;  massacre  at 
Thessalonica,  278;  reproved 
by  Ambrose,  278 ;  penance, 
273  ;  death,  279;  edicts  with- 
drawing all  support  from 
hsathenism,  280,  282;  his 
impu-tiality,  282;  Apotheo- 
sis, 23  J ;  edicts  against  he- 
resy, 28  J. 

II.,  284;  his  feeble  cha- 
racter, 354. 

Theodotians,  the,  230. 

Theogais  of  Nica>a,  258. 

Theognostus,  145. 

Theologus,  title  given  to  the 
Apostle  John,  58. 

Theupaschite-:,  the,  jtz. 

'I'heophilus,  bishop  of  Ale.K.in- 
dria,  his  zeal  against  pag  lu- 
ism,  281 ;  preaching  in  Alrica, 
288. 

• ,   bishop  of  Antioch,  his 

defence  of  Christianity,  9?. 

,   Emperor,  condemns  all 
image  worship,  543- 

Thundering  Legion,  legend  of 
the.  78. 

Timothy,  his  special  mission, 

47- 
iElurus,theMonophysite, 

363. 

Titus,  his  special  mission,  47. 
Toleration,  first  Edict  of,  uaJer 

Gallienus,  109. 
Tongues,  the  gilt  of,  ji. 
Tonsure,  the,  401. 
Traditores,  the,  1 24,  249 
Trajan,  policy  of,  6^,  66,  (.'/, 

third  persecutipn  6;. 


Trajan,  Basilica  of,  419. 

Trniity,  ihe,  dogma,  and  Christ, 
heresies  about,  229;  Oiigen 
on,  252. 

Trullan  Council,  the,  at  Con- 
stantinople, 446,  447. 

Turholt  Abbey,  588. 

Type,  the,  of  Constaiis  II.,  376. 

TJ. 

Ulfilas,  life  and  labours  among 
the  Uoths,  288;  the  'Moses 
of  the  Goths,'  289;  his  alpha- 
bet and  Bible,  289. 

Unni,  Archbishop  of  Brcmrn, 
liis  mission  in  Jutland,  590 : 
jurisdiction  over  the  Itanish 
Church,  590  ;  dnith,  590. 

Utrecht  Psalter,  the,  487. 


Valens  renews  the  Arian  per- 
secution, 271;  his  cruellies 
to  the  orthodo.K  party,  272. 

Valentinlan  I.,  his  prohibition 
of  bloody  sacrifices  and  divi- 
nation, 271. 

II.,  272. 

-111.,  284,  39?- 

Valentinus,  chief  author  of 
Gnosticism,  221. 

Valerian,  his  persecution  of  the 
Cliristians,  108. 

Vaniials,  the,  386;  in  Africa, 
.87. 

Varanes  V.,  290. 

Verdun,  treaty  of,  556. 

Vicars,  492. 

Victorinus,  bishop  of  Peta- 
vium,  168. 

Victory,  the  altar  of,  removed 
from  the  Senate  House  of 
Rome,  280. 

Vigilantiu-,  his  reforming  zeal, 
4«o;  attacked  by  Jerome, 
48  [ ;  denounces  the  worship 
of  Saints,  48 1 . 

Vigilius,  Pope,  elected  by  Beli- 
sarlus,  372;  summoned  to 
Constantinople,  37};  refuses 
to  attend  the  Fifth  General 
Council,  37!;  humiliating 
submission  to  its  dfcision, 
374;  his  Constilutum,  373. 
Vincennalia,  the,  of  Constan- 
tiiie,  256. 

Vincent,  St.,  of  Lerins,  jo8. 

Virgin  Mary,  the,  worship  of, 
452;  as  a  female  mediator, 
4i2- 


Visi;:oths,  the,  386. 
Vit.ile,  St.,  Ravenna,  434. 
Vladimir,  St.,  his  zeal  tor  Chris- 
tianity, 597,  598. 
Vows,  monastic,  411. 

w. 

Wallia  founds  the  kingdom  of 
the  Visigoths,  386. 

Weurmouih,  monastery  of, 
516. 

Welsh  bishops,  the.Augustine'a 
quarrel  with,  505. 

Wenccslav  murdered  by  his 
brother  Boleslav,  59J. 

Wends,  Christianiiy  among, 
599-601. 

Western  Empire,  the,  fall  of, 
364. 

Wiching  persecutes  the  Slavo- 
nian clergy,  who  adhere  to 
the  Liturgy,  594. 

Wilfrid  at  the  Synod  at  Whitby 
to  decide  about  Easter,  511, 
512;  appointed  to  the  see  of 
Lindisfarn,  512;  opposes  the 
division  of  his  see,  514;  ban- 
ished and  appeals  to  Kome, 
514;  his  restoration,  vicissi- 
tud(8  and  death,  515;  ad- 
vance of  religion  and  civili- 
zation under,  515. 

Willibrord's  mission  to  Frisia, 
519;  ordained  Archbishop  of 
Utrecht,  519. 

Wilna,  episcopal  see  esta- 
blished at.  604. 

Winfrid,  the  '  Apostle '  of 
Germany,'  519  (See  Boni- 
face). 

Worship,  places  for,  193 ;  pri- 
mitive form  of,  194;  public, 
463. 

Y. 

Yazelich,  Arabic  title  of,  ?55. 
Yezdegerd  il.'s  persecution  of 
the  Christians,  290. 


Zacharias,  Pope,  authorizes 
Boniface  to  reform  thei'rank 
Church,  520. 

Zeno,  his  accession  and  flight, 
36};  restoration,  364;  ap- 
points Odoaccr  his  vicar, 
36; ;  his  Henolicon,  }(>$. 

Zosimus.  Pope,  his  circular  let- 
ter, 394- 


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